"I know the pendulum will swing back": Retiring St. Cloud police chief reflects on future of policing
ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- After more than 25 years in law enforcement, Chief Blair Anderson will be retiring in November. He's been St. Cloud's police chief for the past decade.
Anderson is known for stressing the service aspect of the job and emphasizing positive police-community relations.
"I grew up in one of the roughest neighborhoods in one of the roughest cities at the time. Detroit was one of the roughest cities on the planet," said Anderson.
Even though he's spent the majority of his life in Minnesota, Anderson said he is still a Detroit kid at heart.
"If you have to pin me down, I'm going with my home squad. So you know I know pain. I've been a Lions fan my whole life," said Anderson.
He took the Detroit values his parents and coaches instilled in him to a career in law enforcement. When he became St. Cloud's police chief a decade ago, he emphasized respect and dignity for all. He even flipped the words on the squad cars from "protect and serve" to "serve and protect," because he believes the protect part is a given.
"The service is more important because that's where you get to make those connections. That's where you get to reach out and engage on a human level," said Anderson.
Anderson said the past, couple years have been the hardest of his career.
"The men and women who serve were demonized, they were polarized, we were blow-torched," said Anderson. "Just because I wear a badge, and a uniform, doesn't mean I'm Derek Chauvin or some other oppressor or some brutal individual. That's true for 99.9% of the people who come and serve. They are doing the job the right way for the right reason. In my opinion, unfortunately the wrong people got the bullhorn and the platform for too long."
Always outspoken, Anderson testified at the State Capitol against past efforts to defund the police.
"Whether it was defunding the police or total reform, or banning no-knock warrants, it is absolutely absurd. It's dangerous and it's scary and I'm not speaking out of school because I said those things to the public safety committee," said Anderson. "The people who propose that kind of lunacy have never been on the business end of an automatic weapon."
He said what's helped him are countless phone calls, cards and support from people across the country.
"I know the pendulum will swing back. It's already starting to. But we've got a long road to haul," said Anderson.
Even after retirement, he plans on being a resource for men and women in law enforcement. As far as his own career, Anderson said he's proud of the legacy he's leaving behind.
"I would do it for free. Because in this humble guy's opinion we were put here to be of service to one another. And there's no better platform and no better profession to actually be of service to other human beings," said Anderson.
Anderson said he has no immediate plans in retirement other than spending time with his family, working on his golf game and going to Timberwolves games.
His last day in St. Cloud will be Nov. 30. Assistant Chief Jeff Oxtong will take over for Anderson. He is the first internal promotion for the job in more than three decades.