Shannon signing copies at The Backyard Station in Frazee Oct. 5

By Robert Williams

Editor

Terry Shannon always wanted to work in law enforcement and he has detailed a quarter-century from a beat cop in Moorhead to County Sheriff and Perham’s Chief of Police with tales that stretch from the hilarious to “scary as hell” in his new book, “Unpredictable Justice” The Chronicles of a Small Town Sheriff.

Copies will be available for sale and to be signed by the author Saturday, Oct. 5 at The Backyard Station in Frazee beginning at 10 a.m.

Shannon’s latest effort is a big change from his usual topic, metal detecting, of which he’s published six. “Unpredictable Justice” was written with a personal touch for his family, most of all.

“This book is special to me and I started writing it probably 20 years ago,” Shannon said. “I had a career in law enforcement. I started out as a cop in Moorhead, ran for county sheriff and ended up being a police chief in Perham. I just wanted to tell a story so my grandkids and great grandkids knew what their grandpa was like.”

Having a lack of the same knowledge about his own grandfather was another big reason to chronicle his own time on the job.

“One of the driving factors of that was my grandfather, on the Shannon side, we heard all kinds of stories but never found out really what happened until I became sheriff and did some research,” said Shannon. “We always just wondered and I always thought it would be really neat if the grandkids knew what they’re grandpa was like.”

Getting into law enforcement was not like today where there are specific schools and training to complete to get in the ranks.

“Back then it was kind of different,” Shannon said.

After leaving the service and enrolling at Moorhead State University, Terry applied for three different positions with the Fargo police department but turned them down because the pay was so bad.

“I just couldn’t do it and I remember one of the officers said, “Can’t your wife get a job and support you?” and I said, in my mind, it didn’t work that way,” said Shannon.

Terry began a profitable career as a salesman instead.

“I was really successful at it and we went up to visit my cousin in Moorhead and he was a cop there, so I rode with him,” Shannon said.

The duo got a call to help a woman suffering from a heart attack.

“It turned out she was faking it, but we went all the way across town, red lights and sirens, and I told Jean (Terry’s wife), that’s it,” Shannon said.

Terry was the kind of driver one might term a lead foot.

“I did save a fortune in traffic tickets,” he said. “When they ran my driver’s record it was three pages because I was a salesman and I’d hit these small towns and get a ticket.”

The numbers also did not favor a fast track to going from a speeding scofflaw to becoming an officer in Moorhead in 1975.

“They had six positions open and 225 candidates,” Shannon said. “After I took the test, I told Jean I’m going to get the job and I did. I loved it up there.”

“Years ago,” Jean laughed, “He was interviewed and asked why he went into law enforcement and he said, ‘Because I like to drive fast and woo woo!’”

Four years later, a personal beef with Becker County Sheriff Jerod Thompson (1975-78) led Terry to running for the position and he got it. What he also got was a hot mess of a welcome to his new job.

“My first day the steam pipes had ruptured and nobody dared do anything; none of the prisoners were fed and I walked into my desk and he had taken all the keys and taken the tags off them so I just had a pile of keys…and a train derailed,” Shannon said. “That was my first morning…and then it got worse!”

What makes Shannon’s recollection of his time on the job is the reality in which he relates those occurrences, whether they are amusing or about something dangerous.

“These are actual stories that happened,” he said. 

Shannon describes some of the more harrowing events as having made some mistakes that turned out well.

“Kind of war stories is what it is,” he said.

Shannon relates tales of gun battles from facing off with a 14-year-old and a sawed off shotgun to being stationed in Ogema waiting for a gang to come shoot up a bar to a stint as an undercover agent for the FBI.

“I loved the job as sheriff and I think I was very popular but what I did, on a fluke, I ended up buying a fly-in fishing resort way up in northern Ontario and my plans were to have my son go up and manage it for me,” Shannon said. “That didn’t work out and I ended up resigning before my term ended and going up there to run the resort and it worked out really well.”

Shannon remained on the county’s books for three months as a consultant while in Ontario. 

After selling the resort, plans were to go straight to retirement but a call from the City of Perham asking Terry to be their police chief changed those plans.

“I said I’d give them a couple years and it ended up being eight,” he said. “It was just a wonderful, wonderful way to end a career.”

Shannon’s career spanned from 1975-1999, a timeframe he is thankful for given the difficulties of working in law enforcement today, something that would be very difficult for him.

“I would be in jail,” he said. “I believe very strongly in consequences and right now the biggest crime you can commit in this country is hurting somebody’s feelings and that’s just absolutely ridiculous. It really bothered me during COVID when they were rioting down in Minneapolis and they were ordering the police to stand down and watching these people loot these stores. I don’t think I could do it today. I’m too much of a redneck.”

Terry credits Jean having gone through a lot as the wife of a sheriff. The couple had three of their homes shot up and both relayed a story about what Jean termed, “A group of druggies” coming after them on Highway 10 after a retirement party they attended for the Moorhead Chief of Police.

“We were on our way back on highway 10; it was midnight or so,” said Jean. “The speed limit was 60 and he was doing about 75 and I asked why are you driving so fast?”

The druggies were right behind the couple and stayed with them to the point both cars are approaching 100 miles per hour.

“He pushed me down on the floor of the car and he was trying to get his gun out of his shoulder holster,” said Jean. “As I’m laying down there on the floor of the car and I’m remembering the movie “Walking Tall,” and they went to shoot at the sheriff and they ended up shooting his wife and killing her. That’s what I was thinking about.”

The group eventually disengaged and drove off but that was not the end of the interaction. Law enforcement was more personal back in those days.

“That guy woke up the next morning with my shotgun on his nose,” Terry said.

Shannon enjoyed his time serving others and even more relating those tales and it comes across in the text. The book also includes old newspaper clippings and photos from his quarter century on the job.

“I just relived the whole thing and it was a great period of my life and I had a great time,” Shannon said.

Saturday’s book signing begins at 10 a.m. with a fluid ending time depending on the number of visitors to The Backyard Station.