DC resident named Steele County Attorney

For years Robert Jarrett worked as a police officer. It’s what he always wanted to do.
But then, after years of missing family events, holidays, nights, and weekends, he decided he wanted to change careers, going back to law school, eventually graduating, and getting his first gig out of law school working as a prosecutor for the Steele County Attorney’s Office.
Now Jarrett will be serving out the remainder of Julia Forbes’ term, lasting until January 2027.
Forbes resigned in April and Jarrett was selected to fill the seat by the Steele County Commissioners on May 28.
From Cop to Prosecutor
Jarrett was a cop for 13 years before he graduatedfrom law school at Mitchell Hamline.
Then beginning in 2019, the Dodge Center resident got a job working as a prosecutor for the Steele County Attorney’s Office.
While in law school, he said there were a handful of other cops going to school to further their education. Most were going part time, Jarrett said, while himself on the other hand was going to law school full time during the week and then worked part time as a cop on the weekends.
“It’s more common than you think,” he said.
Jarrett said a lot of ex-cops don’t always end up practicing criminal law, in fact he thought he would become a civil lawyer out of law school.
“Well, I was kind of naturally drawn back to it and it was a good fit,” Jarrett said about the decision.
In 2022 Jarrett would take on a new role as the Rochester Police Department’s Professional Standards Manager and department attorney.
Essentially Jarrett said he was in charge of internal affairs for the police department answering only to the police chief and mayor.
With a law enforcement background Jarrett says he thinks it’s helpful as a prosecutor.
For example, he said he tries to do a lot of training with law enforcement saying cops “got a pretty bad rap the last couple of years especially.” Those training sessions, he said, sometimes occur with him dropping by night shifts, something more traditional career prosecutors may not do.
Jarrett said he knows cops work different shifts, and he wants to make sure they have as much information as possible when it comes to the legal system.
“I wanna make sure that they’re doing the right thing, they’re following the law,” Jarrett said.
He said when it comes from a former cop who understands safety issues and why something may be done a certain way it gives it a little more “credence.”
Building Upon Success
Jarrett said one of his top goals in his new role is to “continue the programming that Steele County is known for.”