North metro police lose two chiefs and a captain

They've survived violent encounters, seen smart crooks and some dumb ones. They've gone from revolvers and notepads to submachine guns and computers. Now, after a collective 92 years in law enforcement, three top north-metro cops are retiring over the next couple of weeks.

Chief Scott Bechthold of Brooklyn Center and Capt. Greg Roehl of Brooklyn Park, both 52, started policing in 1980. Chief Steve Wells, 55, put in 32 years in Coon Rapids. They recently talked about how they, crime and technology have changed over three decades.

Q What was the most dramatic or memorable incident in your career?

Roehl/ During a domestic abuse call, a man punched him above the eye, which required several stitches. Afterward, his oldest son, then about 4, changed his nightly goodbye when Roehl left for work. "He said, 'Goodbye, Daddy. Have a good night. Don't let a bad guy cut you by the eyebrow.'"

Bechthold said he once wounded a man when he was a county sheriff's lieutenant on a SWAT team. During a nighttime search, he led officers upstairs in a dark house. "A man came out of a bedroom and jumped on top of me. He tried to wrestle my submachine gun away. ... I pulled the gun to my center and depressed the trigger. It fired two times. He let go." The suspect's arm was grazed and the bullets continued through a wall into a kitchen cupboard and hit a Wheaties box. "The [crime] lab guy nicknamed me the Cereal Killer."

Wells and other officers one night surrounded a house where they thought an armed man might be. Wells was a sergeant and, at the time, sergeants wore white shirts. "I remember trying my best to hide behind trees because you are kind of a target." Officers saw no sign of the man, but he was there and was arrested the next day. "He let the day shift know he had the white shirt in his sights," Wells said. When Wells became chief, sergeants no longer had to wear white shirts.

Q What has been the biggest change you've seen in police work?

Bechthold/ "When I started, I had a .357 revolver and a pair of handcuffs and a pen. Now we have semiautomatics and Tasers and collapsible batons and pepper spray."

All three men said improved technology has made police work safer. Police have gone from reacting to crime calls to proactive patrolling of hot spots based on computer data.

Wells noted that some laws and how they are applied have changed. He cited drunken driving: "In the 1970s, there was a lot of letting people park their cars and giving them a ride home. The reality of it was that wasn't stopping the conduct. ... With the number of people getting killed on the road, there is a completely different attitude about enforcement."

Q What is your best dumb crook story?

Roehl/ As a rookie in Brooklyn Park, Roehl was talking to his partner in another squad car about 3 o'clock one morning. As their cars sat there, a vehicle drove behind a closed pizza store and returned. They stopped it and found that the two people inside had burglarized the store. "They were coming back for their second trip. It's not real smart ... when the squad cars are parked right there."

Wells/ Years ago, someone burglarized a convenience store. "He took the safe and literally dragged it behind his car. Officers followed the marks in the roadway to his house."

Bechthold remembered officers setting out a rundown car as a bait vehicle. A hidden video camera showed a man getting into the car, looking around and saying, "'What a piece of [expletive].' So he takes it anyway." Police nabbed him later trying to repair the car in his yard.

Q Have you learned any life lessons in police work?

Wells/ "The old-timers that I broke in with had a lot of common sense. ... I was taught to treat people with dignity, no matter the situation. ...When you take someone to jail and they shake your hand and say 'I appreciate you're treating me fairly,' that was something I always took a lot of pride in." .

Bechthold said he learned that "being a chief is a tough job. It's a 24-7 job. ... If you have a thin skin, it's not going to work because there are a lot of critics out there."

Roehl said he learned to be patient with new officers. "I have to remember that we were all young and stupid at one time. ... As I got into administration, it is guiding people when they make mistakes rather than cutting them off at the knees."

Q What's next?

Bechthold/ After a family vacation, he starts a new job as sales director for a company in Appleton, Wis. He's hoping to become a decent golfer.

Wells/ After a Florida trip with his wife, he plans to paint his house, use his boat more and spend "a lot of time with my 1-year-old grandson, and anticipating the date of my second grandchild in July."

Roehl/ He also plans to use his boat more. Others may have plans for him, too. When word of his retirement got around, his daughter-in-law, who has his three grandchildren, asked on his Facebook site: "When does Papa Roehl's day care open?"

Jim Adams • 612-673-7658