When Jon Meaden B’21 gets into his patrol car, he never knows what each shift will bring. But that’s largely why he chose a career in law enforcement.
He’s known since high school that he never wanted a desk job or a standard nine-to-five. Meaden admits he was always drawn to adrenaline situations, but he also knew he wanted a position where he would have a close camaraderie with his coworkers. And, he’s always felt a calling to help others.
In May 2022, he was hired as a patrol deputy with the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office, which includes covering the county’s rural areas, mostly townships or smaller cities.
Rural or not, Meaden says, “Crime is everywhere, it’s just a matter of stopping it.”
One career highlight of Meaden’s was when he and others found probable cause to search a vehicle, and with the use of a canine, they uncovered two pounds of meth.
“I’ve worked multiple days with our drug task force conducting search warrants where we’ve gotten pounds and pounds of meth and fentanyl out of residences, and that’s just a great thing because meth and fentanyl are two of the drugs that we’re the seeing the most overdoses from,” he said.
Additionally, about 4 a.m. one morning, working morning traffic, Meaden said his partner noticed people acting suspiciously in a farm field in an area where there had been reported copper wire thefts. “I was about a mile away from them at the time. We ended up stopping those individuals who were in the process of cutting down wire, and they were charged federally versus on the county level,” he said. “It was just seamless teamwork.” Meaden said Homeland Security took the case, because he believes the individuals ended up cutting fiber optic cable.
Ultimately Meaden said his work is all about community. “I want to stop the flow of criminals and drugs in that community, which goes back to protecting my community as well,” he said.
Each day, the things he enjoys most about his job are the combination of putting criminals in jail and spending time with his coworkers.
“I’m very thankful to have the people I work with,” he said. “We get along very well. We have fun at work.”
The downside, he said, can be the mental stress that can come with police work. “But with that, I have a phenomenal agency that takes care of our mental health,” he said. “I know I have the resources I need … so I can keep doing the job to the best of my abilities.”
Meaden explains that his main job — and his partners’ main job — is to go home every night, something that was drilled into him by a professor years ago. Yet, he knows the dangers are real. Two police officers and a firefighter were killed, and a third officer was wounded in nearby Burnsville in what started out as a 911 call about a domestic incident in February 2024.
“It’s a real thing,” he said. “There’s always a danger going into this job, but we still do it because we signed up to protect people and help people. Dangerous things happen. You work through it, and then afterwards, you work through it again with other people (in counseling or group sessions).”
As urban city police forces across the United States are struggling with understaffing, Meaden hopes others will explore law enforcement as a potential career path, but he understands the job isn’t for everyone.
He was able to take a career development course in high school that put him on the right path. Then, when touring colleges, he found Saint Mary’s, which recruited him to run cross country and track. Additionally, he met Dr. Tricia Klosky, who answered all his questions about majoring in criminal justice, and he felt like they clicked well. “It was a place I could see myself all four years,” he said.
He graduated with a degree in criminal justice with a law enforcement track and a minor in sociology. And, during the pandemic, he had an opportunity to serve as an emergency management intern for Winona County, a great learning experience and through which he made valuable and ongoing connections.
“I’m very thankful for my time at Saint Mary’s,” he said. “My teammates on the track and cross country teams, we all kind of guided ourselves to different paths in life for society. We all said, ‘This is how we’re going to benefit society.’ ‘This is how we’re going to be good people.’ I’m very thankful for that. I’m very thankful for the people I met. If it wasn’t for them, I would not be the person I am today. Where I’m at now is definitely a result of my time at Saint Mary’s.”
