Dave and K-9 Nelson

Hello, my name is Dave and I was a Police Officer from 2006 to 2022 recently retiring in September. I grew up all over the south metro area of Minnesota. My birth parents were divorced and I primarily lived with my mother who was a severe drug addict. At the age of 15 I was informally adopted by a great family after some unfortunate incidents that took place at home. After graduating High School, I was only able to afford Community College and got the minimum requirements I needed to graduate in the Law Enforcement field and get a job. Through the span of my career I worked for several agencies full time and part time for extra cash. Most notably I was an Officer for Minneapolis Police assigned to the 3rd Precinct. As we all know what happened in May of 2020, I was one of the Officers inside of the precinct when it was taken over by the rioters. Following that I continued to deal with the riots/protests for weeks after. I found this event to be the catalyst for what I believed at the time to be some mental health issues I was experiencing but thought that all I needed was a change from that toxic environment. I applied and was given a great opportunity at a north metro suburb where I thought this would bring things around and I could ride off into retirement at this agency. Little did I know the damage was severe and already done. Almost 17 years of Police work, multiple critical incidents, death, destruction, chaos, and everything that comes with working in a major metropolitan area eventually showed its ugliness. With the help of my therapist and family, I was removed from service as my anger, depression, substance abuse, anxiety, and laundry list of other problems were starting to take over. My retirement was official on September 22, 2022. Life and Law Enforcement went as good for me as most statistical reports would show but I know that I cannot dwell and need to move forward for my benefit and the benefit of my 2 wonderful children! Adopted, divorced, retired, and a long list of other experiences led me to reach out to Soldiers 6 and I am glad that I did. I am looking forward to working with them and training Nelson.