Retiring Eagan Police Investigator: Compassion Key to Police Work

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After 28 years as an Eagan police officer, Doug Matteson knows a few things about police work. And if there's one essential thing an officer must have, it's compassion, Matteson believes.

“Police officers—by definition—are supposed to be strong, and the pillars of their community. They feel no pain, and don't show emotion," Matteson said. "But in my opinion that’s a bad cop, because we have the same emotions, wants and desires as you do.

"[Compassion] will definitely produce results, pure and simple," Matteson said. "People will talk to you, people will open up to you."

Matteson, who retired from the last week, was hired by the department in 1984 and served as a patrol officer and the department's first school resource officer before becoming an investigator in 1995.

Policing wasn't Matteson's first calling. After graduating from Burnsville High School, Matteson, now 51, studied mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota for several years. But he quickly tired of the desk work and complex mathematics. A friend connected him with a law enforcement coordinator at Normandale Community College, where Matteson eventually obtained his two-year degree in law enforcement.

Matteson returned to Eagan, his hometown, and was intially hired as the community resource officer.

The criminal cases Doug Matteson remembers best from his 28-year career as an Eagan police officer aren't the high-priority, headline-grabbing investigations. Instead, Matteson chooses to remember the cases—big or small—where his actions as an officer made a positive impact on someone's life.

Take, for example, an investigation that led Matteson to a former trucking company owner who lost his business and family to a crack cocaine addiction. After speaking with the man, who owned little but the mattress he slept on, Matteson took him to a local church to get a bed, groceries and new clothes. Two years later, the man emailed Matteson to tell him that he had cleaned up and started a sober living program for adult men. The man credited Matteson for much of his success, Matteson said.

“If Doug believed in someone and truly felt the person needed a break, he did what he could to help," Eagan Police Chief Jim McDonald said. "Police do a lot more things than just solve and investigate crimes. Our organization, the police department, is there to help people."

Matteson, who watched the city and department grow substantially throughout his career, says the introduction of freeways changed the nature of local crime by enabling transient criminals living outside the area easier access to the city.

But Eagan, he says, is also full of "good people," Matteson said.

"I wouldn’t do anything different," Matteson said. "It has been a great, great career, and one that I stumbled into."