Earlier this summer, Jeremiah Smedsrud ’17 was honored as 2021 Officer of the Year for the 1st Precinct and the entire MPD. He shares the honor with his patrol partner, Officer Maiya Cain.
Smedsrud said his interest in law enforcement began in his early teens. “We had a school resource officer at our school who was super influential to me,” he said, “and I wanted to follow in those footsteps.”
His dream was also location specific. “I always wanted to work in Minneapolis.” he shared. Smedsrud had spent his early years in Minnesota but moved to Wisconsin with his family as a teenager. He would take notice whenever he heard about Minneapolis in the news and loved living in the city while going to NCU. “It was just a city that always had my heart.”
Path to policing
When Smedsrud came to college, he knew he wanted to serve God and began a course of study to be a youth pastor. But he couldn’t shake the sense that his calling was actually to a different path. “It was a weird thing to struggle with,” he said, “because you think people get called into ministry, not into other fields.” Especially if you’re a pastor’s kid! “But,” he concluded, “I felt called to law enforcement from a pretty young age.”
During his first two years of college, Smedsrud tried to find courses that would make sense for a law enforcement career. When North Central announced the Applied Studies program, which included a path toward a degree in law enforcement, he signed up right away.
Part of his career preparation also came through serving as a student officer for North Central’s Campus Safety & Security team and working security at the Mall of America.
In 2017, Jeremiah Smedsrud was the first person to graduate with a degree in Law Enforcement through North Central University’s Applied Studies program. He began working with the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) that same year, went through MPD Police Academy training in 2018, and in 2019 began serving as a full-time officer.
Faith and family
Smedsrud serves as an officer in MPD’s 1st Precinct—downtown and right where he had dreamed of serving. Facing daily dangers is part of police work, and Smedsrud said his faith in Christ plays a role in maintaining personal peace and confidence on the job. “The core elements we’re taught in our theology, such as how to treat people,” Smedsrud said, “come into play every day. I look at people as people that God created, and I have compassion for everyone, whether it’s a victim of a crime, someone who witnessed a crime, or the doer of a crime. Treating them all with the same kind of respect that I feel like Jesus would want to give them is important to me. [My faith] comes into play in my actions and attitude coming into work—we’re trying to lift people up.”
“I pray with my wife and son each day, and on the way to work,” Smedsrud said. “I pray for wisdom because every situation is different.” He noted that his wife, Mandy (Killiam ’18) Smedsrud, also a North Central alum, has been like a rock; she supports him tremendously, not just through prayer but also by understanding the emotions that come from his job.
Smedsrud also receives support from his extended family. His father, James Smedsrud, is a North Central alumnus, and his brother Josh ’15, M.A. ’16, is an alum who also graduated with a North Central “first” as the first graduate of NCU’s master’s degree program. His wife, parents, in-laws, and brothers are always there to encourage and listen.
Officers of the Year
Receiving recognition as an Officer of the Year for 2021 was meaningful for Smedsrud. He said several situations in 2021 inspired this recognition. In two particular incidents, Smedsrud and his partner’s quick action and careful attention to protocol led to the arrest and conviction of individuals who had committed dangerous crimes.
Smedsrud also noted that several times in 2021, they prevented individuals intending to commit self-harm from following through with life-threatening actions. Smedsrud said, “Saving people’s lives is probably one of the most gratifying feelings in the world.”
In addition to being recognized for specific situations where their actions made a tremendous difference, Deputy Chief Erick Fors described the partners as “model officers” who conduct themselves with integrity (Star Tribune, July 27, 2022).
Serving with dignity and respect
Smedsrud acknowledged that his job has always had challenges and has carried extra difficulties in the past couple of years. Battling negative perceptions about law enforcement is part of the job, and Smedsrud knows the best way he can help change that is to be committed to the people he’s sworn to serve and to treat people with dignity and respect.
Despite the complexities of law enforcement work, Smedsrud knows he is in the right place and plans to stay where he is called. “The whole reason I think anyone gets into this line of work is they want to help people.”
