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Mar-Mac officer wants to get to know community members

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Tyler Zach has been an officer with the Mar-Mac Police Department since February, but after a four-month-long stint at the law enforcement academy, he’s ready to reacquaint himself with the McGregor and Marquette communities. (Photo by Audrey Posten)

By Audrey Posten, Times-Register

 

Tyler Zach has been an officer with the Mar-Mac Police Department since February, but after a four-month-long stint at the law enforcement academy, he’s ready to reacquaint himself with the McGregor and Marquette communities.

 

A native of Seneca, Wis., Zach is familiar with small towns.

 

“This is small city type living where everyone knows everyone. That’s what I grew up with and I’d rather work in an area where I can get to know everybody personally,” he said. “In a bigger city, you maybe meet a person once, and it sucks to say, but you might forget about them when you move on to your next call.”

 

“Here, if something were to happen, they’d feel more comfortable talking with me since I’m a familiar face, or will be. That’s one of the reasons I chose to be here and why I enjoy being here,” he added.

 

The job with Mar-Mac is Zach’s first foray into law enforcement, although he did consider the career in high school.

 

“I did a ride along with the Crawford County Sheriff’s Department,” he recalled. “But, toward the end of high school, I was torn between if I wanted to join the military or pursue law enforcement. Ultimately, I decided on the military.”

 

Zach served three years active duty with the 101st Airborne before leaving service in November 2019. He joined the Army Reserves in April 2020, and from there, worked factory jobs. He didn’t really enjoy it, though.

 

“I missed being a part of something bigger than just myself, and I wasn’t really getting that with the Reserves,” Zach said. “That’s when I started looking into coming into law enforcement. December of last year is when I saw the ad for here. I thought, ‘Why not at least try it.’”

 

The first few months on the job helped Zach get to know the basics of law enforcement. He learned how to conduct traffic stops and handle simple cases, with guidance from Mar-Mac Police Chief Robert Millin and former officer Dylan Ceynar.

 

It helped that calls have been fairly routine.

 

“I enjoy not having to deal with crazy things all the time. That’s another nice thing about this area. It makes our job a lot easier,” Zach said.

 

According to Zach, one of the biggest challenges was actually learning the layouts of the communities.

 

“I wasn’t that familiar with McGregor and Marquette, so that was one of the harder parts: learning all the streets and having two different cities to learn. Robert just had me go out and start driving the streets, and I started quizzing myself,” he explained.

 

Zach started his 16 weeks at the academy in May. 

 

“Our class was a great class. We got along really well and helped each other through the process. That made it easier,” he said.

 

Through his military experience, Zach grew accustomed to speaking with people he didn’t know. That helped at the academy and will help as his law enforcement career continues.

 

“The military brought me out of my shell. I can strike up a conversation with anyone,” he said. “That helps with this job because I’m constantly talking to people.”

 

Zach welcomes community members to strike up a conversation when they see him out and about.

 

“Feel free to come up and start talking and get to know each other. I want to get to know the members of this community,” he said.

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