Well-known face of SFPD concludes career of connecting law enforcement with community

By Steve Young, for Pigeon605

You know the name Samuel Clemens, right? The beloved author of Tom Sawyer fame? At the very least, you surely know him by his pen name, Mark Twain.

But did you know that Sam Clemens the storyteller lives and works right here among us?

It’s true.

Sioux Falls’ Sam Clemens tells stories in the realm of nonfiction, working exclusively in the genre of true crime. For 17 years, as the public information officer within the Sioux Falls Police Department, he and his role in articulating the business of local law enforcement have made him the face of policing in this community.

So much so, in fact, that people on the street often confuse him not with the famous author but with the chief of police.

The actual head of the department, Jon Thum, said: “I will be out in public, and someone will introduce me as the police chief, and a couple of people have been, like, ‘Well, what happened to Chief Clemens?’ So, I jokingly refer to him as Chief Clemens. It drives him crazy.”

The mistake is understandable considering that for five days a week since 2008, Clemens has stood before the cameras, microphones and notepads in the media room at the Law Enforcement Center and shared what he could about crime across the city. His face is a constant presence on the livestreams from the daily media briefings. His are the hands that crank out the police news releases. He answers the emails and phone calls from inquiring reporters needing statistics or updates or insights into the doings of law and order in Sioux Falls.

All that makes him recognizable.

“People say that to me, ‘Oh, you’re a local celebrity,’” Clemens, 54, said, shaking his head. “I’m not that at all. It’s just that people recognize me.”

Of course, celebrity can be fleeting, something Clemens likely will discover starting June 27, when he retires after 25 years with the police department as a patrolman, training officer and longtime spokesman.

If that seems young to be riding off into the sunset, it’s not so unusual in his line of work. For one thing, the Police Department’s pension program makes retirement much more enticing at his age. Clemens also is keenly aware of studies indicating that those in law enforcement often can experience shorter lifespans.

Really? “My guess is it probably has to do with a lot of stress,” he said. “The adrenaline, the things you see in the line of duty, the things you encounter. … That takes a toll on officers whether they realize it or not.”

What does seem certain is that his departure will leave a gaping hole in a department that prides itself on transparency and accessibility. Clemens played a major role in crafting that reputation, Thum said.

For example, when the May 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis put police brutality beneath the national microscope, Thum said Sioux Falls largely avoided the ensuing protests across the country that called for the defunding of law enforcement. In fact, this community stepped up during that upheaval and approved a $50 million-plus fire and law enforcement training center.

Thum said the makeup of this community is part of the reason for that. Connections with the public through programs like the school resource officers are a factor too. And the out-front, open-door approach to the public of department officials like Clemens explains it as well.

“Whether it’s in the newspaper or on the TV news, whatever, consistently the public here is seeing either Sam or I delivering much of that news,” Thum said. “Seeing us consistently out front explaining what’s going on just creates better public trust and understanding.”

That’s what Clemen’s predecessor, Loren McManus, was hoping for back in 2004 when he suggested to department administrators that they create a public information officer position to act as a conduit to the citizenry.

At the time, McManus remembers news coverage circulating that was focusing on complaints, valid or not, about the use of excessive force by a few officers working night shifts. The department’s response, he recalls, had been simply not to talk about it. That all changed when Doug Barthel was named police chief and took McManus up on his PIO idea.

Creating that PIO position, McManus said, “was important because there really wasn’t a pipeline, if you will, for us to be able to tell our story. I felt that if we had somebody who had the responsibility of being able to, No. 1, build relationships with the media outlets in the city and then be able to provide information in a timely manner … that would go a long way in building trust.”

As the first PIO, McManus held the job until 2008, when he transitioned into an investigator role in the department looking into domestic abuse cases. Clemens, who had been working as a patrolman and training officer since 2000, followed him into the job.

The truth is, Clemens said, he had little in his background that necessarily prepared him for the job. At an instructor development class he attended as part of his duties as a training officer, he remembers being asked what skills he might bring to the table as far as speaking to groups.

His response? “I never liked speeches,” he recalls. “In school … middle school, high school, college … I hated it. I absolutely hate public speaking.”

“So what is it you do at the Police Department?” the class instructor asked him. “I’m the public information officer,” he responded. And the class erupted in laughter.

What he did bring to the position was the voice of experience. Clemens worked five years, both part time and full time, with the Yankton County Sheriff’s Department after graduating with a criminal justice degree from the University of Nebraska. He then came to the Sioux Falls Police Department in 2000 and immediately took to the streets as a patrolman.

Clemens quickly developed a first-hand knowledge of crime and chaos in the city, forged against a daily routine, for example, of intervening in family fights and any other variety of assaults. He knows the life-threatening moments of facing a suspect with knife or an angry crowd starting to move in menacingly close. He knows the police officer’s story of walking into a room where a baby has just died.

That’s a kind of stress that likely doesn’t resonate with most folks, Clemens said. But stress, he insists, didn’t drive him to the PIO opportunity. He liked being a patrolman. The reality was, with an infant at home, a wife working every third weekend and his own weekend shifts, Clemens liked the idea of a normal working schedule and family life even more.

He also liked the challenge that facing the cameras would bring.

So a guy who admittedly hated giving speeches had to tame those fears and figure out how to address a crowd of reporters on a daily basis. He also had to learn how to deal with a different kind of stress – one brought about by the mental gymnastics of releasing as much information as appropriate while not jeopardizing investigations.

If you think that’s a cupcake job compared to patrolling the streets or investigating crimes, think again, Thum said. “If you ever want to see a bunch of cops clear out of a space,” the chief said, “ask one of them to talk a news camera.”

Clemens was good as the PIO because “of his genuineness and sincerity,” McManus said. “He’s not going to pull any wool over your eyes. The media knows when you ask Sam a question, they’re going to get a straight answer from him. It may not be the answer they want, but they understand that by the time he’s done talking.”

Gene Hetland, who retired a number of years ago as the longtime news director at KSOO Radio, said Clemens understood that the media had a job to do – to keep the public informed, a public that paid the taxes that fund the Police Department.

“Sam was never anything but a straight shooter with me,” Hetland said. “I don’t know anybody in the media who would say, ‘Man, he just sat on stuff and wouldn’t tell us anything.’ I was around long enough where I understood what he could or couldn’t say. But yeah, I thought he was a really good one to have in that job.”

Clemens said that in time, he tried to become an advocate for the media, understanding that they were his conduit to a citizenry in Sioux Falls that had a desire for immediacy in knowing what was happening across the community.

“I think sometimes, that gets lost in the building, and people will ask me, ‘You’re talking to the media?’” he said. “Well, no I’m not. They’re the conduit to get to the public and to relay that message. We talk about being open and transparent, so we’re trying to provide people with as much information as we can.”

Sometimes, he admits, he has provided too much information – a sign that even cops can be imperfectly human. On occasion, having discussed the details of a serious or major crime with detectives and knowing the details they do or don’t want him to share, “I’ve come down to the briefing, started answering questions and then let something slip out,” Clemens said.

“It’s defeating. I go right back upstairs and talk to the bosses and tell them: ‘I said it. I didn’t mean to, but it came out.’ And they’re typically like: ‘That’s fine. We can work with it. It’s not the end of the world.’”

It probably would have been better if he didn’t know all the information regarding a case so there was no chance for important facts to slip out, Clemens admits. But Thum, for one, has no qualms about the job his PIO has done, whether something has been inadvertently revealed or not.

“He has had a good career,” the chief said. “And if you look at the themes of that career, one is just basically how he’s been able to make connections with the community by being steady and consistent. That has helped our department in so many ways.”

In the coming weeks, the role will shift with Clemens’ retirement. Sgt. Aaron Benson has been named as the next PIO. While he will be the main point of contact for the media, more timely information also will be provided by shift sergeants and lieutenants working crime scenes, Thum said.

While a log of calls still will be sent to the media daily, “we will also work to improve the quality of police briefings with more context to public safety trends rather than reviewing daily crimes,” he said.

So what’s next for Sam Clemens? Perhaps he could become a writer. After all, when he asked his father long ago about how it was that they gave him his name, “he told me, ‘How many people do you know that had the chance to be named after somebody famous?’ ” Clemens said. “So I took that as a yes, it was an intentional thing.”

He said he never shied away from that connection. Growing up, anytime he had to write a report in school on a famous historical figure, he always chose Mark Twain. He doesn’t recall whether that ever got him a good grade or not. “But my teachers,” he said, “always thought it was hilarious, seeing a paper on Mark Twain by Samuel Clemens.”

Of course, those days are long past now. Going forward, he doesn’t foresee living off of any Clemens connections or fame in retirement. But then, what does a retired cop do when he’s no longer a cop? This Sam Clemens has some experience in communications from his law enforcement background, helping people understand what isn’t always easily understood. As the PIO, using a camera to document police life in Sioux Falls, he has developed some photography skills as well.

Where all that might lead him, he isn’t sure. For now, Clemens is satisfied to ponder his options based on his skill set, with no big rush to make a decision.

“We’ll see. I’m going to find something else that I can just go and do,” he said. “There’s something out there, I’m sure of it. I’ll make it work.”