Mission Accomplished: Kurtz joins MPD ranks
Jeremy Ratliff
Editor
As of Monday, March 30, Riley Kurtz has become the newest addition to the Merrill Police Department.
A Merrill native and 2015 graduate of Merrill High School, law enforcement may not have been Riley’s initial career choice, but thanks in part to exposure to the local law enforcement community at an early age, the profession soon became his ultimate goal.
“When I was little, I wanted to be a teacher. But after my father made a career change to become a correctional officer, I quickly developed an interest in law enforcement,” Riley explains.
“The more local officers I met and interacted with, and learned about the profession, the more interested I became in this career field. I think what interested me the most, is that every day is something different. You typically don’t see the same thing twice in a row,” he adds,
“That lends a bit of excitement to going to work every day”
While Kurtz’s focus became law enforcement, his aspirations of where to spend his career have always lied with the Merrill Police Department. Evidence of such dates back to 2013 and his sophomore year in high school, when he began riding along with MPD officers in an effort to continue to learn about the job and become acquainted with department members. In 2014, he graduated from MPD’s Student Police Academy program at MHS. Following high school graduation in 2015, he served as a member of MPD’s first-ever police auxiliary. As an auxiliary member, Kurtz assisted MPD officers and other auxiliary members with such tasks as traffic control, during large events such as the annual Christmas Parade and fireworks display.
Riley maintained those contacts with the department while attending Northcentral Technical College’s (NTC) Criminal Justice Program, graduating in the spring of 2017. That following winter, he graduated from the school’s Basic Police Recruit Training Program aka “Police Academy”.
In early 2018, Kurtz landed his first law enforcement position as a part-time patrol deputy with the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office and the following October, he was hired as a full-time patrol officer by the Village of Kronenwetter.
When he learned of a vacancy with the Merrill Police Department and was ultimately selected to fill that vacancy, to say it was a dream come true of sorts for Riley, is by no means an exaggeration.
“I’m excited to be back in my hometown.” he adds with a grin.
“I’ve always wanted to work for this department from day-one. When I decided to pursue law enforcement as a career, this is where I wanted to spend it; in my hometown, serving my community. The level of camaraderie in this department creates a sort of second family atmosphere. It’s been that way for as long as I can remember.”
Kurtz’s first day on patrol was in early-April; teamed up with 13-year department veteran, Field Training Officer and Nationally Certified Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) Tyler Tesch.
As Tesch explains, the next step in Riley launching his career with MPD, is completing the department’s 12-week Field Training and Orientation program (FTO). During this time, he will learn and become familiar with department policy and procedure as well as various patrol tasks and procedures.