Tyler Berry has joined the Mar-Mac Police Department as its newest officer.
A native of the area who graduated from MFL MarMac in 2007, Berry is excited to return home with his wife and kids and serve in a new capacity after a 12-year career in the Air Force.
Berry believes his military experience will translate well to his new role, which began in April.
“The leadership skills, that all transfers. And dealing with high stress environments,” he explained. “I was a medic in the Air Force for 12 years, so being hands-on in an emergency situation, I’ve experienced that many times. It’s just in a different capacity.”
What Berry is most excited for, though, is community policing and forging positive interactions with residents and visitors.
“A lot of law enforcement gets a bad rap. I think the places where you can actually stop that is small towns like this where you go into these businesses, you show your face. People know you on a personal level,” he said. “I mean, bad things happen, people make mistakes. Dealing with that is part of our job, but it’s not the only part of the job.”
Now nearly two months in as a Mar-Mac officer, Berry said he’s continuing to learn street names and where things are located. Although he grew up in the area and his parents owned a coffee shop in McGregor for a decade, he acknowledged the towns have changed a bit since he was a teenager.
“And living here, I never really knew what the street names were. It was, ‘Oh, the road by the River Junction, or the one that goes behind all the businesses.’ You know them in different ways,” he acknowledged.
Police chief Robert Millin and fellow officer Cyrus Johnson have aided in Berry’s field training.
“I rode a lot with Cyrus to do some field training, and I’m still technically in field training, but I’m out driving around on my own now. There’s still some things that I might have to call and be like, ‘Hey, what do I do here?’” Berry said.
For him, that’s part of learning.
“I think that’s something that never really stops. I think you never should stop calling somebody and ask ‘Hey, what should I do here? What should I do there?’” he said. “One thing I have learned through my military background is that you never know everything. There’s times that you do have to call people and ask them. And not even just the police chief, not just Cyrus, but the community. Ask them, ‘What should we do about this?’”
Berry hopes community members see him as approachable and fair.
“I am friendly and I will stop into businesses and talk with people and get to know people in the community. But my job also is to keep the community safe if somebody does something wrong,” he reminded.
Berry is excited for his family to experience the area where he grew up. He wants to keep it safe for them and others who call it home.
Thinking back to his childhood, riding bikes around town after school or on summer days, he reflected, “Here, you can let your kids go outside and run around in the yard, and you don’t have to worry about them. I want to keep it like that. Preserve that. I think one thing that we can definitely help with is patrolling, always having a presence. And when people call, we make it there on a timely manner.”
