Star Tribune
Meet the St. Paul police officer who fills in the public on what’s going on in the city
Sgt. Mike Ernster of the St. Paul police is a nice guy who is often the bearer of bad news.
But the St. Paul native, who grew up in Frogtown and graduated from Cretin High School, is exactly that. Whenever there’s a homicide, an officer-involved shooting or a newsworthy crime in St. Paul, Ernster — the department’s public information officer, commonly called the PIO — is usually the person appearing on camera and talking to reporters.
Eye On St. Paul recently sat down with the affable Ernster, 54, to learn more about him and the demanding job of police spokesperson. This interview was edited for length.
Q: Why law enforcement?
A: I did have that light-bulb moment, sitting in my parents’ basement, wondering what I wanted to do with my career. I was working at a credit union at the time. And I saw all these officers who were coming through the credit union. I liked them. And I started thinking maybe that’s something for me.
I went on some ride-alongs and one day, I just said, that’s it. It took me 2 1⁄2 years to get hired. Back then there were 800 to 1,000 applicants for every opening.
Q: What was it about those ride-alongs?
A: The excitement of the job. I got a glimpse into what they do. And it really intrigued me, whether it was the calls we went on or the different people you deal with every day.
Q: How long have you been a police officer?
A: Twenty-nine years.
Q: Tell me about the different jobs you’ve had as a police officer.
A: I was a patrol officer. I worked afternoon to midnight shift for my first six years. Then I applied for the K9 unit.
Q: How long were you with K9?
A: Eleven years. I’ve been with two different dogs. My first dog was Bert; he ended up retiring because of a neck injury. I got a second dog. At the time, “Toy Story” was out, and my son liked Buzz Lightyear. So, my second dog was named Buzz.
K9 was a great ice-breaker for speaking with people in our community. They come up and want to talk about the dog. But slowly, that talk would transition to what they were experiencing in their neighborhood.
Q: Do you still have the dogs?
A: No, they both passed away. After I went back to the street, I thought, “What do I want to do with my career?” I took the sergeant’s exam, and I was promoted in 2013.
Q: When did you start as a public information officer?
A: 2015. I had expressed an interest in the role.
Q: Why?
A: I thought it would be interesting. It kind of went back to my K9 days. We did a show on Animal Planet called “K9 Cops.” I had a camera crew with me while I interacted with this person who was involved in a shooting. I went to take him into custody and fell down and broke my arm.
Through working with that show, I became somewhat comfortable with [talking to the public]. I thought it was important to show people what K9 handlers did. And I thought working as a PIO would be very similar.
It was not.
Q: How so?
A: Think of an iceberg. What people see of a PIO is what they see poking above the surface. But there’s a very large piece that’s underneath the surface. That’s the tougher part.
There tends to be three big pieces of public information, any time we deal with a crisis: An officer-involved shooting or when an officer may be injured; daily incidents; and then we have things that are happening within the police department that are positive, that we want people to know about.
Q: Is it hard being the bearer of bad news?
A: Yes. That can be a weight of itself. But it’s also very important in the sense that information still needs to come out. Lack of information will always lead to a void that’s going to be filled by some narrative and we need to make sure as a police department that we’re engaged in that conversation.
Q: Do you like the job?
A: I do. I like the busyness. The pace of it is very appealing. Can it be overwhelming? Yes. But on quieter days, I find myself [saying], “Boy, I wish something would happen.”
Q: Do you have kids?
A: I do. A 23-year-old son and a 21-year-old daughter.
Q: Are they in law enforcement?
A: No.
Q: Would you want them to be?
A: I don’t know. It is made for a certain personality. I worked for 19 years before I worked my first day shift. My wife and I were passing in the night for 19 years. Some people say that’s why we’re still married [laughs]. But it can be a grind and the shift work can be really hard.
Q: You don’t have 800 applicants for a job anymore. Why not?
A: I think there are many reasons. From what we’ve seen in law enforcement in the past three years, I think the scrutiny on law enforcement is turning people [away].
Q: But you carry a gun. You have power. Shouldn’t the scrutiny be high?
A: One hundred percent. It’s just thinned out the number of people who want to be involved in it.
Q: How do you change that?
A: You can try to break down what is policing. What do we do to try to educate people? I don’t think there’s anybody that’s gotten to know us that’s walked away from that encounter liking us less.
I think there are a lot of misconceptions out there about what law enforcement is. And we need to bring people in and show them that what you might think happens does not. It’s being transparent and being open.
Q: Any regrets?
A: No.
Q: Have you made a difference?
A: I would hope so. I’ve tried to treat people how I want to be treated. How I’d want my wife or my kids or my parents treated. I always tell officers, if you treat everyone like that, I don’t think you’ll ever have a problem.
Northern State 35, Concordia (St. Paul) 34: Wyatt Block’s 2-yard TD run and the PAT with 10 seconds remaining lifted the Wolves past the host Golden Bears. Block’s touchdown capped an 11-play, 72-yard drive by the Wolves, who trailed 24-7 in the second quarter. Jeff Isotalo-McGuire’s 34-yard field goal with three minutes, 32 seconds remaining gave the Golden Bears a 34-28 lead.
Winona State 31, Bemidji State 28: Cade Stenstrom rushed for two TDs and passed for 150 yards and a TD to help the host Warriors outlast the Beavers. Stenstrom’s 1-yard TD run and the PAT with two minutes, 10 seconds remaining gave the Warriors a 31-21 lead. The Beavers responded with an 11-play, 93-yard drive to pull within 31-28 with 18 seconds remaining but the Warriors recovered the ensuing kickoff.
Div. I-AA
North Dakota State 59, Murray State 6: The top-ranked Bison built a 42-3 lead in the first half and went on to defeat the host Racers in Murray, Ken. CharMar Brown ran for 97 yards and three TDs for the Bison.
South Dakota State 20, South Dakota 17 (OT): Amar Johnson’s 3-yard TD run in overtime lifted the host Jackrabbits to the victory. The Coyotes opened the OT with a 40-yard field goal.
Youngstown State 41, North Dakota 40 (OT): The host Penguins went first in OT and scored and then stopped North Dakota’s two-point conversion to hold on for the victory. The Penguins sent the game into OT on a 35-yard field goal with 12 seconds remaining.
Div. III
Augsburg 35, St. Olaf 34 (OT): The host Auggies stopped a two-point conversion in overtime to outlast the Oles. The Auggies went first in the overtime and scored on a 25-yard pass from Ryan Harvey to Tyrone Wilson. It was Harvey’s fifth TD pass — the fourth to Wilson. After the Auggies’ PAT, the Oles scored on a 25-yard TD pass from Theo Doran to Braden Menz. But the Oles’ pass attempt for the conversion failed.
After splitting their two-game West Coast trip to begin the season, the Wolves improved to 2-1 with a 112-101 win over Toronto in their home opener. It was a wire-to-wire win that featured some strong bursts of play from the Wolves and other times when their decision-making was suspect. But those moments when they were on, specifically the start of the game and most of the third quarter, were enough to carry them against a shorthanded Raptors team that was without RJ Barrett, Bruce Brown and Immanuel Quickley.
Julius Randle had 24 points while Anthony Edwards had 24 on 21 shot attempts. Donte DiVincenzo had 16 off the bench. Nickeil Alexander-Walker left the game in the fourth quarter and did not return, though he was in the bench area for the final minutes after going to the locker room briefly.
The Wolves’ starting lineup had its best stretch of basketball on the season after that unit started off sluggish in the first two games. Mike Conley, who was 3-for-16 to open the year, hit two early threes to set the tone, though Conley would finish 2-for-8.
Donte DiVincenzo replaced him at point guard halfway through the quarter and continued the hot shooting from the point guard slot with three threes of his own. The Wolves forced five Toronto turnovers and had a 32-18 lead after one.
Coach Chris Finch toyed with some different lineup combinations in the first half as he had Conley and DiVincenzo begin the quarter together while having Joe Ingles run the point later in the quarter. It led to an uneven second, and the Wolves led 56-44 at halftime.
But the Wolves played inspired coming out of the break. Jaden McDaniels, who didn’t take a shot in the first half, had nine points in the opening minutes of the third. Edwards hit a pair of threes as they pushed their lead to 22. The Wolves weren’t sharp closing the night, and the Raptors had the game within right inside of two minutes, but the Wolves had built enough of a cushion.
Rudy Gobert. Gobert had 15 points and 13 rebounds and was the beneficiary of some lobs from his teammates like Edwards, Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Joe Ingles. Gobert also finished with four blocks.
Gobert had two blocks on one possession in the fourth quarter that got the crowd off its feet and Gobert pounding his chest. Gobert blocked D.J. Carton and Jamison Battle.
Star Tribune
Trump denigrates Detroit while appealing for votes in a suburb of Michigan’s largest city
NOVI, Mich. — Donald Trump further denigrated Detroit while appealing for votes Saturday in a suburb of the largest city in swing state Michigan.
”I think Detroit and some of our areas makes us a developing nation,” the former president told supporters in Novi. He said people want him to say Detroit is ”great,” but he thinks it ”needs help.”
The Republican nominee for the White House had told an economic group in Detroit earlier this month that the ”whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Democrat Kamala Harris wins the presidency. That comment drew harsh criticism from Democrats who praised the city for its recent drop in crime and growing population.
Trump’s stop in Novi, after an event Friday night in Traverse City, is a sign of Michigan’s importance in the tight race. Harris is scheduled for a rally in Kalamazoo later Saturday with former first lady Michelle Obama on the first day that early in-person voting becomes available across Michigan. More than 1.4 million ballots have already been submitted, representing 20% of registered voters. Trump won the state in 2016, but Democrat Joe Biden carried it four years later.
Michigan is home to major car companies and the nation’s largest concentration of members of the United Auto Workers. It also has a significant Arab American population, and many have been frustrated by the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza after the attack by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
During his rally, Trump spotlighted local Muslim and Arab American leaders who joined him on stage. These voters ”could turn the election one way or the other,” Trump said, adding that he was banking on ”overwhelming support” from those voters in Michigan.
“When President Trump was president, it was peace,” said one of those leaders, Mayor Bill Bazzi of Dearborn Heights. ”We didn’t have any issues. There was no wars.”
While Trump is trying to capitalize on the community’s frustration with the Democratic administration, he has a history of policies hostile to this group, including a travel ban targeting Muslim countries while in office and a pledge to expand it to include refugees from Gaza if he wins on Nov. 5.
