BEMIDJI — Community members lined Bemidji Avenue Thursday, April 16, to say goodbye to a beloved patrol officer.
Dozens of emergency vehicles escorted Officer Chad Museus home from his last shift with their sirens blaring, with a special callout in his honor issued on the scanner:
“While his time working cases was the most rewarding, he tells us that his time in patrol, having a front row seat to the best show in town, was the most fulfilling,” the scanner announcement stated.
“To call you officer seems inadequate. That title fits the uniform but never fits the impact. To call you a legend is more fitting, however, you are extremely humble and would be the first person to say, ‘I was just doing my job.’”
Museus hung up his badge after more than 28 years of service, beginning and ending his law enforcement career with the Bemidji Police Department. He joined in 1998 as a patrol officer, and served as a Paul Bunyan Drug Task Force agent for four years in the height of the methamphetamine manufacturing epidemic in Northern Minnesota, according to an announcement from the Bemidji Police Department.
Museus then worked for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for 13 years, where he worked on narcotics and homicide cases in the northern half of the state. He returned to the BPD in 2019 to work midday patrol.
Museus was honored with several awards over his career, including from the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association, the Minnesota State Arson Investigators Association and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for his work on missing persons, homicide and arson investigations.
Museus and his partner Tyler own and operate Nature’s Edge Greenhouse just south of Bemidji.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Larissa Donovan, in her capacity with the Bemidji Jaycees, was among the community members who celebrated Chad Museus' final escort.
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