Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a New Ulm Police Officer? About a week ago, we interviewed three different Officers at three different levels. We interviewed The Chief of Police, Myron Wieland, Sheriffs Deputy Jason Seidl, and Officer Flek. We asked each of them 5 questions, mostly concerning teenagers.

First we interviewed Officer Wieland, the first question we asked was “How does the school day change the mood in New Ulm?” He answered “There are definitely more calls after the school day ends rather than during the school day.” The next question we asked him was “What age group is most commonly pulled over?” He answered “We don’t try and target any age group, race, or gender.” After that we asked him “What is the most common call you get from dispatch?” He replied “Witnesses complaining about criminal activity. A lot of small but important things.” Next we asked him “Is there a big difference in the day between the summer and the school year?” He answered “It doesn’t change too much because the school day kind of ties in with the american work schedule (9-5) besides, the fact that there are obviously more teens driving around in the summer.” The last question we asked him was “What is the most common call involving a teen, and what percent of the calls involve a teen.” He replied “Most of the calls involving teens are usually parent-teenager disputes, or when the teenagers aren’t cooperating with the parents.” He then said “Only about 5-7% of calls involve teens.”

We interviewed Sheriff Deputy Siedl second, the first question we asked him was “does the mood of the day change when school starts?” His response to that was “It’s more organized during the school day, and there are a lot of driving complaints after school.” The next question we asked was “Who are your most often people to get pulled over?” His response to that one was “We don’t target anyone, we pull over what we see, we try to place cops in the spots where we feel.” We than asked “What is your most common call that you get?” He answered “Usually cellular 911 calls, small things are the most common.” We also asked him “What percentage of calls involve teens?” He answered “About 5%.”

Lastly, we interviewed Officer Flek, the first question we asked him was “what is your most common call involving a teen?” His response was “parent and child disputes, the parent does not know how to deal with their child.” Second question we asked him was “does the mood of the day change once school starts?” His response was “more calls come in after school, sometimes in the morning.” Third question we asked him was “what is the most common call you get from dispatch?” His response was “medical calls are most often.” Fourth question we asked him was “who are most often to get pulled over?” His response was “mainly younger drivers from the age of 16-22 years old.” Last question was “is there a difference in your job during the summer rather than in the school year?” His response was ” summer we get more calls, more distractions.”

Overall the Officers answers were consistent. The Officers are not significantly affected by teenagers on a daily basis. The Officers are also not affected by adult driving either. Sheriff’s Deputy Siedl stated a good point by saying “We do not target out any certain age or race.” They just look for the things people are doing wrong.