Dickinson Police Department officer outwrestles competition at 2023 World Police and Fire Games
Aug. 11—DICKINSON — Senior Patrol Officer Jesse Hellinger, a three-year veteran member of the Dickinson Police Department, might have been a standout performer on the Dickinson State University wrestling team and national champion nearly a decade ago, but he still has the skills. Hellinger recently participated from July 28 to Aug. 6 in the World Police and Fire Games in Winnipeg, Canada, and he came away with a well-earned, third-place finish.
The games are hosted every two years with 85 different sports and welcome more than 8,500 athletes from more than 50 countries across the globe.
"I was a collegiate wrestler, so it's a little bit of a different style, but growing up I wrestled freestyle and Greco-Roman and it's been many moons since I competed in freestyle," Hellinger said.
He said the competition at the games was tough and the participants wrestled at a high level. "As police and fire professionals, it's all shift-work and kind of crazy schedules and the athletes there were absolutely incredible. I was able to watch some other sports, too, and I can say across the board in my opinion they are the kind of people that you want within your department because they're a bunch of studs in their different fields of athletics."
Hellinger, 33, got his start in his home state of California at Winters High School in Winters, Calif. and at the university level initially at Sacramento City College. But he finished off his career at DSU, graduating in 2015 after transferring to the area in 2011, and then stayed in the area. Hellinger won a national title in the 197-lb. weight class in March of 2014. He joined the police department a little more than three years ago after getting married and starting a family.
Now, Hellinger has his sights set on the 2025 games, and he said he will redouble his efforts and keep training in the sport he loves.
"It's the first time I've ever competed in something like this competition," Hellinger said. "In 2025, it's going to be in Birmingham, Ala. — and I'm not really a good loser, per se — and I'm hoping to go back and train a lot harder than I did this go-round and hopefully that will yield some better results for myself and the department."
He added, "I'm super-appreciative that I was able to compete in the tournament and that my department's so willing to have us do things like this and they encourage us to do stuff like this, so we're pretty fortunate for that."
The DPD applauded Hellinger's efforts, saying in a press release, "We are incredibly proud of our very own Senior Patrol Officer Jesse Hellinger for placing third in the heavyweight class of the freestyle wrestling competition at this year's World Police and Fire Games. The games were held in Winnipeg, Canada and featured some of the world's most athletic, fit, and capable police and firefighters out there. SPO Hellinger is an accomplished wrestler by nature and uses his talent by assisting in defensive tactics instruction for our department."
With the support of the department behind him, he said he is happy he stayed in the area after college.
"I think this is the best community in the world, and there's definitely a reason why my wife, myself and my kids are here and it's not the weather," he said with a laugh. "It's a great community for us and we wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the United States."
For more information about the Dickinson Police Department, please keep reading your Dickinson Press and/or visit the website at
. For a full list of results from the games, please see
.
A previous story about SPO Hellinger in The Dickinson Press can be found at
