- Stay tuned for On Q.

For KSMQ Public Television.

I'm Eric Olson.

We're going to meet Rich Watkins and deputy Katlynne Fisher to talk about the criminal justice program offered at Riverland Community College here in Austin.

Also, we're going to meet Dan Urlich.

Dan is in charge of lining up the wonderful musicians who perform at the Austin artworks festival celebration that happens here, every year.

It's coming up next, On Q.

♪ Local ideas that matter to you.

♪ ♪ Sharing our region's unique point of view ♪ ♪ telling the stories that you never knew.

♪ ♪ On Q ♪ The criminal justice program at Riverland Community College here in Austin teaches men and women who are interested in becoming police officers, or going into another related career of law enforcement with both theory based classroom training, as well as hands on tactical training.

Here with us to discuss the program are instructor Rich Watkins, and program graduate deputy Katlynne Fisher.

Welcome, Rich.

Welcome, Katlynne, thank you for being here.

- Thank you.

- You are Mower County Sheriff's deputy got your education here at Riverland in Austin.

And what's your typical day like, I suppose there is no typical day.

- Every day is different in this job, you never know what you're gonna come in contact with or what your day is gonna bring.

And that's the fun part about the job, it is always different.

I just switched to day shift.

So I'm trying to get used to the days instead of being on the night.

So that's been a big change for me this year so far.

- And your responsibility is the whole an entire county or is it broken up into like sections?

- No, we patrol all of Mower county here in our area.

And then we have two contract towns that we specifically monitor ourselves.

So we contract with Adams, the city of Adams and then the city of Leroy in our county.

- Thank you very much for wearing the badge and for doing this important work.

- Thank you.

- You must have things you don't like about the job, things you do like.

What are those?

What's the favorite thing?

- Favorite thing?

Just being out there.

You know, it's kind of the cliche, you know, trying to make that difference for you know, our community.

Being born and raised here.

I like giving back and being able to see how people have progressed throughout their lives that I have dealt with in the past and seeing them grow and becoming a better person.

And just potentially, maybe, you know, saving that individual's life that day, you know.

If I stopped them for something, maybe I stopped them from doing something that would have hurt him later on.

You never know.

So it's always a rewarding job no matter what we do.

- Rich, I'm getting to you, but we've got a real deputy (both laughing) You'll be questioned for here.

Just one more.

Everybody watches these police shows, you know, where it's always dangerous, and there's always stuff, and it is a dangerous profession.

-yes But I mean, do you go into work every day with that?

It would be to me like a cloud over my head like, Oh, I wonder what's going to happen today?

Or is it mostly just dealing with people where they're at.

- You know, I can speak for myself, you know.

And probably a lot of my co-workers, it's always in the back of our mind that, you know, putting on this vest and the badge and going out every day to work, that there is that potential of going into that dangerous situation and, you know, the uncertainty of what we're gonna get into.

But I put it on every day.

And, you know, I put it in the back of my mind.

You know, I stay vigilant of what's going on around me but I also go out and do my part and keeping the public safe and, you know, keeping the peace as much as I can.

- Rich Watkins.

The law enforcement program is right over the border line here from KSMQ.

So we know each other for years and you're an ex-law enforcement person with a career in Faribault -yes Before that, before coming here to lead this program.

How has the law enforcement world changed in your time?

- Well, I started my career in 1982, actually with working with the Luverne Police Department, and then 1985 I joined the Faribault Police Department.

There's been a lot of changes that we have seen obviously, not only from law enforcement, but from the training aspect of it as well.

From the public, their response to law enforcement.

I would say, you know, some of the biggest changes are the demands that are placed on law enforcement today, as far as the services that are needed.

People need to understand that when officers respond to a call, they may be dealing with a very nice, you know, fine individual.

But that's on their worst day, that's on the most chaotic situation.

And that brings in a lot of elements to it.

And so the necessity of a higher level of training of being able to deal with these people, and be able to provide them the level of service while at the same time enforcing laws.

These are big demands that have been placed on police throughout the country.

- And we hear throughout the media, and PBS included that there's a huge problem with not enough officers and young people aren't signing up.

Is that just media hype?

Or in this one case.

Is it justify accurate that we're not getting enough folks to join?

- There's not enough right now in the pool.

So that is accurate.

Riverland is one of 30 institutions across Minnesota that offers the law enforcement training program, you must be certified by the state in order to train this curriculum.

I would say our program is down about 20%.

In speaking with coordinators from other programs, some are down more, some are down less.

So that's very evident.

And the pool right now that is all there for agencies, it is forced them into a continuous state of hiring.

Now, to give you an example, when I applied for the Faribault Police Department back in 1985, there was a hundred, 150 applicants at the time for one position.

Today, they're lucky if they can get 10.

And sometimes some of them just don't show up.

So it has been adversely hit.

But I believe that this is a pendulum swing, I believe it will come back.

You know, there are changes that have been going on.

Our last two to three years has been very chaotic for everybody.

And I think as a result, you know, this is what has happened is, some people are just saying this is probably not the best time to get into it.

I would say it's probably one of the better times to get into it.

The pay has increased across the state.

And the job market for being able to find jobs is much more lucrative.

- I'm surprised that even at the state legislature this session, they're talking about having to spend money to do ads to tell people it's the good thing to be a police officer.

I mean, that just, now the whole society, you hear about the great resignation, and young people just not working as much, I don't know, just generally that's part of this, also.

- Well, this is an interesting generation.

But I would say that people of our age could say that about every generation that was upcoming.

There are... to be a police officer.

And when I say that it means trooper, deputy, it's a generic term, it's a hard job.

It takes a lot of training, you're gonna go through at least a two year training program, here in Minnesota.

And some people come into our program, and they don't want to do the work, we understand that.

And some of them just, you know, answer the question that maybe this is not for me.

But I would say the majority of our students that we do get, you know, are all in and very receptive to the training, but it is kind of a challenge that we're seeing with this particular generation of, you know.

With all the advancements and all the instant gratification that is out there with the technology and so on.

This is a long process, you know, that people have to take to be able to achieve that.

And, you know, some just apparently choose not to go through the work.

- And Caitlin, with some of the younger people, we hire a KSMQ, the desire would be to work remotely.

we hire a KSMQ, the desire would be to work remotely.

You know, I don't wanna have to come into an office every day.

Well, here, somebody told me that for officers, their office is their vehicle in a lot of ways.

So you're you're doing that you're kind of working remotely with not a lot of supervision or people around you.

- Right.

Yeah.

So, you know, especially out in the county, you know, we're patrolling a large area of, you know, square miles.

Yeah.

So, you know, there's a lot of big difference between, you know, City police officers and county, you know, our partners aren't gonna be as close to us, you know, where, you know, we might have to wait a little bit till our partner comes in to back us up.

And, you know, like I said, that's where your verbalization really comes into play and being able to talk to people while you're out there dealing with people, but yeah, my squad car.

I have a take home squad that's my, - In you office.

- That's my office, I start from home, I end from home.

And each departments different, some departments you have to go into the law enforcement center and you know, get your squad ready.

And you share squads with your partners.

We're fortunate enough that, you know, our county has allowed us to have our own squad cars, and there's a lot of benefits to having that.

But so it's nice to be able to start from home and then end from home.

And, you know, every once more will come in and, you know, if we have to write a long report, which happens a lot (chuckles) we'll come in and, you know, type it at the law enforcement center and stuff like that.

- What about the social aspect of law enforcement?

That means, having to be seen like a social worker, or a psychologist, you know, these are skills that are not trained.

I mean, you can't be everything, you can't have every profession yet.

And a lot of these situations, whether it's domestic or whatever, you have to call on a lot of different skill sets.

- Well, this is not new to law enforcement, I think this has come more out into the public.

Over the last few years.

Like I say, I started my career in 1982.

And the majority of calls that officers, deputies will go on are public service calls.

Very few arrests take place on the bulk of the calls.

Yes, they do happen.

But a lot of the calls are there's some type of a chaotic event taking place, whether it's alcohol or drug related, whether it is you know, the family dynamics is breaking down, and so on.

So the need to be able to, you know, come into a situation, stabilize and try to come up with some conclusion.

This is nothing new to law enforcement - That's a normal part of the job, - I would say it's probably more of the bulk of the job.

- Yeah, I mean, again, every department, every person is different.

You know, I just came off a long extended vacation, but I couldn't even tell you probably the last time we put a handcuff on somebody, you know.

And again, it depends on how busy each department is.

I can go a couple of weeks, sometimes months without arresting somebody.

It just depends on what your dynamic, you know, weather plays a factor into how people are acting.

- So that's a small part of, what you're doing lots of things, with people in the community, but it's just not that, - It's not that I'm not, you know, doing my work, I'm still conducting traffic stops and still enforcing, you know, the law and doing what I need to do.

It's just sometimes you just don't come in contact with somebody that has to go to jail, you know.

For us, that's the last thing that we wanna be doing is putting people in jail, because you know, that disrupts their life, that disrupts the family's life.

And, you know, we wanna be able to help them achieve something else.

But, you know, if it has to come down to it, and they have to go to jail, you know, unfortunately, that's where they go.

- Hey, Richard.

Somebody who's watching the show, and they're very impressed with Deputy Fisher here, and they say, I want to do that.

They go on a website for your programs.

- Right, if they go on to the Riverland website, and they would just navigate to the law enforcement program, there's contact.

And even if they're not very good at that, even by calling the college, they would see that I would get the message.

And we're very quick at contacting them back.

We are very active in recruiting, because we wanna be able to fill the job pool.

I get contacts every week from potential students that are looking at this job.

It's not a job that's meant for everyone, just like you could say the same with yours.

But there are, I think with people that are truly looking at getting into this, we're very aggressive about answering their questions, so that they understand exactly what it all entails.

- And that's riverland.edu.

That's where you can start for that information.

Rich.

Katlynne, thank you very much.

And thanks for taking time out of your shift to be here.

- Thank you - Thank you.

(instrumental music) - The Austin artwork festival is a free two day event held here in Austin annually each August.

It's a celebration of Visual Performing and literary artists.

Many with ties to Austin and the surrounding area.

To tell us more about this year's festival is Dan Urlich.

Welcome, Dan.

- Hi, Eric.

It's a pleasure to be here.

- Hey, you betcha and thank you for the work you do on the side.

You know, for this artworks, it's kind of a labor of love for all folks who are from town because it's a homegrown, 10 years or more... 11.

- We're on our 11th year with the festival this year.

- And chatting just beforehand, you get out and find all that great, unusual entertainment that's there.

What's that process, like for you?

How do you go about doing it?

- Well, it's been a learning process.

For me, I didn't have any real experience with booking bands before I came to the festival.

I had experience with watching and listening to bands.

And I kinda know, I don't know, I feel like I've got a pretty good eye and ear for what might be appealing.

And I've translated that onto the stage at the artworks festival in the form of many different types of entertainment.

We have many musicians from many different areas.

- And they're always there.

They're tasteful.

And you learn, like I didn't know about this group, and they could be from Minneapolis, or it's just really interesting how much entertainment is out there.

Musical groups, talented people, interesting instrumentalists.

The instruments they use are usually interesting.

And do you get these names?

Do people call you up or send you emails?

Are you just searching on the internet?

Or how do you do that?

- All of the above.

And what I really like to do is find talent organically.

I like to discover it, rather than it coming to me.

Although I do get solicitations quite often.

And actually that's a bit of a, the hardest part of doing artworks festival is deciding who doesn't get to play at artworks because we've got a lot of people interested now.

The stage has built a good reputation.

And there's a lot of people interested in playing.

And so there's some people that obviously won't make it but we try to spread it out.

So each year, we share the love a little bit.

But we always wanna bring in something new as well each and every year.

And we do that.

- I'm always surprised with a lot of the groups.

- Yep.

Most people are pleasantly surprised with what they see, a lot of people who wouldn't think that maybe a music festival is in their lane necessarily.

Might come out there and be very, very surprised.

We've had that happen quite a bit as well.

- Can we give up that?

Well, we know who it is, who's coming our way, right?

And one of them is a big reunion with Austin history to it, one of the bands.

- That's correct.

Yes.

Here in 2022.

The Gear Daddies from Austin, Minnesota here, graduated in the 1980s.

I happen to have graduated in the 1980s as well.

And that correlation formed a marketing plan for us And that correlation formed a marketing plan for us for the festival in 2022.

To have a class reunion.

A 10 year decade class reunion for all of us in high school.

And this was just a plan that I kind of created in my head and threw a few pages together on Facebook for it.

And it just it took off like an animal.

- Well, we should say Gear Daddy's were big up in the cities when I lived up there for years and so they had quite a reputation.

- Absolutely.

The Gear Daddies have played on David Letterman.

They wrote the song "Zamboni" that you hear in the "Mighty Ducks" movie.

And you hear it in just about every arena.

In between periods when the Zamboni comes out.

You'll hear the "Zamboni" song.

Martin wrote that, Martin Zeller, and one thing we're doing special this year, is targeting all of those 80s people with this festival to bring them to Austin.

Some of them have never seen the festival and we thought, well, this is a great way to present it to them.

And so we're catering a little bit of the music toward them.

- What other, you mix it up usually with a little blues or you know, some other kind of vocal group.

What else is on tap?

- Well, we do have a good combination.

Right now there's talk of a Polka band possibly coming.

And also, I can announce now, I hadn't really quite hit the media yet, but Charlie Parr will be joining us for the close of the festival on Sunday, the 28th in 2022.

So we're looking forward to that as well.

And Charlie is an Austin native as well.

So, a lot of rich history of talent in this town, that I think the artworks festival features very well.

- And Charlie Parr, he's really just taken off.

- He's really something.

- From relative obscurity to, in just the last 10 years or so it seems like.

And I lived in Duluth prior to here and he's just like going on big tour.

- Isn't it something?

Yeah, and Charlie Parr's Folk Blues music, you know.

So when you go to it, you might expect to well, I'm in my 50s and so as Charlie, and I expect to see a lot of people in their 50s there.

It's a very wide range of ages, and really predominantly younger than me at these Charlie Park concerts.

So he's really, he's transcended those typical genre, and era barriers in music.

- So you get a lot of front row seats when you're going and seeing people in clubs.

- Believe it or not, I prefer the back row.

- Oh, really?

- Because you can, I wanna observe the audience and see how they're reacting.

Because again, I'm constantly in recruit mode.

So I'm watching bands and that for how well they're doing.

When I go to the Paramount Theater, I generally sit in the balcony to evaluate a show.

- Okay.

Paramount Theater in Austin, beautiful, historic place.

If you haven't been there, it's a wonderful... check out their website too which is separate and apart.

It's connected to the artworks festival and that it's all this umbrella organization that operates the Paramount.

But the Artworks Festival as another organic event that is kind of just popped up through civic leadership.

- It come through vision 2020, 11 years ago.

I was on a couple of different boards, but not the Artworks one at that time.

And when I saw what was happening with the festival, I thought, you know, maybe I'll take this over someday.

(Eric laughing) Actually, I just thought, how can I be a part of something that's cool.

- And there are artisans.

Also, there's a large area of that there, right?

- Yes, yeah.

And yes, the art is fantastic.

And that's just a whole 'nother area to talk about in the festival, where you get unique artists.

And that's always news as well.

We're turning over artists all the time.

But we feature a lot of local artists, we'll be featuring some from the 80s that graduated from Austin as well as.

As part of our reunion.

So yes, there's fantastic art.

It's hard to describe art.

For me anyway, you really have to come see it, to appreciate how its laid out in Austin for the festival.

- And all I do folks is I sign up and run one barricade.

I know where it is, because it's near the... it's all volunteers do everything, just like in many towns in our viewing area have the festivals.

- You're a hero.

- I know where I can sit to hear the stage, but run a little barricade for the handicap parking to let him in.

So I've carved out my little area there to help out.

- Before the pandemic I used to say, hug a hero, the heroes are the ones with the red shirts on out there, the volunteers, you know, hug a hero.

Now we just say, you know, thank a hero.

Thank you very much for doing that, Eric.

I appreciate that.

- Well.

So talk about the dates and how people find out more, website.

- Austinareaarts.org will tell you everything you need to know about arts in Austin.

And there's a connection to the Paramount as well.

But you'll see a festival tab and click on that.

And you'll find out more information August 27 and 28th this year, but it's really festival week.

And there's events that pop up and happen during the week as well.

Friday before there's going to be some things.

We have things, little things planned for this particular reunion festival that will really be unique and surprising to people.

- And this is you're focusing on the 1980s but actually anyone.

We're all welcome to come in to those things.

- Right.

This is all inclusive and when we were asked about that we said yeah, of course anybody from Pacelli in the 80s.

Anybody around the 80s, the 90s, the 70s you're gonna like this as well.

Anybody that graduated in the 80s someplace else would appreciate it because a lot of it will be targeted the music and that toward you and your era.

- The financials of it.

I mean artwork, art festivals that's always a shoestring.

After all these years, is there a sustaining point, how's it doing?

- Well, the probably one of the healthiest reasons Artworks is so healthy is that there's multiple sources for income and to sustain it.

And so for that reason, no single donator has enough power really to make or break the festival.

- But you rely on contributions.

- There's a lot of contributions and some legacy funds as well.

- Oh the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund Legacy Amendment.

- So I brought some of those funds through the radio station KMSU in Mankato, Minnesota.

through the radio station KMSU in Mankato, Minnesota.

I host a radio program weekly on KMSU.

And I talked to the station at one point, I'm on the board of advisory board there and brought up Artworks and they're like, that sounds like a good place for some legacy money.

- Well, good for you.

And that's a great program that really helps bring the arts around.

- It sure does, yeah.

Some of the artists have told me the reason they reside in Minnesota is because of that legacy fund, because they know they can make money here.

- Oh, very good.

Well, thanks, Dan, very much.

This has been a blast.

I can't wait for August.

- Yeah.

Thank you, Eric.

Pleasure.

- And that's it for now.

Thanks for joining us On Q.

For KSMQ Public Television.

I'm Eric Olson and we'll see you next time.

(instrumental music) (jazz music)