Officer follows father’s example

The bond between father and son can be one of the most powerful relationships in a young man’s life. For IU Police Department Officer Brad Begeske, following his father’s footsteps into law enforcement has been his career path since his junior year of high school in Griffith, Ind.

After becoming a cadet during his junior year at IU, Begeske graduated from the IUPD Police Academy and became a part-time officer to finish his senior year. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in May and took a full-time job with IUPD to begin his career in law enforcement, just like his father did more than 20 years ago.

“My dad was the main reason I got into law enforcement,” Begeske said. “That’s who I was around growing up.”

Begeske is entering the field, and his father retired two weeks ago from the Calumet City Police Department in Calumet City, Ill.

“Obviously, my mom was not too happy about it,” Begeske said. “She wanted me to go do business or something safer. But my father told me he was proud of me. I told him that it was something I wanted to do, and I stuck to it.”

Begeske is currently working to complete his field training.

“They’re just getting us ready to go out on our own,” he said. “During each phase of training, there’s different things I get graded on.”

Begeske said he feels there are essential skills that an instructor can’t teach. For these skills, he looks to his father.

“People skills are something I believe can’t be taught,” Begeske said. “I learned those from Dad because he knew how to talk to just about anybody.”

When making the switch to full-time after graduation, Begeske knew IU would be a good fit.

“IU was taking applications,” Begeske said. “I lived here. I worked here. I liked all of the people here. I sort of knew how things ran here, and they offered me a job, so I took it.”

Q&A

IDS  What is the main difference between part-time officers and full-time officers?
Begeske The main difference is the type of patrols we do. Part-time is more foot patrol, such as backing up officers and helping people out when they need it.

IDS  What does the IUPD Police Academy entail?
Begeske It’s all held on campus Monday through Friday during the summer. You start every morning at 6 a.m. and do physical and classroom work. It adds up to 600 total hours of training and classroom work throughout the summer.

IDS  What was the most difficult part of the Academy?
Begeske The most difficult part was waking up. The thing that got me through it the most was knowing that it was what I wanted to do, and it was my one chance to do it good.

IDS  Do any of your peers give you a hard time about your career choice?
Begeske No one does. Two guys are jealous that I have a job already. Most of the time, they just start asking me legal questions.

IDS  What is a typical day in the life of Officer Begeske?
Begeske When I work third shift (11 p.m. to 7 a.m.), I’ll wake up, have some breakfast, go work out, clean up and go into work and get back home early in the morning, depending on what cases I got called on.

IDS What is your favorite shift?
Begeske Second shift is a lot different because there’s so many students for class. There’s so many different things going on. Third shift you see a lot more actual crime stuff happening.

IDS  What goes through your mind before you go out on a call?
Begeske  It all depends on what type of call it is. When you’re running lights and sirens for an emergency call, you take a second to gather yourself, and then it just turns into instinct and becomes routine.