Lester Prairie Police Chief works to keep people safe in his community and on the court
LESTER PRAIRIE, Minn. — Bob Carlson has been Lester Prairie's police chief for over two decades, but when he's off the clock, you can find him courtside, still keeping people safe.
"In my occupation, I deal with some of the worst things. We deal with suicides, we deal with people on some of their worst days," Carlson said.
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He's served the roughly 2,000 members of his community for 22 years. But in the last eight, he's tried to take his talents in law enforcement and marry them to another job that brings him nothing but joy.
In 2016, he started working as security with the Twins at Target Field and within the last two years, he joined the Timberwolves security team at Target Center.
He joined the Wolves at the right time, getting to witness this team play at their peak. And it's come with some perks, like seeing more big names courtside. And an unexpected perk: he recently got his own jersey.
In March, Carlson and five others were honored for their hard work making the fan experience safe and fun.
"I was just blown away because i was like - just do my job! What is this ya know?" he said.
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It takes Carlson nearly an hour to get from Lester Prairie to Target Center and sometimes working back-to-back shifts. But to him the drive is worth it.
"I remember one day I was arresting someone on a domestic and then hours later I was at Target Center enjoying watching one of the best basketball teams play. So it's nice to be able to go to something that's tough to something that's fun to do," he said.
The countdown clock is on for Carlson retirement. In a year, he'll be exclusively making sure Twins and Wolves are safe every year.
"I plan on doing that until they tell me I can't do it anymore," he said.
