Waite Park Police Officer Retires After 38 Years Of Service

WAITE PARK -- After nearly four decades serving the community, Waite Park police officer Tom Jensen is retiring his badge.

Jensen has spent all 38 years with the department since graduating from Alexandria Technical College.

He says his interest in being a police officer started at a young age.

I grew up in a small town and my dad would always chase the fire trucks. When I was about five or six our town bank was robbed and they blew the fire whistle and everybody would come out and they eventually caught the bank robber behind our house.

Jensen says during his time as a police officer he's seen a lot of changes not only around Waite Park but within law enforcement.

If you would of told me back then we would have computers and riffles in our cars, no one would believe that. We had a radio with four channels, now we have multiple channels. It's those type of things.

He while he will miss the people he's worked with and the community members he's met over the years, he's looking forward to spending more time a home.

His advice to young officers is to build partnerships within the community you serve.

A retirement celebration is being held from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the lower conference room inside city hall.