Janesville Police Department
Retirement Lieutenant Michael Blaser Jr.
The Janesville Police Department (JPD) thanks Lieutenant Michael (Mike) Blaser for twenty-four years of service. On Sunday, December 31, 2023 Lieutenant Michael Blaser will officially retire from the Janesville Police Department.
Mike, who grew up in Janesville, attended UW-Whitewater college where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Education and since went on to earn a Master’s degree from UW-Platteville in Organizational Change and Leadership. Mike was passionate about his career and serving the Janesville Community, and worked in many capacities for JPD.
Since starting his career with JPD on January 4, 1999, Mike served as a member of SWAT and earned a position as a Team Leader, the Street Crimes Unit, and a Field Training Officer. He was promoted to Sergeant in September 2011 and then to Lieutenant in January 2018. He was instrumental in developing the Crisis Intervention Team and the community partnerships associated to it, implementation of Individual First Aid Kits (IFAK), JPD High Risk Offender Team (HRO), and the first stages of development of the JPD Explorers Post. Also, Mike focused on officer and community development and training. He was an instructor in Verbal Defense and Influence, Scenario Based Training, Tactical Emergency Response and Active Threat for both police and fire, and he took over the leadership of the DROP (Death, Rehabilitation or Prison) program where he trained, presented, and spoke on opiate abuse to create community awareness and establish additional partnerships with outside resources.
Mike’s performance did not go unrecognized as he was the recipient of the Meritorious Service Award in 2006, Award of Excellence in 2015, and the Exemplary Service Citation in 2016. In addition, JPD received several letters and emails of appreciation sent to JPD over the years thanking Mike for his thorough trainings and presentations.
The Janesville Police Department again, would like to THANK Lieutenant Michael Blaser for his twenty-four years of dedicated service to JPD and the City of Janesville. We wish him all the best in his retirement and future endeavors.
