Police chief Brian Madison, pictured at his desk in Motley, has been employed with the Motley Police Department since May, 2005 - first as a police officer; and then as Police Chief since August, 2008. (Staples World photo by Dawn Schimpp Timbs) For Motley Police Chief Brian Madison, law enforcement is more than a profession...it’s a calling.

“I love it,” Brian said in a recent interview. “I’ll admit, it’s not always the easiest of jobs...I’ve been bitten, spit on, you name it. I’ve seen a lot of things I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.”

He doesn’t tell his parents or girlfriend some of the details of his job. “They’d just worry,” Brian

said. But he’s glad to share stories about a life he helped save; or of the children who approach him at Motley Elementary School and give him a hug or thank him for being a police officer.

“I like getting out on the street and being in the public eye...doing the enforcing,” Brian said. It definitely takes a certain sort of person to do a job like this, Brian said. “You need to feel called to it.”

Which, of course, Brian did at a very early age.

“I guess you could say I always wanted to be in law enforcement,” he said.

The 36-year-old police chief grew up in Maple Grove; and gained a respect for law enforcement officers at a very young age.

When he was a teenager, Dick Radnitz, a canine offi- cer with the City of Maple Grove, had a big influence on him, Brian said. “All of the officers I knew as a kid had an impact on me.”

Although he had always dreamed of being in law enforcement, it wasn’t Brian’s first career attempt.

“I wanted to fly,” he said, adding that he started to think about aviation when he was just five years old.

“I got interested in it because my family would go on fly-in fishing trips when I was a kid,” Brian said. “We’d fly into Larus Lake in Ontario. It was beautiful...I loved it.”

After graduating from Maple Grove - Osseo High School in 1992, Brian went on to study aviation at Anoka Hennepin College. After a while, however, flying began to feel more like a job, nothing like the fun fly-in trips he remembered as a kid.

He worked for awhile as a supervisor for Georgia Pacific Corporation in Maple Grove, before he decided to go back to school for law enforcement.

“I went to Central Lakes College in Brainerd...I think they have one of the best programs for law enforcement out there,” Brian said.

His folks had bought a lake home in the Brainerd area about 30 years ago; and it was a part of the state he had grown to love. “I was also able to stay at my parents’ lake place while I was attending school.”

Brian worked for a short time as a reserve officer in Pequot Lakes, but he was hired on as a police officer in Motley just six months after graduating from college.

“I came here in May of 2005 as a part-time officer. After about a year I went full-time,” Brian said. He was promoted to chief in August of 2008.

He worked for three police chiefs in Motley before he was hired for the position: Jeff Weitemier, Gae Davis (part-time position) and Gary Lambert. There was a lot of confusion during that time, Brian recalled. “After going through two and a half chiefs; and realizing the headaches here in our department; I felt that it (taking on the role of chief) was something I had to do.”

Brian’s behind the desk more than he used to be; but he’s never forgotten his first love of enforcing the law. “I’ll always be a law enforcer... right now, I happen to be the chief law enforcement officer.”

Brian appreciates his fellow officers on the Motley Police Department. “Mitch (Tavares) and Amy (Mattison) are great at their jobs. We’re a good team.”

They also offer each other support during stressful situations. “We’re like family,” Brian added.

The fact that Motley isn’t exactly a metropolitan city, doesn’t mean that nothing is going on. “We had over 700 calls in the small town of Motley just last year alone,” Brian said. “We’re busy.”

The same things that happen in a big city happen in places like Motley. Drug busts, domestic situations; and of course traffic citations.

Motley has also been mentioned on the website www.speedtrap.com, Brian said. “Yea, we stop a lot of cars around here,” he added.

For ten days out of every year, Brian doesn’t think about his job, or stay within earshot of police calls in Motley.

“I’m an avid hunter,” Brian said, pointing to a photo of him, his dog Katie and a trophy Tundra Swan he shot a few years ago in North Dakota.

“I go there every fall to hunt pheasant, duck and goose,” he shared, adding that he’s been lucky to have had his name drawn for a Tundra Swan permit a couple of times.

“It’s a trip I look forward to every year,” Brian said, adding that he usually returns to Motley refreshed and ready for the task at hand.

Although he grew up in the Metro Area and always figured he’d return after he finished school, Brian has since changed his mind.

“After living in this area,

I’d never go back,” he said. “I have gotten to know the folks in Motley...I like them and respect them. I really care about these people,” the police chief added.

Brian said if there was one thing he hopes people will understand, is that, law enforcement officers have feelings. “Just because we have a uniform on, we’re still human beings. We are paid to do a job...we took an oath and it’s something we have to do.”

Law and order is a necessary part of our society, Brian said. “If we didn’t have it, the world would be chaos,” he added.

Respect for law enforcement officers is something that Brian feels is missing today. He sees it in the attitudes of some people on the streets; and he sees it in the way some children talk to officers at schools.

Brian blames the media, in part, for not accurately portraying law enforcement officers and certain situations. “They don’t always show the whole picture... they might only show an officer beating someone but don’t show what that person did prior to the offi cer having no choice but to beat him.”

Parents, as well, sometimes give the message to their children that police officers are out to get them, Brian said. “We want kids to feel they can run to the badge...not away from it,” he added. The police chief has also noticed more adults relying on law enforcement to discipline their children. “That’s not our job,” Brian said. “Parents need to be parents.”

Brian realizes that there are frustrations that accompany any job; and for him, the good far outweighs the bad.

The best part of his job, Brian said, is the chance to help people.

“When you realize that stopping a speeding driver probably saved someone’s life; or when you get a heart-felt thank you note from someone in the mail, it makes it all worth it,” Brian said. “I say to myself, ‘This is why I’m doing this.’”