The latest "A couple minutes with…" video interview is with Lonnie Ekstrom, who started working at the UO Department of Public Safety in 2004 – first as a patrol sergeant and then as a dispatcher. He’d already had a nearly 30-year career as a police officer in Idaho.

But he didn’t just bring decades of experience as a cop; he’s also an artist, with an illustrious career sketching composites of police suspects.

“I began my art when I was young and was always interested in it, although I didn’t really have any formal training – I just fooled around with it,” Ekstrom says.  

Over the years, Ekstrom has sketched composites for 15 to 20 cases. He knows his sketches have helped catch a few criminals, including sexual assault perpetrators and one burglar.  “If you only make one good case in your career, that’s considered a success," he says. "At least you have to look at it that way.”

Got a suggestion for someone we should spend “a couple minutes with …”? Send an e-mail to Inside Oregon editor Joe Mosley.

We’re looking for people whose personal interests make them stand out. We’ve focused on ultramarathoners, aspiring cartoonists and roller derby "jammers." If someone's pastime has caught your interest, pass it along!

- by Aria Seligmann, UO Office of Strategic Communications