Jason Akerson has seen and done it all during his more than 33 years in law enforcement.
Homicides, suicides, vehicle accidents, illicit drug usage, mental health issues, and a surge in cell phone calls from citizens reporting erratic drivers or other incidents on the road.
However, Akerson, a native of Ely, heads into retirement satisfied in choosing a profession that serves the public.
“I enjoy working with people and helping people,” Akerson said. “You get to work outside and it’s something different every day. Your never know what this job is going to throw at you every day.”
Akerson and other law enforcement officers often deal with difficult and emotionally challenging situations.
But there’s also been some humorous events.
“When I worked out of the Ely office, I got a call one night about a moose standing in the middle of county road 21 between Ely and Babbitt,” Akerson said. “It was summertime, so there was a lot tourists up there, so it was backing up traffic. Sure enough, when I got out there, there was this big, huge bull moose standing in the middle of the road with one set of antlers missing.”
As traffic continued to back-up, additional help arrived.
“The game warden got there and this bull moose wouldn’t move off the road,” Akerson said. “He had a truck at the time and he was just kind of coming up behind it and hitting the siren and it wouldn’t move, wouldn’t move. We’re standing there, it’s really getting backed up and cars would go by snapping pictures of this moose. I could have reached out and touched it with a paddle we were so close. He looks at it and we’re kind of looking at each other like what are we going to do? He finally looks at this moose and he talks though his open window and says to it, ‘I’m a game warden, I command you, get off the road and go into the woods’. It was just perfect timing, the moose turns around and looks at him sitting at him in his truck and saunters off into the ditch.”
As the moose heads away, the game warden turns again to him, Akerson said.
“He looks at me and says, ‘That’s what legends are made of right there’,” Akerson said.
Akerson retires in a few days as St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office Undersheriff.
Akerson has served as Undersheriff since December 2022 under appointment by St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay.
As Undersheriff, Akerson has overseen day-today operations of the Sheriff’s Office including law enforcement, 9-1-1, emergency management, and the county jail, Ramsay said.
Ramsay said Akerson has brought hard work and “a load of common sense and a steady hand,” to the job.
“He’s a great guy,” Ramsay said. “I selected him because of his legitimacy in the organization. People love working with him and for him.”
Like some others in law enforcement, Akerson grew up in a law enforcement family.
His father Dave was a St. Louis County Sheriff’s deputy who worked out of the Ely office.
There’s been an Akerson working on the force for 50 years, Ramsay said.
“I knew pretty early it was the military or law enforcement,” Akerson, a 1989 Ely Memorial High School graduate said.
Akerson went on for two years of law enforcement training at Vermilion Community College and skills training at Hibbing Technical College.
Following graduation, he worked as security guard until being hired for his first law enforcement job in Biwabik.
Akerson’s career included working part-time for the Biwabik Police Department, part-time for the Babbitt Police Department and fulltime for the Virginia Police Department.
After being hired by the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office, Akerson worked out of the Aurora, Hibbing, Ely, and Cook-Orr offices before transferring to the Virginia office.
Akerson still lives on the Iron Range, but splits time between Sheriff’s Offices in Duluth and Virginia.
Over the last three decades, times have changed for law enforcement, Akerson said.
“It’s changed quite a bit,” Akerson said. “Now we’re dealing with so many mental illnesses and drugs. One other thing we’ve noticed is an uptick in violent calls. I went half of my career without any, but now you hear about them more frequently.”
St. Louis County is the largest county geographically east of the Mississippi River.
That’s a lot of ground to cover for the Sheriff’s Office, Akerson said.
“The Sheriff’s Office for the most part serves the unincorporated areas,” Akerson said. “A lot of the difference is you’re working alone and covering a lot of area.”
However, the Sheriff’s Office has high expectations of its deputies, he said. “We expect our people to think on their own and do what’s right,” Akerson said. “We expect our guys to get involved in the community, their schools and their churches. That’s always been an expectation of the office.”
Coping emotionally with some of the situations that arise are difficult for law enforcement, Akerson said.
However, St. Louis County is doing a great job in providing psychologists and other mental health assistance to officers, he said.
In spite of the job’s challenges and emotional toll it can take, Akerson ends his law enforcement career with appreciation to the public.
“I’ve always said up here we’re very fortunate because we still have the public trust,” Akerson said. “I’ve always said we are fortunate to work up here. But we’ve always impressed on the guys that we earn that trust and to do the right thing every day.”
