Volker and Buer worked on law enforcement projects

The Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office has partnered with Clearbrook-Gonvick School to sponsor a Job Shadowing Program for two students who are interested in a career in law enforcement. Ms. Taylor Volker and Mr. Ethan Buer, two seniors with the Clearbrook-Gonvick school, have been working an assortment of law enforcement related projects since last September. 

The two just finished up a project were they monitored and documented speeds on roads throughout the Clearbrook-Gonvick School District. Eleven different sites where selected, all in 55 MPH zones, and both students were issued hand held radars and were required to monitor and document each site. Their findings were then compared to each other and given an average score for each roadway. It was found that on average vehicles traveling throughout the school district were going 56.5 MPH. The highest speed recorded was on County Road #23 outside of Leonard at 87 MPH. The Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office will take the data and reposition patrol deputies to address problem areas. 

In addition to their latest project the students stayed busy throughout the year on other assignments. They completed a similar survey like the one above that focused on seatbelts. With their findings the Sheriff’s Office partnered up with the Minnesota State Patrol to address problem areas. The student did two cold case reviews. One involving a missing person from twenty years ago and another involving the death of a young man more than 30 years ago. 

Last fall the students completed a month long exercise that involved them doing research through internet searches, social media, and public records for suspects that the sheriff’s office had active arrest warrants. The information found was used to make not only arrests but to also clear names that were no longer valid. Like the individual who fled Minnesota than died of natural causes in another state. 

The student got their first experience working undercover. While under the direct supervision of a plain clothes deputy they did tobacco compliance checks on area businesses. 

The checks are done periodically to make sure businesses and their employees are properly checking for ID. A similar check is done with alcohol when the minors turn 18 years old. The students help the sheriff’s office administration in tracking the yearly activity of each deputy. Those findings were used in the yearly evaluation of each employee. The students got a chance to work in the Clearwater County Jail. Also with the assistance of the Clearwater County Attorney’s Office they got the chance to observe several court proceedings. 

When the program started the Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office wanted to stress to the students the importance of working with community leaders in address problems. To accomplish this the student, once a week would have a breakfast meeting with a different community leader. They got to meet county commissioners, city mayors, township supervisors, school superintendents, local law enforcement leaders, and other community members. 

The Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office would like to publicly thank the students for their hard work in serving the people of Clearwater County, and wish them the best as they continue on in their career goals. 

Ryan Solee

Chief Deputy

Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office