An Austin police officer is trading his blue uniform for a brown uniform as he was officially sworn in Thursday morning as a Mower County Sheriff’s deputy.

Tom Brogan said he made the switch to be closer to his family and to get back to his roots.

“I grew up out there,” he said. “I worked for a few small towns prior.”

Brogan has worked for the Austin Police Department for the last two and half years, where he was a patrolman, field training officer and member of the Special Incident Response Team. His new duties will include a new variety of calls, from cows on the road to high speed chases, though he’ll still be a member of the Special Incident Response Team.

“It’s a lot more variety of calls, just the things you deal with city versus county,” he said. “There’s more stuff involving animals … you’ve got the [Interstate 90], county roads, agriculture and implement.”

Though he’s excited to get back out in the county, he said he’ll miss working with a great group of people.

“We’re pretty close because there’s always a group of us working together,” Brogan said.