St. Charles Optimist Respect For Law Recognition
By Tony Brockmeyer
On Tuesday, May 2nd, the St. Charles Optimist Club held their annual Respect for Law program. Recognized by the club were Sergeant Rick Luetkenhaus of the St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department, Sergeant Doug Middleton of the St. Charles Police Department and Assistant Prosecuting Attorney John Bauer.
In his opening remarks, Club respect for law Chairman, Ron Bextemueller told those in attendance, “For the past 40 years, Optimist Clubs across the nation have worked to bring recognition to law enforcement during the first week of May each year. The Optimist objective is to inspire respect for law through sponsorship of various programs or events such as this one. By bringing recognition to local law enforcement officers who serve us, we hope to inspire others not only to obey the law, but also to show respect and gratitude to those who uphold the law. For 34 years as the county’s oldest club, which was chartered in 1971, the Optimist Club of St. Charles has been doing just that.”
He went on, “The Optimist Respect for Law program was born out of a discussion in 1965 between the president of Optimist International and J. Edgar Hoover. Originally, the program was designed to inspire respect for law between the police and troubled youth. Over the many years since it’s beginning, the program has now evolved into a community wide program. Optimists recognized the need to not only inspire youth to respect the law, but also the need to inspire everyone, including adults, to respect the law. What better way can we do this than to show our respect to those who serve to protect us? Our objective is to help make our community a little better place to live, work and play. Each day in the United States there are some 957,000 law enforcement officers on the job. Here in St. Charles and St. Charles county hundreds of officers are serving and protecting us every second, of every day, from the officer on the street investigating crime and making arrests to the prosecutor prosecuting those who violate our laws. The Optimist Club of St. Charles recognized the dedication and sacrifice of those involved in law enforcement and the contributions they make to the community each and every day.”
The Optimist Club of St. Charles selected two local law enforcement officers and an assistant prosecutor for their distinguished and dedicated service.
Sergeant Rick Luetkenhaus, St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department
Sergeant Rick Luetkenhaus, a 26-year veteran of the St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department, is currently in charge of the Forensic Services Division. As a supervisor of this division, Sergeant Luetkenhaus is responsible for crime scene personnel who process crime scenes ranging from burglary and thefts to assaults, rapes and homicides. Their role in the proper identification, collection and preservation of all evidence is crucial for careful laboratory analysis which can yield information in solving crimes, convicting offenders, and equally as important, freeing the innocent.
Sergeant Luetkenhaus has served as a dispatcher, jail officer, patrol officer and as a crime scene technician. As a crime scene technician, Sergeant Luetkenhaus has assisted officers from local municipal police departments with his knowledge and expertise in forensic sciences in the investigation of crime. In the past, Sergeant Luetkenhaus has worked in investigating several homicides within St. Charles City, including the Jill Frey decapitation and the suspicious deaths of two young boys found nude and strangled in the woods at the end of Elm Street near Elm Point Road. He has also been called upon to assist the St. Louis Major Case Squad with major crime scene investigations within St. Louis County as well as other counties adjacent to St. Charles County. Sergeant Luetkenhaus has sacrificed many holidays, days off and family gatherings to respond to a call to duty. His work, and the work of those he supervises has helped detectives solve crimes and convict offenders.
Sergeant Doug Middleton, St. Charles Police Department
Sergeant Doug Middleton, a 26-year veteran of the St. Charles Police Department, is currently assigned to the Field Operations Division as a day watch supervisor. Sergeant Middleton assists in supervising 24-Police and civilian personnel who provide police services in the area of patrol, traffic enforcement and investigation, parking enforcement, hold over operations, in-house operations and with indirect supervision of police communications and 911.
Sergeant Middleton has served as a patrol officer, a field-training officer, TACT officer, hostage negotiator and department training coordinator. As one of the department’s hostage negotiators he has successfully negotiated an end to several volatile incidents. During his time as a TACT officer, Sergeant Middleton helped establish the unit into one of the premier units.
Sergeant Middleton’s most notable accomplishment was his service as the department training coordinator. Under his direction, and working with the Eastern Missouri Police Training Academy, the department increased its in-service training program, all which complied with police officer training standards, set by the State. As a result, SCPD officers could maintain their police officers’ certification locally. He also developed a computerized tracking system to track every officer’s training record.
Sergeant Middleton has volunteered his time to help with various community and crime prevention programs. He was also appointed by the County Executive and served a term on the County’s Domestic Violence Board.
John Bauer, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney
John Bauer has been employed for five years as an assistant prosecuting attorney for the St. Charles County Prosecutor’s office. Before becoming an assistant prosecutor, Mr. Bauer was employed in a private law practice for four years. John is a graduateof the University of Illinois with a degree in Media Studies and a graduate of St. Louis University School of Law.
During the past five years, he has prosecuted hundreds of traffic cases including DWI offenses; involuntary manslaughter cases involving DWI drivers and DWI assault cases. John also serves as a representative of the St. Charles prosecuting Attorney’s Office for the DWI Court.
John’s commitment to the profession does not end with his duties and responsibilities as an assistant prosecutor. He serves as an instructor at Type III Breathalyzer raining and Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) training programs for police officers. The DRE training program helps police officers in recognizing DUI offenders who use drugs and become impaired to drive. He continues to attend numerous training sessions to improve his area of expertise in prosecuting DWI offenders and others.
An Optimist is an individual who belongs to an organization of people committed to optimism and self-development for the improvement of youth and the community. There are some 105,000 members who belong to more than 3,200 clubs. Since 1919 local Optimist Clubs have been working to “Bring out the Best in Kids.”
According to Bextemueller, “Optimist Clubs have conducted 65,000 service projects serving over six million youth and spending nearly $78 million annually. Optimists have been known as “Friends of Youth.’ Now they are becoming known for their “Childhood Cancer Campaign.” This is their signature program sponsored by Optimist International, the parent organization. Optimist Clubs worldwide are doing their part to stop this disease in children by supporting research and treatment programs and providing special outings for children who have cancer.”
The St. Charles Optimist Club sponsors and supports many programs for local youth with their time and money from essay contests, youth activities like teen dances, baseball and softball teams, to providing college scholarships to high school seniors.
