A Life in Law
By
A person lay dead in a house in the southern part of Owatonna. The shooter asked to speak to the sheriff.
Sheriff Bill Hildebrandt and his deputies knew the gunman too well. He was a repeat offender in the county, and he was assumed to be mentally unstable.
“If I would have thought of going in, my deputies probably would have handcuffed me to my truck,” Hildebrandt said.
Several police officers from Steele County, Minn., and surrounding counties eventually helped detain the shooter. He was arrested and held at the Steele County Jail until he was sentenced to a security hospital in St. Peter, Minn., where he will remain indefinitely.
Through his 19 years as sheriff of Steele County, Hildebrandt, 70, encountered hundreds of situations that put him and his deputies in danger like that shooting in 2000, but their first priority was taking care of each other.
Hildebrandt and his deputies spent time after every call talking things out. Fatal accidents, deaths of small children and deaths in the home seemed to take the largest toll. “Those hurt the worst, but we were able to talk about it afterwards,” Hildebrandt said. “Sometimes we’d throw things just to work out our frustrations and disappointments.”
On February 6, 1983, just one month after being elected sheriff, Hildebrandt was called to a hostage situation. He remembers the day because it was his 23rd wedding anniversary and his first hostage negotiation.
“I did the negotiating alone, and I went into the house. We brought the guy to a hospital and nobody got hurt,” he said. “It was one of the scariest days I had on the job.”
The sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer in the county, and the responsibilities reach further than arrests and negotiations. Sheriffs are responsible for operating jails, providing court security, and transporting inmates.
Jerome Hildebrandt, 71, saw his brother’s capabilities in law enforcement grow in his years in the job. “When you get entrusted into that position, every time you go out you grow, every time it’s something new, something to learn from,” Jerome Hildebrandt said.
As young boys they played cowboys and Indians, and Jerome said that was where he first noticed his brother’s interest in law.
Bill, Jerome and their sisters Mary and Arolyne grew up on a farm near Nerstrand, Minn., which had a population of 251 in 1940, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Bill attended country school in Nerstrand and high school in Kenyon, Minn. Instead of becoming a farmer he joined several of his high school classmates and enlisted in the army in 1956.
“I just wanted to try something different,” he said.
After basic training in the Signal Corps, where he learned telephone repair, installation and cryptography, he worked installing phone lines in Georgia and Missouri. After serving nearly two years in the army he moved into the army reserves.
When he returned to Minnesota he worked for the Soil and Water Conservation District until 1970, when he started working as a special deputy in Steele County. He worked dances and special events, which triggered his interest in law enforcement.
The sheriff at the time, Bird Coufal, suggested that he apply to be a deputy. After passing the civil service exam, he became a deputy in Steele County in 1973, and in 1976 he retired as a captain in the reserves after almost 21 years.
People encouraged him to run for sheriff in 1982. He took office in January 1983. After his first election he ran unopposed for four terms.
When he returned from a two-week reserve camp in 1975, his wife of 15 years, Carole, and his kids picked him up with some big news. They told him they were going to be foster parents. “I didn’t have much choice because they’d already decided,” Hildebrandt said with a chuckle.
Their pastor had approached Carole while Bill was gone. The pastor thought they would be great foster parents, and after Bill was told that it meant they were going to be taking in children who needed temporary homes, he agreed.
From 1975 to 2000, they housed more than 80 foster children along with their own kids, Gary, Theresa and Melisa. Their family adopted a foster child, Tiffany, when she was 17, and Melisa adopted an 18-month-old foster child whom they were taking care of when Bill’s wife passed away in 1995.
“Taking care of people in need was part of his life,” Jerome Hildebrandt said. “It was hard for him to lose his wife, and even harder when he lost his son.”
Gary Hildebrandt had followed in his father’s footsteps by joining the armed forces. He became a Navy Seal and was one of an elite team sent to Iraq. After returning from Iraq in 2005, he was found dead in his apartment at age 45 from a head injury, which occurred in his apartment. Gary never even had the chance to call for help, Bill recalled. His neighbors found him several days later.
Bill retired from law enforcement in 2000 after more than 28 years. He hasn’t gotten bored yet. He spends time with his children, grandchildren, neighbors and all his horses.
While sheriff, he was also a part of the Steele County Mounted Posse. The Mounted Posse is a group of volunteers trained in search and rescue, CPR and first aid. They provide support for the county sheriff and his deputies by horseback.
He’s been involved with fairs, parades and special events for years. The posse is his connection to law enforcement and he doesn’t foresee giving it up for a while. “As long as I can get on a horse I’ll be a part of the posse.”