MITCHELL, S.D. (MITCHELLNOW) Mike Koster began his career as a Mitchell Police Officer as a new hire back in 2000. Over time, he rose from patrolman to sergeant to assistant chief of police and finally to Chief of Police in Mitchell in 2020. He has served the Mitchell community for twenty-four and a half years in uniform.
Chief Koster first considered retirement in 2023 but Covid was still winding down and it felt a bit like abandoning his post before things were settled. He then considered retiring in January of 2024, but retiring in the dead of winter with just snow removal to look forward to was unattractive to him. Because Mike Koster is in the State Retirement System, timing matters and so early July of 2024 became the next target date for retirement.
Koster’s career may be an anomaly in the future. He says that law enforcement careers are now an average of five years, a far cry from his nearly quarter of a century of service. Koster says the demands and stresses of the job, public antipathy, heightened scrutiny, lawsuits – legitimate and otherwise – are all contributing to the decrease in interest of becoming a law enforcement officer in the first place and the realities of the job are driving people out of the profession earlier and earlier in the tenure as officers.
Mike Koster will hang up his badge and gun on July 5, 2024. That makes finding his replacement the number one item on things to attend to for new Mayor Jordan Hanson and the Mitchell City Council.
Chief Koster expressed his gratitude to the community of Mitchell and especially to Dean Knippling and Dawn Niehoff as well as to his other colleagues and coworkers for their help, dedication, professionalism and work ethic. Congratulations to Mike Koster on his retirement and our many thanks for his years of service and for a job well done.