Stearns County Sheriff Honors Fallen Officer

Every year the Stearns County Sheriff's Office honor guard honors an officer on the anniversary of that officer's death.  Wednesday they honored deputy Steven Sandberg from Aitkin County who was killed while guarding a prisoner on October 18, 2015 at St. Cloud Hospital.

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Soyka says when he took over as Sheriff he established an honor guard made up of people throughout the agency to honor retired and fallen officers.  After a training at Camp Ripley the honor guard has the ability to put on events like yesterday's and funerals. Soyka says they have received positive feedback from families about these events showing family members these people have not be forgotten.  He explains family members of the fallen officers are invited to the event.  Soyka says there were representatives from Aitkin County in attendance at Wednesday's event.

Sheriff Soyka also addressed scams in the community.  He says close to 99% of the scammers who text, call or operate online are from out of the country.  Soyka indicates because of this it is extremely difficult to catch and prosecute these individuals.  He says scammers have tried to pose as him and/or his office when attempting to gain the confidence of potential victims.  Soyka encourages people to be skeptical of calls, texts and emails and to never give out personal information over the phone.

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Sheriff Soyka it is available below.