Brooklyn Center’s new police chief has been around law enforcement all of his life. Growing up in Brooklyn Park with a 26-year officer as a father, Garett Flesland remembers his dad stopping home when calls were slow to grab a bite to eat, often with an officer-in-training in tow.
“We always had cops around,” Flesland said. “When they were off duty, they were all helping each other, whether it was building a deck or putting a patio in, anything. And when he was off duty, putzing in the garage, the officers that were working would stop by and shoot the breeze.”
Flesland said this environment showed him “what a neat family law enforcement can be.”
“I think that’s what I picked up on: It would be valuable, rewarding, fulfilling to be a part of this group that is something bigger than yourself,” Flesland said. “They go and help people and they solve problems and they try and make bad days a little less bad. I think over the years ... subconsciously I was drawn to that kind of team.”
It’s only fitting that Flesland requested his father be the one to pin his badge when he was sworn in at Brooklyn Center City Hall June 24.
“I didn’t tell him ahead of time, so he was completely shocked,” Flesland said.
Another guest of honor at the ceremony was his wife, Stacy, who is a 23-year officer currently at the Golden Valley Police Department. Flesland said his wife has been a vital “advice giver and sounding board” as both have advanced in the field.
“There’s no way I can be doing what I’ve done throughout my career without her,” Flesland said.
Seeking greater stability
Flesland has been at the Brooklyn Center Police Department since 2000, serving most recently as a commander.
Some things the public may not know about their new chief: He is licensed to fly a plane, received his undergraduate degree in physics, and counts his former manager at Tasty Pizza, Mike Montgomery, as one of his main mentors.
“There’s a thing in aviation called the law of primacy. The first time you learn something is probably what you’re going to latch on to the most,” Flesland said. “[He] really showed me what it was like for customer service and being a member of a team. You’ve got certain things you can offer, and this is how you line up what you can do your capabilities with what their needs are in a respectful way.”
In his first few weeks as chief, Flesland has offered his team at the police department three guiding principles, a list that he adapted from a commanding officer he knew when serving in the Navy. The principles are to serve with pride, choose happiness and be professional. He hopes those principles will help build resiliency among staff.
Flesland said the top challenge facing his department right now is staffing. The department is looking to grow its sworn officer pool by 20%. It is authorized to have 50 sworn officers on its workforce, but it has 40.
“We are in a constant rebuilding [state],” Flesland said. He is also looking to hire more community service officers and police cadets.”
Another challenge is to adapt to new societal expectations.
“There’s been a lot of conversation about policing, and I think there should always be conversations about policing, because policing shouldn’t stay the same,” Flesland said. “In the 24 years I’ve been here, it’s changed tremendously, and I think that’s a good thing. I think it’ll probably change even more in the next 24 years, it’s probably going to be even more dramatic. And that’s because technology is continuing to evolve, and just, the world is changing. And we’re just part of the world.”
Brooklyn Center’s police challenges are the same ones being felt across the country, a fact that Flesland realized when he attended the FBI National Academy earlier this year. The class included students from 46 states and 24 countries, but all were mutually interested in talking about things like technology, body-worn cameras and redaction.
Flesland sees an opportunity to get to solving some of these national questions, utilizing Brooklyn Center’s diversity of people and their opinions.
“I think we can probably come up with some pretty creative answers just with Brooklyn Center. And then we could maybe be nudging the rest of the profession along,” Flesland said. “I think we’re going to come up with some good solutions that are going to be well thought out because we have so many people we can invite to the table.”
He invites the community to strike up a conversation with him if they see him out in public.
“The best decisions I can make are based on real-life experience, and input from everyone in the community is the biggest input that I can have,” Flesland said.
Into the future
One year from now, the chief hopes to be leading a more stable department.
“We need some time to rebuild our staff and for them to get their feet under themselves. Just get some experience and get us back to where we should be staffing wise,” he said.
He also hopes to reach the community in ways that traditional outreach methods haven’t (think Coffee with a Cop, farmers market meet and greets and visits to schools).
“It doesn’t reach all of our community,” Flesland said. “And so that’s my challenge to everyone here: How do we go to those spaces that we haven’t been to before, to meet with the people that we haven’t met with before?”
How about five years from now?
Flesland hopes to be fully staffed, leveraging new technologies and operating an expanded 911 response program. Moreover, he hopes that the mutual respect and trust between officers and the community will have grown.
“Hopefully ... it’s just going to be a given fact, in five years. People aren’t going to wonder what can be done better. They’re just going to like what we’re doing and recognize that relationship,” Flesland said.
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