Zins announces retirement Options for replacing police chief are open, mayor says

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- "Going 10-7 for the evening" is police slang for going off duty and heading home.

In his many years as a cop, New Ulm Police Chief Howard Zins has called his 10-7s into dispatch many times. Just like all those vandalisms, auto thefts and bar fights he's seen.

But come Sept. 22, he'll call a 10-7 for the last time in more than 37 years with the department.

Zins ended months of rumor and speculation recently when he formally announced his resignation on Aug. 9. He will retire as the one of the most senior law enforcement officials in Brown County.

New Ulm Mayor Arnold Koelpin said a search process for a new chief is already under way, but was quick to point out that it's still in its early phases.

A decision on whether to look for an internal candidate or to do a nationwide search still hasn't been made, but it could come before Zins leaves, Koelpin said.

"Whatever rumors are out there will have to remain rumors," the mayor said Monday. "We will have until the 22nd to make a decision and all of our options are open right now."

Zins began his career with NUPD on May 22, 1965. He was hired at the age of 21, just as he was leaving active duty in the U.S Army.

The only son of a farmer, he grew up near Swan Lake, about 12 miles east of New Ulm in rural Nicollet County. He entered the Army at age 17 after high school graduation.

"When I came back, farm prices were down and I told my father I wasn't going to farm," Zins said Tuesday. "That was probably the only time I saw tears in his eyes."

Zins became interested in police work when he was assigned to work with some military policemen at Fort Sill. He said the job looked interesting to him. He originally had his heart set on the U.S. Border Patrol, but the age for qualification changed, so he chose NUPD instead.

Zins was promoted to sergeant in 1969 and was appointed chief of police in 1998.

Of all his experience as a cop, Zins most enjoyed his 33 years on the street, despite some sad and scary moments.

"I liked the contact with people," he said. "There wasn't a shift where you couldn't go home and say you didn't help someone. That sounds textbook, but it isn't."

Nearly 37 years as a cop shows changes in the type of crime and in the type of officers who seek to fight it.

In 1965, the police department had one manual Smith Corona typewriter. License plate checks were done by the end of your shift if you were lucky. Vandalism, auto theft and fights happened, but the perpetrators were between ages 18 and 20, not 12 and 14 like they are these days.

"When you'd pull them over, kids used to say 'Please don't tell my dad.' Now, they're just the opposite. They say 'I'm going to tell my father !' That's a 180-degree change," Zins laughed.

These days, those license plate checks take seconds and police spend much more time typing reports and doing paperwork using computers. Zins said the number of bar fights has decreased, but problems with narcotics have been rising slowly for the past 15 years.

Zins likened police work to a double-edged sword. He enjoys helping people with their problems on one hand, but there are critics to deal with on the other.

Zins wouldn't change anything if he could do it all over again, except to make more time for his family. Although he has no immediate plans for the future, he hinted at his woodworking shop and several of his favorite sports -- hunting, trapping and fishing -- as possible ways to occupy his time.

Zins said his enthusiasm for police work hasn't changed, and said he still feels very comfortable with being chief. However, he wants to spend more time with his family and "take the time to smell the roses," he said.

"I'm gonna miss it here," he said of the department and the Law Enforcement Center. "This has been most of my adult life. I started when I was 21 and I'm now 59."

Koelpin said the New Ulm Police Commission met this past week to look at its options, but did not arrive at a decision.

City codes say the mayor alone has the power to appoint and remove any city police officer, although the commission -- made up of three citizens -- has played a more active role lately in the appointment and promotion of police officers.

The commission discussed both an internal hire and an external search. The next step "is to decide on an option and act on that option," Koelpin said.

The mayor did not indicate when that decision will come.