Exclusive Interview with Zach Robinson, Fargo Police Officer Who Disarmed Shooter at 8 A.M. on Tuesday

FARGO, ND (trfnews.i234.me) Fargo Police are releasing an interview with Zach Robinson. He’s the officer who took down the shooting during a shooting incident in July that wounded 2 officers and killed another.
so my dad was a border patrol agent in warrow Minnesota he retired 29 years as a border patrol agent um I joined the military I was in the 219 security Force Squadron in Min not North Dakota uh so I was out there for six years um then I transferred to the Fargo 119 Security Forces Squadron and that’s when I got so then I went to while I was in that I went to school I graduated from NDSU with criminal justice degree in 2016 um while I was in my senior year of college I met um the time Sergeant Travis stefanowitz Now assistant chief um at a career fair and I talked to him quite a bit about what the Fargo Police Department had to offer uh which sounded very um appealing to somebody just graduating from college he had reached out to me as I was friends with officer Brad cernick who had just started at the police department and got my contact information and sent me an email asking me to take the hiring test um and I was looking for a job at the time so I took U the test passed interviewed um the background check and everything and then eventually got hired um in May May May 23rd 2016 I then attended the North Dakota Law Enforcement Training Academy out in bismar in the summer of 2016 um then once I graduated from there I started the PTO program on dayshift and then I graduated the PTO program in early January of 2017 where I then worked night shift for about four and a half years and then move to days in March of 2021 so the reason I chose to become a Fargo police officer was all the options we had for an officer growth and here if you want to work Patrol investigations be a school resource officer be SWAT team uh bomb squad there’s a lot of different options that you can choose your own career path and how you want to advance throughout the department reason I chose become a patrol training officer was I had very good trainers that I came in to the department not knowing a whole lot not knowing how to be a police officer they trained me how to respond to calls how to be good backup good secondary officers good primary officer and I wanted to give back to to the new uh recruits that we had that we have and to teach them that way cuz I want my backup coming to help me I want them to be trained and know what to do when they get there because if I’m in need of help I want them to be able to respond appropriately um to help me out in whatever situation I’m in so you are essentially looking out for them you want them to uh act the right way do the right things for the right reasons um and for the most part everybody does that but you got to steer them steer them in like the correct direction in order to do that um you’re responsible for that new officer um and you go on like a lot of calls together there’s like sometimes throughout the day you’re going like call to call to call but then sometimes you you have some downtime in the car if nothing’s going on and that’s when you get to know the person that you’re riding with because one day they’re going to pass the training program and you’re going to like become friends with this person I mean it’s happened before where I’ve trained people and now I’m friends with them after they’re out of training um so you want to just get that learn figure out who they are um where they come from but you also have a job to do you got a you’re like their immediate supervisor essentially so Jake had completed phase A and B um training’s broken down into four phases a b c and d then you have a midterm between B and C and then a final so Jake had completed phase A and B then was on his midterm U midterm is about 5 to 8 shifts depending on kind of how the schedule Works um him and I we were on our our second week together uh I think we had a 3-day week following by a 5ay and so we the second week it was Wednesday I was gone on Thursday at training then Friday when this happened um and before all this even happened we we were driving shortly before the call for service he was just asking how he was doing I said you’re doing fine just keep doing what you’re doing and you’re going to pass and he was I mean everybody gets nervous how you’re going to because you’re being evaluated all the time obviously we still do like teaching moments in there like I’m not going to let him fall on his face um but the point is me as the evaluator to as a fresh set of eyes to see how he’s doing and zero concerns whatsoever he was ready to move on uh into the later phases of training um briefing typically lasts for about a half hour um then Jake had set up the squad car um drove it outside I go put my stuff in there uh and then we go out for the day but I was gone the previous day and he had a bunch of reports that that he still needed to finish up and so we spent a large amount of time throughout the day just him trying to get caught up from the day before um which is common I mean you got a lot of stuff going on you got training paperwork work you got to accomplish and the reports on top of it that can all add up pretty fast but he was taking the initiative and using good time management to get that done and then um we had gone on a car accident earlier in the day um handled it no issues um nothing else really sticks out it was just playing a lot of catchup from the day before um and then we were actually at the station when this this accident or driving excuse me we’re driving back to the station when this call came out got to the station um Jake was signing on to a computer getting ready to start his reports and then we we got asked to respond as a secondary officer to help officer hos and doas out with interviewing some witnesses that crash when we first got on scene officer doas uh approached us and said that they had like six witnesses to interview uh just asked if we would help out with that it was towards the end of the day and being a new officer can sometimes take a little bit uh we had no issue stopping to help out um as soon as we got there too the fire truck was going to take off those guys were going to leave they weren’t needed anymore um and so doas and Jake began walking to the side of the road to go speak with the witnesses I just wanted to look at the car quick see where the damage was um so that was just like front end minor damage and then I was walking back to just go move a squad car quick when the shooting began we go to these accidents every day um just very minor property um a lot of times at these accidents will just have people exchange their information if it’s if it’s um very minor and no injuries um nothing on the ordinary at this accident there was no indication there was any kind of threat nothing um that would lead us to believe that we were in danger just by being out there all right so I looked at the front of the car determined it was just a minor accident but an airbag went out had gone off they were going to have the vehicle towed I then was going to walk back to our squad car as the firet TRU was going to take off just to help uh traffic control better um we had a stalled vehicle in the middle of the road I didn’t want somebody to drive by and Reen that car and cause another accident so as I began to walk back to the squad car I made it like a step or two past the rear of the vehicle that was involved in the accident when the shooting started so the other three officers when the shooting occurred were directly to the north of the suspect vehicle um maybe within 20 yards of them um did no indication whatsoever that this was going to happen to them as they were walking over to talk to the talk to the witnesses officer doas had already had one of the vehicles pull off to the side of the road before ID even gotten there and then the other vehicle on the road the um the driver she was already on the side of the road with the other officers so the car was empty there’s nobody in it at the time I walked to the back of the the back to the um victim car in the middle of the road had walked a step or two past it um yelled at officer DOTA that I was going to move the car it was hard to hear there was traffic going by um and then remember them looking over at me and then all of a sudden the shooting just started I had been I was by cover I was concealed from that V by that vehicle being there so I immediately Drew my pistol out called over the radio8 shots fired and then was trying to find out where they were coming from um I then saw where the individual was at cuz he had gotten out of the car at that point and returned fire towards him um after I did my first set of shots he ran around the back of his vehicle and I lost sight of him I again called out on the radio uh that we had shots fired not knowing at the time that three officers and a civilian had been hit um he then started shooting again and I had a good line of sight from where I was at and I engaged him again from the would been the front of the victim vehicle in the middle of the road I didn’t see them right away um I was focused in on him trying to get him get him down um but I didn’t know that the three were down until the suspect dropped and that’s when I ran around the vehicle saw the three guys on the ground um called it out and then and then um pushed past them because the suspect still wasn’t down yet he wasn’t determined to be not a threat at that point um since there verbal commands um he didn’t listen um he continued to have a weapon in his hand I continued to engage him had to reload my pistol um engaged him again and then um I knew I had to get closer to him because at first the initial volley of shots was about 75 ft um and then after that I knew I had to get get closer that’s a fairly good distance with a pistol I knew those guys needed Medical tension now um but I knew I had like every officer responding that was available and I just needed to get that guy down detained um just like to get those guys help because I mean I knew it was a rifle um didn’t know what kind make model anything like that but they were down they weren’t moving so had to get him detained before I could worry about anything else because if he’s not detained then all of us are still at risk of being hurt I moving out in the open I lost all cover and concealment um I was out in the open essentially um but he was down on the ground and his car was between him and I and I knew he was down I saw him fall didn’t know if he was if he was just wounded if he was ceased had no clue um so that’s I pied around the front of the vehicle which is what we’re trained to do um play your angles um give yourself a better position than what um suspect has on you pied around saw he was still moving gave multiple commands to him um to put his hands up sto moving he failed to listen he sat up with a pistol in his hand I again engaged him ran out of ammo I um reloaded pretty Qui I reloaded quick uh got back into the fight um shot again till he dropped um however I knew at that time like he still wasn’t deemed to not be a threat that’s when I pushed around the front of the car to get closer to him I blanked around to the west side which is what um his upper torso was wasn’t getting effective shots as his legs were towards me and not his upper body um that’s when I pushed around to the the West Side the trunk of his vehicle um he had a pistol in his hand again re-engaged and the threat stopped at that point we so officer Mike Clow then had arrived on scene right after that got um detained him in handcuffs and then went and helped the other officers that were down um just kept breathing try to control my breathing um stay focused on the threat because you know he’s not down yet um he still poses a threat till he’s deemed not to be one um so I just stayed focused on that I mean we’re trained to like an active shooter situation you got to go push past all injured people until the shooters deem not to be a threat anymore it’s still an active situation at that time where we need to get to him we need to get him either detained um or eliminate him and it got to that point where he just had to be eliminated um I think the big thing was is being um physically fit um able to handle the stress the breathing um being mentally aware through like training on what you need to do what task has to happen and then like your um communication you got to be talking um talking your breathing um Vis or um verbally saying what you want the person to do um because every shot’s got to be justified um you got to know your use of force what needs to be done and what’s what use of force is applicable um so that’s big and then being like like mentally prepared for it um like I said like training scenarios um knowing what you can and cannot do it’s like your Rules of Engagement essentially you got to let people know what’s going on um and where you’re at otherwise nobody can respond to help you you need to let them know what they’re coming into so the officers are are mentally preparing on their way there they may be coming from all the way across town they may be coming from the station 10 blocks away but that gives them a little bit of time to know what they’re coming for um and so you’re trying to get as much information out as efficiently as possible um then while you’re doing that too you’re still in a gunfight you’re activating your um you’re perceiving the threat what to do what the appropriate actions are that you have to take um and then communicating towards the suspect what you want him to do you may get good shots on him he may drop and give up it doesn’t mean you can go up and continue to shoot then you go up you detain him um you you have somebody post Security on him and then you tend to the innocent people and the police officers um but you have to be you have to be like clear and concise with your statements that you’re issuing um hands up drop the gun stop moving all those and it’s simple clear commands so like there’s no doubt what you want that person to do um I needed help and I needed it now I needed officers I needed medical personnel and I knew we had multiple people down I don’t know what else is going on in the city but everybody that’s available I need help and I need it now the gravity of everything hit like right after probably like the guy got detained and I was I remember thinking to myself I did the whole like check on myself like am I hit or whatnot never said anything like verbally but I was like all right feel your arms feel your legs wiggle your toes like are you hit are you injured and I wasn’t luckily telling myself just to calm down and relax and get your breathing back under control um you’re no good to anybody if you can’t think straight um and you got to be able to talk communicate tell everybody what’s going on so responding people can help you out but it was like right away I was very like it hit me right away then getting back in the station and you got guys coming in on their off time um walking by the supervisor’s office like walking by seeing me coming in giving me hugs and um I still doesn’t even seem real it all happened this is where my Apple watch at the time um and I knew my heart rate got up there and just my own curiosity I looked back at it I got up to I think 169 beats per minute from going from probably like 80 beats to Jumping Up 10 in the span of a couple minutes uh I saw all three of them laying on the ground I so it was Jake Andrew then Tyler um I saw Jake saw was fatal wound moved on to Andrew um Andrew was laying on his back he was still moving he still had all his uniform and everything out at that point fire department they had just thrown it in reverse and waited till waited it out until um they determined they were good to come up um so then I stayed with Andrew officer Dirk tan had arrived um right around the same time I think that I got to doas um started like triaging him figuring out where he’s wounded how can we help him what do we need to do to get him out of here remove his vest Dy belt cut his clothes off um saw that he obviously had multiple multiple injuries gunshot wounds uh fire department paramedics were great at figuring out what to do um we just get the basic trauma stuff but they obviously have a more training and EXP experience dealing with gunshot wounds than all of us do just by their job status um we had officer doas loaded up fairly quick and off to the hospital like immediately um I personally didn’t go over to Tyler there was a lot of people that got on scene very fast as soon as as soon as all the shooting stopped um and everybody was finding work to do so then I just was I was um mentally aware that I what I was just involved in I was involved in offic involved shooting um and I needed to remove myself from the situation now that the scene was safe there were other people there Medics were there fire department was there and then I needed to um remove myself from the situation um and so then I was I found the first supervisor gave a quick statement um what happened basically um which direction I shot suspects victims and then I got paired up with officer Scott Normandin and him and I drove back to the station and waited for further instructions um stay with us um stay awake he um a couple different times closed his eyes um gave him a sternum rub woke him back up um he was obviously in quite a bit of pain and was was trying to roll around get on his side um but we needed to focus on his wounds and just told him to each had a hand we’re holding on to him um then had a medic get there right away and then a lot just stay with us trying to keep us trying to keep focus on us um he’s always trained like don’t let him fall asleep I knew his wounds were not good um he wasn’t bleeding a lot he had a lot of internal damage um and he needed to get to the hospital now um so as soon as he got he got loaded up he was first to get out of there I did not think Andrew was going to live like at all um i’ watched the color from his skin just go away and I knew he was losing a ton of blood and I mean I’ve seen people that have been shot before and where they’re still alive but then they get taken away and they die he looked just like that um I went home and like fell asleep on the couch and just woke up to a text message on my phone um from Brad cic and he said hey I’m outside your house right now and um walked outside and just talked to him and asked how dois is doing and he’s like yeah he went into surgery and he’s he’s doing good I was like so like obviously it was still serious but it was like very happy like relieving to hear that because I thought for sure he was going to tell me that he like didn’t make it um probably got my way home when I left I didn’t leave till 8:30 9:00 I called like my wife right after it happened I think when I was still on scene just said hey there was a shooting I’m okay let everybody it’s going to be a big like it’s going to be on the news so let let everybody know I called my dad too and told him like hey it was just a shooting but I’m okay and then nobody really knew that I was like an outside like the PD like no family or anything knew that I was like involved in it until like I like got back to the station I think and then I called my wife again just said hey I was I just shot a guy and um I’m not going to be home for a while but I’m okay and let her know that like three other guys got shot and then the way home called my mom and dad too and let him know that I was involved in it and cuz they didn’t know anything they just you have called them before when I’ve been at cred IAL incidents and just said hey I’m fine um my was like obviously check for me too cuz I was very very lucky that I wasn’t right next to right next to them it would have been all four of us then um but uh yeah I think for them knowing that it was it could have been like a lot worse and like I wasn’t hurt physically or anything I started crying right away basically I didn’t really say too much I just kind of told him what happened and it was just thankful that I was okay um yeah a lot of emotions obviously they didn’t expect to get a phone call like that on a Friday afternoon cuz I called my dad he’s like hey Zach how you doing I’m like I was just in shooting he was like what like you okay I’m like yeah I’m fine he’s like all right call me later then I called him on the way home or then I think I said I was involved in a shooting not was in a shooting but he said my voice sounded different too and he knew that like just his gut probably fatherly Instinct knew that I was involved in it but obviously didn’t know the Hulse like nobody would have thought this would have happened here right um but it did um and I don’t know it was bad bad day it’s definitely like reality like sets in because me you don’t ever know like what your destiny is what’s going to happen um I mean you’re going to a minor property crash and and this shooting happens where I’ve gone to hundreds of them before and nothing happens it’s get your information leave on the next call or go type their report go home for the day but then this happens and it’s it’s like a big reality check you take every day for make the most of it um I don’t know just puts everything in perspective that like like Jeff and Amy don’t have their son to call anymore when I was like sitting at home on leaves I mean it was nice to be home but then you’re just you I was just sitting at home like watching TV wasn’t doing anything productive with my life other than like being a dad and taking care of a 2-year-old which is fun too but um it’s just good to get like structure back in um still like plays in my mind like a thousand times day and still doesn’t seem like real that this even happened um last two months have just been like a whirlwind I mean it’s been had people reach out very thankful for everybody everything everybody’s done for me uh just to be grateful every day I mean I realized how close I was to like like getting shot not making it back and I didn’t get any I wasn’t wounded or anything like like Andrew Jake and Tai right but it was still like you never think you’re going to be in a situation like that um something so unexpected um but Zach at noon on Friday July 14th I was getting ready to go on vacation the following week and was helping Jake get through his midterm I had paperwork to do myself for it just get everything done um we now like today it’s like how do you say it like I don’t know I think the big thing is just to be grateful for what you got and found myself being more patient now too um not that I was ever impatient before but you go on being back to work like some like say had I’ve been in a car accident since then where I’ve been to hundreds of car accidents before but this might be this person’s first accident I think done a better job like explaining stuff to them like like why we need certain information and whatnot no no I wanted to come back right away um I was obviously needed the time off but when they said when I had the opportunity to come back I took one week off for myself and then on sitting at home like I need to get back and get around everybody see everybody again um I knew when I came back it was going to be a lot of conversations with people ask me how I was doing um which I’m very grateful for but I was glad to get back and see everybody again because it had i’ been very busy those couple weeks um like my wife told me like you were off work but you weren’t really off like you were busy every day I’m like yeah I know it’s there’s a lot lot going on a lot more than I ever thought would be going on um but there’s no question like I wasn’t going to not come back to work like like I wasn’t job hunting or anything I was I’m fully content where I’m at right now you know you look at other um shootings that have happened whether it’s like you know other states other parts of the country whatever um and try to learn from them um how how would you react how would you perform uh would you do it the same would you do it better would you do it worse um and then this happens and you go into fight ORF flight mode and luckily I chose fight versus flight um but yeah it was I don’t think I ever had like the worst Vision obviously like probably there’s been some pretty high-profile like school shootings and stuff lately and you hope you’d react and and um stop the threat as quick as you possibly can but you don’t know how you’re going to respond how you’re going to react until you get in that situation and I had my situation um I reacted and didn’t didn’t freeze didn’t wasn’t thinking about what to do what what should I do like what’s policy say it was I just reacted I have to think about it which is how you’re train to do you shouldn’t have to think about within a situation like that should just be all reaction but it just reinforces the fact of why you train um why you shoot till you run out of ammo and you reload so then when you’re doing it real life it’s just you don’t have to think about it you react remember I ran dry didn’t cross my mind you get put cover between you and the suspect reload and get back into it um and that was like the same like in the military too like you you shoot five rounds reload shoot five more um or whatever combination you have um but yeah it’s it just shows why you why you practice practice practice um was you hopefully practice and you never have the game but and I guess we like refer towards sports right but this happened and like I performed um how I was trained to do which I feel like anybody else would have done the same thing very grateful um for the Community even just like driving around seeing all the blue lights everybody that obviously cares about all of us um and know just not just me been checked in on it’s been every member at the department um people have checked in on them to see how they’re doing too because everybody was affected I mean I just happened to be the right place at the right time but it could have been anybody else too you know I’m just grateful that I was in like the right place to do what I needed to right place right time uh to do what was needed to be done because I got I’ve said it before I was very very lucky how things panned out um for me personally um the suspect I don’t think ever saw me didn’t know where I was didn’t know where he was getting shot at from um and I was just able to like I said before just react and um eliminate him before he had the chance to hurt anybody else which I think in like you put another unit gets sent there they do the same thing right um but I was just like I said right place right time and if I’m standing next to those three other guys I’m in the hospital too or or you know I don’t make it I don’t know I don’t know what would have happened I played the what if game and it’s not a good road to go down a lot I don’t know like what would have happened had he been able to get away because I’ve seen pictures from the street fair before and um I know a ton of people go there I talked to when I met with the attorney general and then um when I met with us attorney Max Schneider in his office overlooks I think Second Avenue North or First Avenue North looking towards Broadway and he said he looked out the day of that shooting when he found out and and people were just packed in there enjoying a Friday afternoon and had he gone there gotten all four of us you send every officer in the city in the metro to 800 block 25th Street and then he goes downtown and start shooting with that binary trigger and there would have been tons of casualties other wounded deceased it would have been horrible and same if he goes out to the the fairgrounds and does the same thing it’s it would have been a disaster I’m not working I’m my son just turned two and he act like he’s in his mid twos um as far as like Hobbies I like to go golfing play hockey um two-year-olds kind of put a little pump the brakes on that um but going to work out every morning it’s one of my big Hobbies is going to the gym before work um try to go like deer hunting every year um so hopefully November I’ll get out um fee and hunting just like to be outside I get sick of being inside yep that’s that’s outstanding that we’ve got candidates like that that they don’t even bat and ey like they know what what the job entails and there um they still completed their Academy they’re all out on PTO program right now whether they’re on days evenings nights um trying to learn the job so they can um be one of us be a full-time officer um yeah they I mean they had they had the out if they wanted it and none of them took it which is just remarkable because they’re brand new to this if they would have seen when they obviously saw what happened and if we’ve had people that have worked here in the past where they realized hey this isn’t for me um and that’s okay it’s not for everybody right if you want to go do a different career um you try it out it’s not for you okay you gave a shot no hard feelings right um but they’re all out there now um learning to be police officers that’s just it’s great I’m happy for all them at the time I didn’t have time to think about that um I had so many things going through my mind at that moment where in hindsight yeah it was bad I had no backup um I needed help and I needed help now I just need another set of hands just just to help me with everything but at the time I didn’t have that you work with what you got and I had me um so I knew I had to keep pushing forward I knew I had to get this guy down need to get him in handcuffs um what that took was deadly force um but then I Knew Too once I got the radio transmission out that I had everybody coming to help me and I could hear the hear the sirens I mean they’re you can hear them from a ways away and um I know they’re everybody was trying to get there as fast as they could uh we usually send two people to call for service depending on what it is um but that day I mean there’s four of us there and then it went from four to one real quick um that’s it’s like going back to earlier where you where you don’t have time to like think about it you just got to react and to get on the radio tell people what you need you need to be clear concise um to the point with what you need so everybody knows that just comes with time and experience like getting out pertinent information have people there within what 3 minutes which seems like it is a long time when you’re in that situation but in the grand scheme of things it’s pretty quick to get people there that many people there that many resources yeah definitely um uh so Andrew and I we worked on nights together then days and um unfortunately I didn’t know Tyler very well he’s in training and we always talked about how we need to hang out outside of work um work together every day know everything about them but you go home you go home your wife go home to your kid and then like see in 14 hours um that’s definitely changed our all of our wives have gotten to know each other now um um it’s definitely like different like you get that Bond now with them because we were there like a lot of people were there a lot of people um responded obviously work close with everybody um but to be there knowing that it was just like it was like four of us there and um this is definitely different now um so I’ve I’ve had the opportunity now to meet them a couple times um very wonderful family um was at the Bison game with them um last Saturday then we got to go in the field with them too and when Jake was recognized and then just kind of got to hang out and talk with them um at the football game which is really nice cuz it’s I mean they they live three hours away it’s not easy to to see them on a regular basis uh but just cherish the time we get with them um I don’t even know what they’re going through they got after having like yeah I just can’t imagine like having a kid and then having that happen to him so I knew there would be like the people in Fargo but I did not expect to be in like Morehead D Dorth Glendon aabon Holly Lake Park all the way two Pequot Lakes like that was I had no idea that was going to happen um was very quiet going through the cities like every little city on the bus like it was just soaking it all up and um did not imagine that it would be like that um and then Nation like Ian you got the US attorney general come to town to talk to to us that were involved never would have expected that to happen having the video being broadcasted everywhere um on the news and something I never thought would happen like I knew like locally it would happen um but as far as getting out there and um having it be seen everywhere was just did not expect it to happen um like I said earlier I very grateful would have not expected anything like this I mean there’s been shootings before in Fargo where um an officer’s not hit or anything and it’s kind of it’s hot news for a week and then it’s kind of every once in a while as the investigation continues more stuff comes out but this I would not expect this um it’s uh very like humbling to know that that many people care about you um because I would have never I mean we never planned for this to happen right but uh to know like have people from high school that I haven’t talked to in 15 years reach out just to see how you’re doing um like friends on Facebook Instagram that I never talk to that send me messages hey hope you’re doing well um just never would have thought that would happen so I left the house at like 4:00 and she was fast asleep still so but she obviously text me when I when she wakes up and um it was good to get back I didn’t have any I didn’t have like the Jitters coming back I mean I was paired up with another officer which was good um rod in the passenger seat just luckily we didn’t have too much going on that day but it was good to get back and like knock the dust off and after like first call for service I was like all right I’m back like obviously it’s still a lot going on in your mind but um being paired up with somebody like one of my friends helped out quite a bit um then two I think Ashley knew that I was ready to go back she wasn’t ready for me to go back but like I told her it’s like I got to like rip off the Band-Aid and because she wanted me to stay on death duty till after the baby was born I’m like I’m not going six months without working so I went back I think now after like going through this situation say like God forbid this happens again but say like a scenario similar happens right I can be like talk them through like hey this is going to happen um everybody’s very grateful that you’re okay and whatnot you’re going to have a lot of people try to contact you and try to coach them through that um and just be like like a good resource for no I’ll I’ll keep doing PTO um I don’t have any regrets doing it um looking back like nothing nothing could have been changed that day um with the PTO PTO training like I’m respons for safety welfare of the trainee um but I mean there’s nothing that could have been done differently um if I get approached tomorrow and say hey you’re going to have training for three weeks it’s like okay like I’m ready to go back into that role I want to put in for sergeant after this incident just to be a leader for all the other officers out on the street um when you’re in that position you are the point of contact when they have a question they contact you um if a supervisor is needed and I feel like um throughout training experience whatnot I have a pretty understanding on how to answer a majority of questions that will arise from being in that position um you have to have a good understanding of how the department works what goes on but getting into that position too there’s a lot that you have to learn that I as a patrol officer don’t don’t see um so then as a sergeant to um your uh mentor and a leader to the other to the patrol officers that are out on the street you need to be able to give quick and clear answers um during particular situations um one of my sergeants that have had in the past he you’d call him he had an answer for you right now um and somebody I look up to still and he if he didn’t have an answer for you he would get back to be like I’ll let you know and that’s about building those resources to know who to contact to find out what you need to know my best memory I mean I I couldn’t put a it’s probably the memories like the people that I’ve met doing this um I’ve met a lot of citizens obviously community members whatnot but I’ve also developed a lot of lifelong friends by working at the police department um our kids play together we have get togethers at each other’s houses um and I would have never got those relationships had I not applied to work here um yeah had I not been recruited essentially I wouldn’t have all my friends and may I’ve got outside friends obviously but a lot of like my really good friends work at the Fargo Police Department tell us to try it out um if you get hired start training realize it’s not for you okay nobody’s going to think any less of you um but you may really love it and you may have fun um come to work every day you don’t know what you’re going to encounter who you’re going to talk to you don’t know what situations what problems you’re going to have to solve that’s what makes it a great job probably Jake’s family dealing with the loss of him um I just after having like a son I just can’t even imagine and then like then winter losing her fiance too it’s like I don’t know what I would have done if I had been in that situation I don’t know it’s horrible not bad multiple people tell me that like I’m glad you were there that day and uh say 23 years from now and I hit 30 years to have somebody come up to me like a could even be a brand new person be like I’m glad like you were my supervisor I’m glad you were there to help in this situation that’s like the biggest honor to hear that from other from other cops is to say like I’m glad you were there to help out