Jim Ratelle has only been the chief of police in Wells for a little more than three weeks, but he looks forward to working with his officers and the community to improve the Wells Police Department.

Ratelle, who served as a patrolman in Wells for 4 1/2 years before becoming chief, worked as a shipping supervisor in Bloomington at Quality Bicycle Products Inc. for about 10 years before he transitioned to police work. He said he made the change because he wanted to do something worthwhile and to make a difference.

“I suppose I was going through a midlife crisis and wanted to have a greater impact in the community than selling products,” Ratelle said. “I really enjoy helping people, and I thought law enforcement would be a great place to do it.”

Ratelle said working at Quality Bicycle Products taught him the importance of interacting with his employees. He’ll hold his first departmental meeting as chief in April. Ratelle said it will mainly focus on his expectations for the department, and he said he’ll also work to learn more about his officer’s skills and what motivates them.

“For the officers, my goal is going to be to get input from them on what they want to accomplish while they’re here,” Ratelle said. “Yeah, our job and our purpose is to protect and to serve, but what does that really mean? How do we apply that in the city of Wells?”

There are four part-time officers and four full-time officers, including Ratelle, in Wells. Ratelle said one issue he’ll address is the officer’s shifts, because they currently flip schedules each week. With officers working nights one week and days the next, Ratelle said it’s hard for the officers to form a consistent rhythm and sleep cycle.

At Quality Bicycle Products, Ratelle supervised upwards of 30 people, and he said he learned there how to deal with personnel issues and how to motivate people and see what the company needed to be successful.

“Obviously I’m not managing 35 people. I’m managing eight people right now,” Ratelle said. “The principles are all the same: What do I need to do to create a work environment in which people strive to succeed?”

Much of forming that work environment will entail Ratelle working early in his tenure to learn his administrative duties, he said.

“I’m just hoping to get the office cleaned up and get our policy manual up to speed,” Ratelle said. “My expectation is the first couple of months are going to be primarily administrative tasks that I’m trying to get cleaned up on. I need to be brought up to speed on dealing with emergency management and things like that.”

As emergency manager, Ratelle will work to communicate with the state during an emergency like a tornado. Even with his new duties, Ratelle will still patrol because he’s a working police chief.

Ratelle said Wells was a good fit for his family, because his wife is originally from Albert Lea, and she wanted to be closer to her hometown.

Ratelle said he’ll also need to communicate with the schools and other businesses and people in the community to work to form a successful department.

“Ultimately our goal to be a successful police department is going to be partnering with the community on taking care of crimes, listening to complaints and listening to people,” Ratelle said. “Because obviously as a police department, we’re not successful unless we we’re working with the community to solve these problems, because we can’t do it alone. We can only be successful with the help of the community.”

Ratelle said learning the new role and learning to be the city’s emergency manager can be a daunting role, but he said he’s excited for the opportunity and the things he will learn.

“I think this can become a really good department,” Ratelle said. “There’s really good officers that work here. I really want to see us become the best that we can become.”