GRAND MEADOW – As Police Chief Jim Richardson tells the story, he was sitting in his squad car parked along the shoulder on Highway 16 at the edge of the city limits.

Thursday, June 28, 2001

GRAND MEADOW – As Police Chief Jim Richardson tells the story, he was sitting in his squad car parked along the shoulder on Highway 16 at the edge of the city limits.

It was late in the evening on June 6 and his squad car’s parking lights were on and he was using the dome light inside the car to do paper work.

The white car has blue markings, including the Grand Meadow Police Department’s emblem.

"I mean, a white police car with lights on, it was pretty hard to miss," he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

Shannon R. Schmidts, 28, of Spring Valley, drove past the police car and drove eastward on Highway 16. The police chief’s radar clocked him at 55 mph in the 45 mph speed zone.

Richardson turned on his emergency lights and pursued the vehicle until it stopped. Then, he got out of his squad car and approached the vehicle on foot for still another routine traffic stop.

He went by the book: asking for the driver’s license and speaking politely. Richardson calls it "developing a rapport with a suspect."

The driver and a front-seat passenger, identified as Troy M. Buchanan, 27, of Spring Valley, seemed nervous.

Richardson recognized Buchanan from previous meetings when he lived in Grand Meadow.

Nothing goes on in the community of 967 people that the police chief doesn’t know about.

On this summer’s evening, the police chief radioed for backup and Jeff Ellis, a Mower County Sheriff’s Department deputy, responded with his "partner," Cleo, a canine unit trained in narcotics detection.

The dog walked around Schmidts’ car and indicated on the driver’s side door.

"I found a little dope, but Cleo’s nose found the rest of it," Richardson said.

The driver and his passenger were arrested.

Richardson and the deputy found 4.4 ounces of marijuana and 7.8 grams of cocaine, all in individual packets.

The quantity of drugs was enough to merit felony drug charges, including intent to sell, against the driver, while his passenger was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.

The passenger was released on his own recognizance, but the driver was taken to the Mower County Jail and held on the felony drug charges. His car was seized on behalf of the city of Grand Meadow.

"That’s the third traffic stop I’ve made recently which resulted in drug charges also being filed," Richardson said. "I wouldn’t say Grand Meadow has anymore of a drug problem than any other community, but we do get a lot of traffic off the freeway (Interstate 90) and other transient people passing through from Highway 63 and that’s why we always have to be vigilant."

"We may not be able to stop all the drugs, but every once in awhile we can take a nip at them," he said.

Richardson, a 1985 graduate of Hayfield High School, has been Grand Meadow’s police chief for six years.

His wife Darcy is a member of the Grand Meadow Board of Education. The couple has two children, Sydney, 6, and Wyatt, 4.

After high school, Richardson earned a national reputation for his wrestling skills. His reputation grew with his prowess and he wrestled in Europe and Australia and was a finalist for the U.S. Olympics team twice.

"My philosophy as a police chief in a small town is when I drive around I think about all the kids who are at home asleep, whose parents want to be protected," he said. "That’s why I’m here. I really feel I can make a difference."

In recent years, the buzzwords in law enforcement have been "community policing," a method of putting peace officers on the streets in neighborhoods and everywhere their presence can be better noticed.

Community police is what Richardson and other small-town police chiefs and officers have been doing literally forever.

They are out there as citizens, taxpayers, many holding other jobs, too, and otherwise visible in their communities.

At night, they patrol the same streets to protect and serve.

The city of Grand Meadow, as well as Richardson’s hometown of Hayfield, showed how much they admire and respect the man with a hugely successful fund-raiser three years ago, when cancer threatened his health and life.

Richardson returns the attention by simply doing his job.

"I really feel a loyalty to the town and the entire county," he said.

Richardson believes the law enforcement efforts must include teamwork among agencies. He regularly meets with his peers in the Minnesota State Patrol, Mower County Sheriff’s Department and individual police departments at Adams, Lyle and Mapleview and Brownsdale.

In addition, because of Grand Meadow’s location on the far eastern Mower County border, he exchanges information with agencies in nearby Olmsted and Fillmore counties.

He also regularly communicates with Mayor Jim Baudoin and the Grand Meadow City Council.

More likely, he communicates with residents of the community; both senior citizens and younger adults as well as teen-agers and children.

When young adults with known gang affiliations moved into Grand Meadow a year ago, the police chief "got to know them" immediately.

His "Barney Fife" demeanor, as the police chief describes it, can fool strangers, but the good ol’ boy image only belies another side to Richardson.

"You may bite one hand, but I’ve still got another one to use," he said.

He describes his interaction with citizens, thusly: "There is a positive reaction to something positive said or done to me, but for negative actions, there’s another reaction."

When citizens tell Richardson about an unusual amount of traffic coming and going from a residence at all hours of the night, chances are the police chief will visit that house.

"I don’t circle the house. I go into it and tell them ‘Can we talk? People are saying bad things about you’ and you’d be surprised at the reactions I get. You can feel the tension, but I think it solves problems before they get out of hand by being proactive."

He is also a realist about today’s law enforcement efforts.

"Everybody knows the Austin Police Department has personnel shortages in our biggest city in Mower County and everybody knows the Sheriff’s Department also is understaffed," he said. "I don’t think any of us are the single answer to fighting crime, but we can work together to better manage the problems. That should be our goal as peace officers.

"We all work together. We regularly exchange information and interact with citizens. Community policing is what we do."

Richardson describes the work of a small-town police officer as "90 percent of the time we deal with 10 percent of the population."

Richardson has surrounded himself with a top-notch crew of officers. Sgt. Mike Gehrke of Rose Creek is the veteran and second-in-command. Patrol officers include two women, the only members of their gender – excluding Mower County Chief Deputy Terese Amazi and Deputy Sheriff Martha Anderson – employed in law enforcement anywhere in Mower County.

Sabrina Murphy, a native of Lyle, and Paulette Clark, the former probation officer who is coordinator of law enforcement education at Riverland Community College, are employed by the city of Grand Meadow.

Dave Terbeest of Spring Valley is the other part-time officer.

"They’re a good group of professional, certified peace officers," he said.

But the police chief said citizens can play an important role in keeping their communities safe. "Citizens can help us by being good neighbors," he said. "They can help us by taking the time to write down what they saw happen and contacting us immediately."

Thus, community policing is a job not only for the men and women behind badges, but those they protect and serve, too.

Big Jim Classic

The third annual Big Jim Golf Classic tournament will be held Aug. 25 at the Oaks Country Golf and Supper Club at Hayfield.

All proceeds from the four-man best shot tourney will go to the Hope Lodge for cancer victims and their families at Rochester.

The grand prize for this year’s hole-in-one challenge remains to be selected.

Anyone interested in donating items for the many drawings held during the tournament may call Jim Richardson at (507) 754-4455.

For more information about the Big Jim Golf Classic, call the Oaks at (507) 477-3233.

Call Lee Bonorden at 434-2232 or e-mail him at lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com.