PASSING THE BADGE

Posted 7/6/21

From Page 1 time,” he said. Sather said one of the more memorable funny moments of his career was a specific night that he was supposed to be writing parking tickets. “Someone was driving through …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

PASSING THE BADGE

Posted

From Page 1

time,” he said.

Sather said one of the more memorable funny moments of his career was a specific night that he was supposed to be writing parking tickets.

“Someone was driving through stop signs and stop lights and it wasn’t really a chase because he was only really going about 35 miles per hour in a 25, but we finally caught up to him and we got him to stop and put the handcuffs on him. And we write parking tickets at night and this is at about 2 a.m. and I looked at the person I was working with and just said ‘does this mean I don’t have to write parking tickets tonight’ and just laughed to lighten to mood,” he said.

Sather has turned over his badge number to his son Alex Sather who was recently hired at the River Falls Police Department. Alex Sather will be carrying on his father’s legacy in River Falls after recently graduating from UW-Eau Claire.

“It was emotional giving him my badge and I was excited to see that happen for him,” Jeff Sather said. “I didn’t even know he was interested in law enforcement until a couple years ago.”

His plans for retirement are to currently relax and start a new full-time position he has taken in a few weeks as a warehouse manager. After 25 years in law enforcement, he felt it was time for a new officer to take his place and it’s fitting that it is his son.

“I’m excited to try something new, it’ll be weird not knowing the day to day of what is happening in the city,” he said.

Sather expressed his gratitude toward the River Falls community. He said, “In River Falls the community has been really good to us and there is a really good relationship between law enforcement and the community.”

With the challenges the community has faced the past year he is appreciative of everything the community does.

“Within the last year or two with COVID and everything going on we have gotten more thank you notes and treats then we ever have. It’s a good community and there are a lot of good relationships there. Police officers in River Falls do a lot of unseen things in the community and they really care and become invested in the lives of community members,” he said.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Sather