Submitted photo Standing next to his 1967 Mercury Cougar, Joe Krogman holds a license plate that reads: “I’m 10-7” — police code for out of service. The plate is symbolic of his retirement from the Marshall Police Department after more than 30 years of service.

MARSHALL — At 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Detective Joe Krogman officially retired from the Marshall Police Department after more than 30 years of service.

After a fulfilling career, Krogman said he’s excited about retirement.

“I look as it as a challenge, a new beginning, a kid going to his first day of school,” Krogman said. “There’s all that excitement with all the butterflies in the stomach and everything else.”

Krogman started his law enforcement career as a part-time officer in Ivanhoe. After a year, he started part time at MPD. Five months later — in November of 1986 — Krogman became a full-time officer at MPD.

On Wednesday, Krogman was honored at a retirement party, where people from all walks of life gathered to bid their farewell.

“He had a good turnout for that,” officer James Marshall said. “There were a lot of people who came and went.”

Fellow officers also gave Krogman a proper send-off on Thursday.

“We had a send-off party for him,” officer Jason Kopitski said. “We lined up some squad cars. He drives into work, so he had to walk by some squad cars, get into a car and depart. We were all kind of lined up, shaking hands, waving and clapping and saying some goodbyes. It’s a start of new life for him.”

Kopitski credits Krogman, a Russell native, for the reason he joined the force.

“Joe chased me around in high school — told me to go home a few times,” Kopitski said. “I had respect for him, and I followed his foot paths into law enforcement.”

Kopitski admits he’s glad he did.

“I’ve got 20 years in here, and I worked alongside Joe since I started,” he said. “It’s kind of fun coming back to work with a guy who inspired me.”

Marshall said Krogman is very much going to be missed.

“I’ve worked my whole career with Joe — 25 years so far,” Marshall said. “He’s going to be missed, that’s for sure. He’s done some great work.”

Marshall said that Krogman was involved in a few of the city of Marshall’s most high profile cases.

“I’d say one of the things we’re going to miss most about Joe is his tenacity because he’s never hesitated in stressful, difficult situations,” Marshall said. “And he’s been part of probably the two biggest cases I’ve been involved in over the last 25 years. One involved an assault that took place. Joe actually apprehended the individual during the assault.”

The other case involved a pursuit that ended up in a shooting.

“Joe never hesitated at all,” Marshall said. “He was always a great partner and somebody that in stressful situations, you were glad he was with.”

Krogman started doing investigative work fairly early on in his career.

“I was on the Brown-Lyon-Redwood Task Force when it was in its infancy,” he said.

Krogman was also the first Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) officer at MPD.

“I talked to fifth-graders in the classroom,” Krogman said. “I did that one hour a day for 17 weeks. It’s basically to help teach kids, to give them some tools to help them resist temptation and violence.”

Krogman did that for two years at the elementary level. After serving as a DARE educator at the junior high for two years, Krogman was promoted to corporal, going on to serve as a drug recognition expert (DRE).

“I would find people who were impaired from a drug other than alcohol,” he said. “When officers knew someone was impaired, I’d be called to the scene and I’d run a battery of test on them. I did that for 10 to 15 years.”

Even after he moved into a different role, Krogman still served in that capacity.

“I’d still get called out to do DRE tests on people,” Krogman said. “I’d determine if the person was on some stimulant or other drug. And sometimes, it was just medical — they had some disease where their muscle control wasn’t good.”

The last 10-12 years of his career, Krogman was a plain clothes investigator.

“I worked everything form financial crimes to assaults,” he said.

Throughout his 31-year career at MPD, Krogman said he worked with a lot of good people, including victims, their families and professionals in the police department, court system, legal field, social services, medical field and school system.

“My experience was an enjoyable one,” Krogman said. “It’s been interesting. There’s some cases that stand out over the years, but my greatest memories are just meeting the people and getting to help the people. It’s kind of surreal to think it’s over.”

Krogman acknowledges that the life of a police officer can be a difficult one.

“You see terrible things sometimes,” he said. “It isn’t always pleasant, but somebody has to do it. Some people make bad choices, so you try to deal with that and handle it.”

Safety is always a driving force.

“You want to keep the general population safe and not be victimized and you also want to get these people help in those situations,” Krogman said.

The retiree said he was thankful for the support he’s gotten from people in southwest Minnesota.

“The individuals that don’t care for you, it’s usually because of something that happened elsewhere,” Krogman said. “Once they get to know you, it’s better. They don’t always realize that we live in the same community and our kids go to the same school together. We’re not out to be the bad guy — we’re just out to make things safe for everybody.”

A lot of things have changed over the course of three decades.

“Marshall has changed 10-fold as far as the people we deal with,” Krogman said. “Some of the violence has increased and we see firearms and knives on a more regular basis. IV drugs have also increased. We didn’t see those a whole lot in the ’80s. Now we see needle marks or find drug paraphernalia pretty regularly.”

While Krogman had 32 years on the job and was starting to consider retirement in the future, a bulging disc in his neck helped speed up the decision.

“I was in excruciating pain,” he said. “I had a bulging disc in my neck that was putting pressure on my nerves, so I had pain shooting down my arm. And the pain medicines didn’t come close to taking care of the pain.”

Krogman learned he needed surgery and would have to be out of work for six months.

“It finally occurred to me that I’d be using all my sick time and vacation time and that I wouldn’t be able to do my job — I wouldn’t even be allowed to lift anything — so I figured I might as well let someone else come in and do it,” the 52-year-old Krogman said. “Otherwise, I probably would’ve waited to retire.”

While he’s thrilled to start retirement, Krogman said perhaps his wife, Jan, is even more excited.

“She still works, but she’s pretty happy about it,” he said. “I plan to get a job just to keep myself busy and active. I just don’t know if it’ll be part-time or full-time. But I know I want to be out seeing and meeting people.”

Krogman anticipates staying in the Marshall area.

“I have children who live in the area,” he said.

While Krogman expects it to be challenging at first, he’s certain that he’ll enjoy driving his 1967 Mercury Cougar — a classic he bought this past November in Dallas, Texas.

“I’m so used to getting dressed for work and knowing where I’m going,” he said. “Now, all of that has changed.”