Newspaper Clipping - Newspaper Clipping Scan - Martin DesLauriers Eagan Chief leaves job with respect - 4/13/1983Eagan chief leaves
job with respect
By Mike Barrett
Staff Writer
Martin DesI4at; riers' "life of
crime" began as t boy when he
stopped Eagan tr affic by light-
ing cornstalks o a fire across
Minnesota 13.
A neighbor saw the prank and
called Martin's father, Louis.
When Martin arri ved home, his
father told hin: the sheriff
called and Martii was sure he
was bound for ref ■ rm school.
Since that tim Martin has
"gone straight," and kept law
and order in Ea an as police
chief for 30 years. The cornstalk
caper is among ti e tales he re-
calls as he looks 1 oward retire-
ment in May and the start of a
new career as a p ivate investi-
gator.
His departure from office
comes as a surprise to many
residents because 1 bey have tak-
en the 51-year-o ld chief for
granted — like a piece of old
and valuable furniture: sturdy,
comfortable and :always there.
To some in his cc mmunity, he
has seemed as mill .h of an insti-
tution as a man.
"Martin has the respect of his
men and the re pect of the
city," Mayor Be Blomquist
said. "Believe me. we're going
to miss him."
Her comment < choed miles
away another day when a cop
on the beat descri bed DesLau-
riers as "a good chi 4."
Born and raise 1 in Eagan,
DesLauriers began n as a part -
time constable in 1953 when the
township was home to about
3,000 and he knew tearly every-
body by his first i ame. As the
community grew, DesLauriers
became a full -time cop and the
first police chief in 1965.
The department l ias his home
where the officers met and his
wife Marie kept the records and
relayed calls when force was on
patrol.
When DesLauriers began pa-
trolling, he said most residents
didn't lock their doors. There
were occasional theft reports of
gasoline siphoned from car
tanks or tools missing from ga-
rages but almost no home bur-
glaries. That's changed today
with a department cop spree t
ing colored pins showing crime
locations.
Now, he directs a department
of 23 sworn officers, 13
dispatchers, records clerks and
cadets who serve a city of more
than 25,000.
"As police, we have awesome
authority and responsibility," he
said. "We have to make deci-
sions quickly and let the chips
fall where they mad-.
"What disturbs me today is
that when a kid gets into serious
trouble, say a burglary, and his
parents get an attorney for him
and get him off without a sen-
tence," he said. "Then the kid
gets in trouble again and they
go through the whole thing with
the attorney. Finally, the kid
gets in really serious trouble a
third time. Nobody can help him
and he winds up with a prison
sentence."
Instead, DesLauriers over the
years has advised some parents
to let their errant children cool
off in jail over the weekend and
it has worked as a deterrent to
crime.
"I've had at least six young
men come up to me years later
who told me their spell in jail
was the best thing that ever
happened to them," he said.
"They found out what jail is
like, who's in there and they got
Please see Chief /2S
Mike Barrett
After 30 years on the beat, Eagan Police Chief Martin
DesLauriers is calling it a day. He retires at the end of the
month.
Chief
• Continued from Page 'IS
scared off, which is good. They got
married, got jobs and became re-
sponsible citizens."
These are among his good mem-
ories but he has others T-To rmm17,,
nered finding the beaten and para-
lyzed teen -age girl near Minnesota
55 one day in the late 1960s. She
remains a paraplegic today and the
man who apparently assaulted her
remains in a mental institution.
DesLauriers also recalled arriv-
ing at a two -car accident scene on
Minnesota 13 with seven persons