Spence Osterberg never planned on being a cop, but now it seems he just can’t give it up.

Saturday, January 13, 2001

Spence Osterberg never planned on being a cop, but now it seems he just can’t give it up.

After 28 years with the Albert Lea Police Department, Osterberg has retired to begin his own private detective business.

Within the next few months, he hopes to have a private license and the go-ahead to continue doing what he does best, but he will be missed by the ALPD.

&uot;I was fortunate to have had Detective Osterberg as an investigator for the Albert Lea Police Department.&uot; Albert Lea Police Chief Tim

Menning said. &uot;I consider him to be one of the most talented investigators in the entire state.&uot;

Osterberg’s success was hard earned, Menning said.

&uot;He was tenacious and he had a great deal of credibility,&uot; he said. &uot;He never lost the enthusiasm or the energy to get the bad guy.&uot;

In the early 1970’s, Osterberg had just earned his Sociology degree and jobs were scarce. A brother-in-law who was living in Albert Lea encouraged him to apply with the ALPD. Osterberg had been an MP with the National Guard, and had enjoyed that, so decided to give it a try.

He was accepted, and would be a patrolman in Albert Lea for the next 11 years before being promoted to Detective.

&uot;I really had no reason for getting into police work except it sounded like it would be fun back in the 70s,&uot; he said. &uot;You know, looking for a way to change the world, and I figured that would be a good way,&uot;

It wasn’t a far stretch for a man who wanted to be a Social Worker. His sociology background has actually been helpful in detection.

&uot;It doesn’t help you solve cases, but it helps you understand people’s motivations,&uot; he said.

&uot;I was always more of a street cop than a detective,&uot; he said.

Osterberg worked nights and weekends getting to know the people he was dealing with, learning their lifestyles and motivations. He worked night shifts so he could get in touch with more people. It was never a matter of sitting behind a desk, looking at papers, he said. He was never off the case, even when he was off the clock.

&uot;There were some officers that could do it,&uot; he said. &uot;Put in their eight hours and then went home. I never could.&uot;

Real life detective work is not like it is on television, Osterberg said. In the ALPD, he learned to work with a shortage of manpower, equipment, and time. Offices were cramped and windowless, furniture was handed down from other departments, and the economic bottom line forever loomed over his head.

&uot;When you’re working in real life, it’s ‘Work with what you have,’&uot; he said.

The bottom line was the source of the greatest frustration for Osterberg. In fact, he said very little of his on-the-job stress came from the everyday exposure to violence and recidivism. Most of it was administrative.

A lot of officers feel the same way, he said.

&uot;Dealing with the courts, dealing with the county attorney, dealing with the police administration, has caused me more stress than dealing with the criminals on the street,&uot; he said.

&uot;To me, I don’t think it should be that way,&uot; he said. &uot;You’re seeking justice, and it shouldn’t be that way.&uot;

Basic police work hasn’t changed over the last 28 years, but the context has, Osterberg said. Becoming a policeman is no longer a decent job for the neighborhood boys, it is a career requiring a college degree.

Now that police departments require their employees have a law enforcement degree, the job doesn’t attract such a wide variety of people, Osterberg said. It is difficult to tell how that will affect the future of law enforcement, but it is sure to have some sort of impact, he said.

The criminals have changed over the years too, Osterberg said. In addition to the old standbys, new people are coming into Albert Lea and setting up shop: peddling drugs, prostituting, working credit card and check scams, and teaching local youth to do the same.

When he started as a patrolman, cops and criminals had more in common, he said. They had different sets of values, but a policeman could easily understand the thinking of a criminal.

&uot;You were coming from the same place,&uot; he said. &uot;When I got hired, all you needed was a high school diploma. You got your on-the-job

training, then they gave you a gun and a badge and off you went.&uot;

So off Osterberg went, and went on to be one of the ALPD’s finest detectives.

&uot;I enjoyed the work,&uot; he said. &uot;I really did.&uot;