Biography - Who Am I?
I received my bachelor's degree in Law Enforcement with a minor in Psychology from Minnesota
State University, Mankato, in Mankato Minnesota in December 2007. My original career path was not that of a police
officer, but hopefully something in the law enforcement field. Due to the job market and by meeting the many officers
over the years while in the hobby, I decided to go back and finish the required courses to allow me to become a licensed
police officer in Minnesota. In December 2009, I received a Law Enforcement Certificate from The Center for Criminal
Justice and Law Enforcement in St. Paul, through Minneapolis Community and Technician College. My dream job would be working
in a field where I can utilize my other hobby, computers, with law enforcement. I would really enjoy being a forensic scientist
in charge of trying to locate evidence on a computer, but I am missing some of the required schooling that will allow me to into that profession. I would also enjoy being a School Resource Officer (SRO), working with kids while being a police officer. I feel that most kids at a young age need a role model, someone they can trust and look up to and an SRO would be a perfect opportunity to do this. I am currently working as in technical support role for a large company based in St. Paul. I am also a volunteer police reserve sergeant with a police department south east of St. Paul, Minnesota. My main love is my wife, Meagen, whom I have been with since September 2003. She is a great inspiration to my collecting and is very understanding and encouraging, which in this hobby, she needs to be. I could not have the collection I do without her help. To read the story how I proposed, take a look at the Proposal Story I wrote on my homepage.
Many people ask me why I got into the hobby without being a police officer. I have to thank my Uncle for
that. He is a retired police sergeant from Township of Union, NJ. He used to give my brother and me
his old retired uniforms. The ones from the Township of Union in my collection are his retired ones. After having
them for many many years I decided to look online to see if anyone else has uniforms or who may want them to be able to enjoy them as much as we did. What I found changed my life! I found that people not only collected uniforms, but badges, whistles, pictures,
restraints, trading cards, lightbars and everything else police related! I also found the massive hobby of patch collecting
and I was intrigued. I quickly started buying them on eBay and spent a lot of money really quickly, not a good
idea on my part. Luckily I had a great summer job in college to help pay for the hobby in the beginning, but majority of it
was built by hard work, persistence and spending numerous hours online looking at many different websites. I also made some really
great friends who have helped me expand my collection and will remain friends with them over the years.
The main reason I made this webpage was to display my collection and help promote the history behind the items in my collection in hopes to honor
those officers who have laid the foundation down from Minnesota's early law enforcement days. Minnesota has quite a few disbanded departments and if
the information is not shared, it may be lost forever. My website will also be used to help other collectors just starting out in the hobby or
veteran collectors looking to trade their duplicate patches. I do not sell any items from this website as I am not in the hobby to make a quick dollar.
I would rather trade for something I do not need than sell something. I am out to have fun, meet as many people as I can, make friends and help other collectors
as many have helped me along the way. If I can be of any help, please send me an email.
On May 30th, 2012, I received the best addition to another "collection", my family. My first son, Evan, was born and is one of the main inspirations in
everything I do. The amount he learns on a daily basis and not to mention the amount he teaches me is endless. He is my little man and I
cannot wait to watch him grow into an adult.
On January 29th, 2015, I received another major addition to my family. My second son, Cameron, was born and just like his brother is one of the
reasons I do what I do. Watching him grow into something so much different than his brother is something that cannot be explained. I never realized that
there would be so much difference between then. There is so much difference between what his brother has shown me and together I am in awe every single day.
On March 29th, 2018, a final addition to our family was welcomed into the world. Our daughter, Aria was born and had me smitten on day one. She is growing into something so impressive and I am beyond excited to see what her life has in store for her.
You can blame the three of them for the reasons why my website is not updated as frequently as I like.
