By Elizabeth Mohr
St. Paul Pioneer Press
MAPLEWOOD, Minn. — Sgt. Joseph Bergeron was “a cop’s cop” who loved his job and was always willing to help lift a colleague’s spirits.
The 26-year veteran of the Maplewood Police Department was shot and killed in what was described as an ambush attack Saturday, after he responded to an early-morning report of a carjacking.
Friends and colleagues, reflecting on Bergeron’s life and career Saturday, said his death was a terrible loss for law enforcement.
“I couldn’t find a better example for you of a friend and of a cop and a dad,” said Bev Peterson, whom Bergeron trained for the Ramsey County sheriff’s office water patrol in the early 1980s. “There are many of us out here, but there are few that stand out, and he was one of them, in my estimation.”
Bergeron, known to friends as Joe, lived in Hugo with his wife, Gail, and their twin daughters. He was 49.
Bergeron’s death comes on the heels of a September shooting that killed North St. Paul officer Richard Crittenden and injured Maplewood officer Julie Olson.
“Those wounds haven’t healed yet,” Maplewood Police Chief Dave Thomalla said Saturday.
“The city of Maplewood and the law enforcement community, law enforcement family, lost one of the finest officers there is today,” Thomalla said.
Bergeron, a patrol supervisor, hadn’t been scheduled to work Saturday. He had volunteered to cover a shift for an officer who requested the day off, Thomalla said.
Bergeron joined the Maplewood Police Department in September 1984, according to the department. He served as a patrol officer, a field-training officer and an investigator and was promoted to sergeant in May 1998.
Most recently, he was a patrol supervisor, and he had just completed an assignment to combat problem properties. He also was coordinator of the department’s Volunteers in Police Service program. His brother, Jerome Bergeron, was the undersheriff of the Ramsey County sheriff’s patrol division for more than 10 years, retiring in 1998.
Thomalla said that in Joseph Bergeron’s nearly 26 years with the department, he “proudly served the citizens of Maplewood for that time.”
“He was a very proud officer, very proud officer,” Thomalla said. “And he was one of the finest people I know, and he was murdered today, senselessly.”
“We’re all grieving today. We really are,” said Thomalla, who wore a black mourning band over his badge Saturday.
Before transferring to Maplewood, Bergeron worked for the Ramsey County sheriff’s office, where he also worked as a volunteer firefighter and paramedic, said former Maplewood City Council member Erik Hjelle.
Hjelle, who worked with Bergeron in the volunteer ranks, called him “a hell of an officer” who “touched a lot of lives” in his 20-plus years on the force.
“He was a very gregarious, outgoing, personable guy,” said Hjelle, who still works as a volunteer firefighter. “You have two different kinds of cops. You have the cop who’s just out there to conquer the world, but through maturity and age you learn what life is about. Joe was the guy who became a mentor to a lot of other officers. He was a good guy.”
Peterson, who is no longer with Ramsey County, called Bergeron “a cop’s cop, literally,” her voice breaking before she paused to collect herself.
She said Bergeron was always the first to help a fellow officer or train a new one.
He frequently reminded her to keep her sense of humor, to stay safe and to “keep in mind that you’re here to serve the people and you’re going to see people at their worst, not their best,” she said.
Bergeron and Peterson maintained contact over the years, well after he’d left the sheriff’s office.
And even though he wasn’t there on a daily basis, he seemed to know when she or anyone else needed help to stand up and dust off, she said.
“In a 24-hour period, I had three really young kids die. ... Joe looked me up afterward and said, ‘Isn’t there just a black cloud over you?’ and handed me a cup of coffee. And that was so Joe,” Peterson recalled. “Through my tears, I said, ‘I don’t know if I can do this job anymore,’ because it was so hard.”
He talked her down and propped her back up with a reminder that they were in law enforcement to make this a better place.
“He would always say: ‘Don’t let the bad people win. Don’t let them take you down,’ ” Peterson said.
Peterson last spoke with Bergeron two weeks ago, and his words echoed in her mind Saturday.
“We were talking about me riding along with him sometime, and I remember him saying, ‘You know, you should come out some Saturday because nothing ever happens.’ Isn’t it ironic? It’s almost too scary.”
Thomalla said Bergeron “leaves behind a wife and two beautiful daughters.”
“We will miss him; we will miss him terribly,” he said.
Bergeron’s family released a statement Saturday night saying he “was a private person that worked very hard every day without the necessity of recognition. He did his job to the fullest for all the citizens of Maplewood and surrounding communities quietly to ensure he was never in the limelight. ... We would like to thank all the officers involved for their efforts and support.”
The family also had thanks for the jogger who came upon Bergeron after the shooting “who initiated a rapid response which was vital to the apprehension of the suspects.”
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Mara Gottfried contributed to this report.
Copyright 2010 St. Paul Pioneer Press