Schleusener Has Made Career Of Law Enforcement

The many law enforcement officers around the United States spend countless hours working to protect and serve the citizens of their area. Whether it be through taking action against law breakers, helping on the scene of an accident or simply just through community outreach, law enforcement officers provide many services for their communities. That type of career really fits one Orchard native’s style.

Dan Schleusener, the son of Jeff and Vicky Schleusener of Orchard, has been in law enforcement in some capacity ever since graduating from college. His career has taken him to a number of towns in a number of ways, leading to his most recent promotion to chief deputy of the Buffalo County Sheriff’s Department. As the chief deputy, Schleusener stays plenty busy.

“My division that falls directly under me is the jail and communications,” he said. “I’m also the procurement office for the sheriff’s office as a whole. I also do policy development. We’ve also gone with a new dispatch system and records management system so I’ve been involved with implementing that and rolling that out.”

Schleusener was sworn in as the new chief deputy of Buffalo County in September, a promotion from his previous position as sergeant. His promotion filled a position of serious need for the county as it had been vacant for nearly four years. The county couldn’t have picked a better person to fill the position, with Schleusener closing in on 16 years of experience in law enforcement.

After graduating from Orchard in 1997, Schleusener went on to attend Nebraska Wesleyan. There, he received his degree in political science with a minor in criminal justice. However, it wasn’t until his senior year that he truly decided that law enforcement was the path for him.

“I did an internship with the Nebraska State Patrol in Omaha my senior year,” he said. “That was  really what peaked my interest. I thought that I could do that for a career and have enjoyed it since then.”

From there, he took a job with the department of corrections, working at the state penitentiary for less than a year. He then moved on to the David City Police Department in 2002, his first position as a sworn officer. While there, he also worked at the Polk County Sheriff’s Department on a part-time basis. Schleusener knew that working for the sheriff’s department was truly his desire.

“I wanted to work for a sheriff’s office, a larger agency than I had worked for,” he explained.

When a full-time position opened up in Polk County, Schleusener jumped at the chance to join the department full-time. That is where he met a very important person in his life, his wife of almost nine years, Jen.

“We both worked at the Polk County Sheriff’s office,” he explained. “She was a dispatcher when I was a deputy there.”

He rose through the ranks quickly during his time in Polk County, making the rank of lieutenant before moving on to the Schuyler Police Department before taking a position in Buffalo County in 2008. Once there, he continued to rise up the ranks.

“I was a road patrol deputy from 2008 until 2013,” Schleusener explained. “In October of 2013, I was promoted to sergeant, so I was shift supervisor for the road patrol. Then I was promoted to chief deputy.”

The move to Kearney has given Schleusener a chance to settle down with his wife and two daughters, Brodie, 12, and Ellyson, 5. When he isn’t busy taking his family camping or riding his Harley in his down time, he is working on furthering his career with his master’s degree. He has just one class to finish up to earn his master’s in justice administration.  

“It’s just to better myself,” he said. “It was something that I always wanted to do and I finally decided to start it. It was to put me in a better position for advancement in my career.”

Even with nearly reaching the top of his profession as a member of the Buffalo County Sheriff’s Department, Schleusener is still working hard to build his career as a respectable law enforcement officer.

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