When the streetlights come on in Pierce County, it signals the waning hours of the day for the majority. For others, the day is just getting started. 

Ensuring safety of the community is a 24-hour gig for the River Falls Police Department, and Patrol Sergeant Logan Dohmeier shared what officers are up to when the sun goes down and the lights come on. 

Growing up, Dohmeier was always curious about where police cars, fire trucks and ambulances were going when they went by. The curiosity stayed with him as he got older, which eventually played a role in his interest in becoming a law enforcement member. 

Dohmeier, who got a degree in psychology, said it has connected to what he does on the job a lot, as every scenario and person is different, and the police need to understand that. 

“Psychology is 100% applicable to this job,” Dohmeier said. “Same thing with like social work, really any communication-oriented degrees. There’s so many things that we do on this job that it would probably be impossible to cover everything. You would have to ride with us for weeks, months.” 

Dohmeier said as River Falls grows, there will be more crime, which caused him to take interest in helping victims and getting people that commit violent crimes off the street. 

“It’s definitely, I would say, the coolest job in the world,” Dohmeier said. “To me, I think one of the most satisfying aspects of the job is when you get to see and be a part of a positive change in someone’s life.”  

One way officers can do this, according to Dohmeier, is by re-establishing a victim’s sense of security. Dohmeier said when the police respond to a domestic disturbance call, it is usually not the first time it has occurred in the household. He said psychological manipulation from the offender leads to the victim not calling the police right away. The police can help them feel in control and provide resources. 

“That person ultimately is going to be changed for the rest of their life, because that’s a very traumatic experience,” Dohmeier said. “But knowing that someone is going to be there within minutes to make sure that problem is effectively dealt with is going to, again, re-establish some of that sense of security.” 

The types of calls the police respond to at night are different, according to Dohmeier, with more domestic disturbances and people under the influence of alcohol and drugs. 

“In my personal opinion, I feel like there’s more of the higher priority disturbance type calls,” Dohmeier said. “You see a little bit more violence and they’re very engaging calls to police in.” 

Dohmeier said many types of calls during the day like parking complaints, animal complaints and civil issues are not as common at night. While this is not true of every call, Dohmeier said it is a general trend. 

On the night shift, Dohmeier said officers have to learn to think on their feet, as investigators and other resources are often done working for the day. 

Support  

Support for police officers varies by the community across the nation, but Dohmeier said there are values that contribute to building that trust. Professional, ethical and transparent policing are three of those values that Dohmeier said the public and the police department see as critical. 

“I think there’s probably a number of pieces into that puzzle,” Dohmeier said. “We don’t want to deviate from our professional standards under any circumstances. Regardless of how ugly the situation gets that you respond to, we are expected and trained and evaluated to perform and conduct ourselves in every manner.” 

To establish trust from the community, Dohmeier said it takes officers going out, being friendly, being transparent and conducting themselves professionally. He said departments in which the trust is not there is often because of multiple occasions of police misconduct and the department not holding itself to the standards. He said the responsibility of building the trust ultimately falls in the hands of the department. 

“People around here, I feel like, want to live in a safe community; they don’t want to see crime skyrocket,” Dohmeier said. “We’ve got tons of parks, you see kids out all the time, and there’s a reason for that. There’s not areas of the city where people are like ‘Oh, you’ve got to stay away from there.’” 

Community support is something the officers have different experiences with, depending on if they are working during the day or at night. 

“You run into, or find yourself interacting with, the majority of the public that supports you during the daytime,” Dohmeier said. “There’s a big difference between that, because let’s say it’s like 1 a.m. and I’m driving through downtown, I might get someone that yells something profane at me or gives me the finger or something like that. Whereas when I’m driving around on day shift, everyone’s waving to me.” 

Dohmeier gave thanks to city council, Mayor Dan Toland and City Administrator Scot Simpson for the support they have given the department over the years, and said that level of support from those three is not something you see in many places. 

Another area the department feels supported is working together with the fire department, hospital, EMS and other police departments. 

“At the end of the day, we all have the same goal,” Dohmeier said. “And that’s to protect the public, preserve life.” 

Mental health 

One area Dohmeier felt change may be needed is when it comes to mental health, calling the system both inefficient and rarely effective. Dohmeier said police in the state respond to mental health calls and lead the way when it comes to making decisions on if and what facilities people will be taken to. There are doctors that are trained for years about mental health, and know how to handle the situations better than police at times. In addition, having police respond to the calls often brings trauma and makes the situation worse for some people. 

When checking people into mental health facilities, he said the nearest options are in Amery and Eau Claire, and the officers need to drive them there. In some cases, the person is sent to the state-run facility in Winnebago, which involves a nearly four-hour drive with the person in the back of a cop car. Dohmeier said he once made the trip to Winnebago over 15 times in a year. 

“When I first started the job, I was absolutely shocked by the process,” Dohmeier said. 

Dohmeier said River Falls Chief of Police Gordon Young is one of the biggest proponents of changing the process, putting in many hours to help make a change. 

This article is the first part of a series of night shift features. If you or someone you know works the night shift in Pierce County and would like to share your story, reach out to andrew@piercecountyjournal.news.