A Lifelong Eastsider

      Dan’s father, Berger, was a Swedish immigrant who came to Minnesota with his family when he was 18. Berger, a machinist by trade, and Dan’s mother, Mae, had three other children – Mort, Nancy, and Phyllis, who is deceased. Mort, like his brother, is a retired St. Paul police officer.

     Dan developed his strong work ethic at an early age. As a teenager, he delivered the morning St. Paul Pioneer Press and the now defunct evening paper, the Dispatch. That meant working early in the morning and after school every weekday, as well as delivering three editions on the weekends. At other times, he was a clerk at the Emporium department store and at a neighborhood grocery store. He graduated from Johnson High School in 1958. Dan later earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Minnesota.

     Dan met his wife, Rosann (Rosie), a native of Isle, MN, when she came to St. Paul to get a job. She was staying with a friend who lived across the alley from the home of Dan’s parents. They married in 1960. They have three sons – Brent, a small business owner; David, a minister; and Matt, an assistant chief with the St. Paul Police Department – and nine grandchildren.

     Dan has lived in Ward 6 (the northern half of the East Side) all of his life. He said it “was a great place to live and to raise a family, and it still is.”

A Cop’s Life 

      Dan came of age as a police officer in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a time of intense racial tension and growing poverty in some St. Paul neighborhoods.

    “Dan has an extremely slow fuse,” said Jerry Dexter, his partner on the force for many years. “He’s a very thoughtful guy, even when he’s under extreme pressure. Sometimes he drove me crazy.” But Dexter admitted that Dan probably was right when he urged caution.

      “Dan was always fair with people,” Dexter said. “He’s an honest, honorable, compassionate guy who cares deeply about the East Side.”

     Dan served on the St. Paul police force for 26 years. In addition to patrol, his assignments included investigator in the juvenile division and supervisor of the communications center, where he established St. Paul’s first 911 emergency system.

    As supervisor of the Police Department’s community relations office, he started three programs that are still in place today. One brings police officers into schools so students can learn about the department’s functions and the work officers do. Through the police chaplain’s program, clergy volunteer their time to give spiritual counseling to victims, their families and police officers. The ride-along program allows citizens to see firsthand what police work is like.

    Some of his experiences on the force made it very difficult to maintain his typical unflappability.

    “It’s amazing what you’ve seen and been through in this business,” Dan said. “You’ve literally had kids die in your arms. You’ve seen people who have shot themselves in the head. You think the whole world is going to hell in a hand basket.”

    One of Dan’s close calls came just after a 10-foot-high tank hit a bridge and fell off a trailer being pulled by a semi-tractor. A towing service put a chain around the tank so it could be cleared from the street. Dan was directing traffic when the chain broke and whipped forcefully into the air. It could have cut him in half if it had struck him. He was not injured.

    On another occasion, Dan and his partner, Lloyd Schmotter, were chasing a teenager wanted for a shooting. The youth spun around and fired. The two officers “hit the deck,” Dan recalled. They were not injured. The teenager ran away and was arrested about a week later.

    “I figured the Lord must still have a purpose for me,” Dan said.

A New Perspective

     Facing burnout under the daily grind and negative events inherent in police work, Dan decided to seek what he calls “a life beyond law enforcement.” While continuing his police job, he found an antidote through other, more positive ways of serving the community.

    He joined the District 2 Community Council, a citizens’ planning group, and later became its president.

    While he was serving on the District Council, teachers who had worked with Dan in the St. Paul schools urged him to run for the Board of Education.

    Dan served on the board for nine and a half years and was its chairman from 1984 to 1989. His accomplishments included adding truant officers to the St. Paul school system and establishing soccer as a team sport in the schools.

    He also saved Monroe School, which had been scheduled for closing due to low enrollment. Through Dan’s efforts, the school in the West Seventh Street neighborhood switched from a junior high (grades 7 to 9) to a traditional elementary school - kindergarten through eighth grade. Two elementary schools were closed, and the increased enrollment allowed Monroe to stay open. Parents were pleased because their children would not have to be bused and could stay in a neighborhood school through 8^th grade.

    The changes at Monroe dovetailed with another goal that Dan accomplished. He led the movement to return St. Paul to four-year high schools.

    Following his retirement from the police force, Dan spent four and a half years as a planning grants coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

    Friends urged him to run for the St. Paul City Council. He has served Ward 6 on the council since January 1996. He was its president from January 1998 until August 2004.

    So why does Dan want to stay on the council after he has done community service for decades?

    He said too many major projects are at critical stages. Among them are planned developments along the city’s commercial corridors – Arcade Street, East Seventh Street, and Payne and White Bear Avenues. Another is the challenge posed by vacant homes, which should be rehabilitated or torn down.

    “We’ve got a lot of things in play right now,” Dan said. “It’s time to stick around and make sure those things are completed.”