by Logan Gruber
operations@thenewsleaders.com
Some may know Dan Pfannenstein from the St. Joseph Meat Market where he works alongside his father, Harvey. But soon he’ll also be found behind the wheel of a squad car.
Pfannenstein, 25, born and raised in St. Joseph, is now a part-time officer for the St. Joseph Police Department.
“I have a couple of sisters who are nurses, a couple who are teachers, so I wanted to do something different,” Pfannenstein said during a Newsleader interview. “The St. Joseph Police Department has a great atmosphere and excellent camaraderie.”
Pfannenstein has been a Reserve Officer with the department for five years, and before that was an Explorer with the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department.
“I was an explorer from age 16-19. We would help out with crowd control at parades and other big events across the county,” he said.
It is his first experience with law enforcement and he likes it a lot.
Pfannenstein does have relatives in law enforcement. His cousin is a Stearns County Sheriff’s Deputy and another cousin, Dwight Pfannenstein, is a sergeant with the St. Joseph police.
Pfannenstein attended Apollo High School, then went on to St. Cloud Technical and Community College for two years studying criminal justice, and he is currently a part-time student at St. Cloud State University completing his bachelor’s degree while working at the meat market as well as with the SJPD. He has only a couple of credits left to go, mostly his senior thesis.
At SCSU, he experienced a required-skills program, which trains potential officers both physically and mentally for the job.
“We had different scenarios we went through,” Pfannenstein said. “We would have to perform traffic stops with role players . . . Anything you can encounter on the road you would encounter on those traffic stops.”
They were also trained in the equipment, like tasers and guns, as well as report writing. The course included strength and agility training also.
Once he completed his skills training, and with his two-year degree from SCTCC, he was eligible to work as a paid officer.
“I knew the department had a part-time opening because I was internal (as a reservist),” Pfannenstein said. “The application process was the same as anyone else would have to go through though, with a background and criminal-history check and psychological evaluation.”
Since getting his uniform, he is now going through all of the required training manuals.
Pfannenstein said another thing he was taught in school was “community policing,” which is something Chief Joel Klein stresses.
“Basically, if you’re doing community policing right,” Pfannenstein said, “anywhere you go in town, residents should be able to call you by your first name. You want them to feel comfortable around you, so even if you have to go to their house, whether it’s for a medical call or a domestic assault, you want them to know you and be comfortable talking with you.”
Pfannenstein said since he is part-time he won’t have a set schedule with the department. He will be covering vacations, sick days, big events and any other scheduling needs. Since he might not work a single shift in a month, or he might work a number of shifts a week, he said he is grateful the meat market is able to be flexible on scheduling as well. He will be done with training and ready to take shifts by the end of February or beginning of March.
Dan Pfannenstein was recently hired as a part-time officer by the police department. He’ll cover vacations, sick days and any other open shifts. Pfannenstein has lived near St. Joseph his entire life.
