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Longtime Sioux Falls Police Chief To Retire

Kealey Bultena
/
SDPB
Sioux Falls Police Chief Doug Barthel announces his retirement alongside Mayor Mike Huether. / August 5, 2015

The police chief in Sioux Falls says he plan to retire this year. Doug Barthel says he’s leaving in October after nearly 30 years with the police department. He’s been leader for more than 12 of those, and the longtime chief is leaving a legacy.

October 16th is Sioux Falls Police Chief Doug Barthel’s final day leading the force. He says retiring is a difficult decision.

“I will miss some of the people. I’m not going to miss the 3 a.m. wakeup calls and some of the other things that go along with that. Unfortunately ours is a business where we don’t necessarily always deal in positive news,” Barthel says. “The saying kind of goes, ‘People don’t call us to tell us they’re having a nice day.’ On the other hand, there are a lot of good things that we do and that we’re able to get involved with as well so there certainly are some positive aspects to the job as well that far outweigh the negatives.” 

Barthel is 52 years old. That means he took the role as chief at 40. Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether says the relationship between law enforcement and the public was polluted before Barthel’s direction.

“The lack of trust, the lack of transparency, the rumors and the innuendo and the speculation and how that did a disservice to the community of Sioux Falls when it involved our public safety,” Huether says. “And this chief decided to be proactive in terms of communicating what was going on every day: the good, the bad, and – yes, occasionally – the ugly in our town.”

Huether says the city’s police budget is now nearly 32 million dollars. That’s more than double the amount when Barthel became chief. The mayor credits Barthel for encouraging the city to invest in its police force.

The search for a new chief begins immediately. Huether says a capable replacement exists within the Sioux Falls Police Department.

Doug Barthel plans to help prepare the new chief before his October retirement from law enforcement. Starting in December, Barthel plans to work for Sanford Health as the Director of Community Relations and Public Policy.

Barthel is the second-longest-serving police chief in the city of Sioux Falls with more than 12 years as chief. One other man led the police force for 13 years. That happened in the late 1800s.

 

Kealey Bultena grew up in South Dakota, where her grandparents took advantage of the state’s agriculture at nap time, tricking her into car rides to “go see cows.” Rarely did she stay awake long enough to see the livestock, but now she writes stories about the animals – and the legislature and education and much more. Kealey worked in television for four years while attending the University of South Dakota. She started interning with South Dakota Public Broadcasting in September 2010 and accepted a position with television in 2011. Now Kealey is the radio news producer stationed in Sioux Falls. As a multi-media journalist, Kealey prides herself on the diversity of the stories she tells and the impact her work has on people across the state. Kealey is always searching for new ideas. Let her know of a great story! Find her on Facebook and twitter (@KealeySDPB).