Jun. 26—MITCHELL — Mitchell’s police chief is retiring after nearly 25 years in law enforcement.

Michael Koster announced his retirement on Wednesday in a statement. His final day on the job will be Friday, July 5.

He has served as chief of police since 2020 when he was acting police chief and was later promoted to the full-time job as part of the restructuring of the Department of Public Safety which reorganized the Police and Fire/EMS divisions to have individual chiefs lead each division, rather than having one overall department chief.

Koster first joined the Mitchell Police Division in 2000 and served as patrol sergeant starting in 2006. In 2013, he received the city’s Pursuit of Excellence award in the Department of Public Safety and in 2014, he was promoted to assistant police chief.

Koster was instrumental in starting and coordinating the city’s Citizen’s Police Academy. He also served as a training instructor, member of the Crime Prevention Team, co-leader of the Mitchell Department of Public Safety Honor Guard, and has served on the Emergency Response Unit (SWAT Team).