Marshfield, WI (OnFocus) After a 33-year career in law enforcement, Lieutenant Darren Larson will be retiring from his position with the Marshfield Police Department on January 3.
During his career, Larson has served in three Wisconsin communities and under seven different police chiefs, starting in 1986 when he became a part-time patrol officer in his hometown of Coon Valley, Wisconsin, as well as a volunteer firefighter for the Coon Creek Fire Association until 1989.
Larson then worked as a part-time police officer in Viroqua, Wisconsin before heading to the Marshfield Police Department in 1989, proudly serving as a uniformed patrol officer until 1996.
“I was also assigned to a specialized gang unit that was developed to combat an emerging gang presence in the city in the early ’90s,” he said. “During the same time period, I was also assigned to mentor and advise our Police Explorer Post that grew to over 24 teenaged members who had an interest in law enforcement, several of which later went on to become police officers, and some that I still work with today!”
In 1996, Larson was selected to be a full-time school liaison officer, working directly with students, parents, and school officials to promote crime prevention and community relations. He investigated many sensitive crimes involving youth and was also chosen to serve as an entry team member Emergency Response Team (SWAT) for six years.
Upon his promotion to detective in 2002, Larson continued to conduct a wide range of criminal investigations including homicides, robberies, arson, property and computer crimes, fraud, and everything in between.
“I have always believed that one of the advantages of working in a smaller agency is that you are exposed to a wide variety of cases, and as a result you develop well-rounded and experienced investigators,” said Larson.
He was promoted to Patrol Sergeant in 2007 and served as the shift supervisor of six uniformed patrol officers until 2010, when he became the Operations Lieutenant. In that position he led the Patrol Division, the agency’s “backbone,” which at that time had grown to include four Patrol Sergeants, 25 patrol officers, and their support staff.
Finally, in 2014 Larson returned to the Detective Bureau as the Administrative Lieutenant, supervising the department’s investigative branch including detectives, computer forensic investigations, drug investigations, sensitive crimes, court officer/Officer Friendly, school resource officers, and evidence technicians.
Having served in many different capacities, it’s hard for Larson to choose which part of his career he’s enjoyed the most. “I can honestly say that I enjoyed each part of my journey because I experienced so many unique and memorable events over the course of 30-plus years,” he said, “some very challenging because of the nature of the job, but always memorable and always educational! In the end, I was able to put a bunch of valuable tools into my police officer tool belt.”
His wide range of experience and long career has given Larson a unique perspective of the changes the profession has undergone as crime trends evolve and advances in technology change the fabric of investigations.
“There are so many crimes now that involve the use of electronic devices,” he said. “It would have been hard for me to even fathom 30 years ago how much of our job would be centered around computers.”
Much could also be discussed regarding drug trends in the past few decades. At the start of Larson’s career, it was uncommon to have to make arrests for heroin, a drug which later became an epidemic.
“As I’m leaving my career, we’re seeing more and more methamphetamine, and that’s something we never saw 10-15 years ago,” Larson said.
Opiate-related overdoses have seen a decline, but illicitly manufactured fentanyl is still a danger.
“One thing we would never have anticipated back when we had the number of opiate deaths that we were investigating is the effect of fentanyl in our communities, because fentanyl is something that’s being added to essentially all drugs…That’s always a concern to us that trend will come back.”
The public’s perception of law enforcement has also changed, but locally Larson feels the department has a good relationship with the public it protects.
“We’ve done a great deal in ensuring the public perception of our agency is a positive one,” he said.
Part of maintaining that relationship is striving to treat everyone with respect despite difficult circumstances. In his career, Larson’s philosophy was to handle others the way he would want his own family to be treated.
“Fairness, and treating people with respect and dignity — I think those are all things which pay huge dividends in the end,” he said. “I’ve arrested a lot of people in my time. Probably all of them have not been happy with the fact that they’re in the situation that they are, but in the end my hope was that they always thought they were treated with respect and dignity, and eventually recognize that they had made a mistake and make corrections where they can.”
Upon the conclusion of his time at the department, Larson will start a new position in the insurance industry in Marshfield. While he will miss his “second family” at the police department, he looks forward to the next chapter in his career and its new challenges.
Author: News Desk
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