Continuing the Family Business: Hank Prim, ’17, an Emerging Leader in South Dakota Law Enforcement
Written by Doug Goodnough
His father was a police officer. So was his mother. In fact, much of his family has a law enforcement background.
So what did Hank Prim, ’17, see as his future career path when he enrolled at Hillsdale College?
A teacher.
“My father told me, ‘Do not be a cop. Find a better job,’” Prim said.
He tried taking that advice. But after a year or so at Hillsdale, Prim said the “family business” was on his mind. A summer internship working on financial crimes analysis for the Cook County (Illinois) Sheriff’s Office convinced him that law enforcement was his future calling.
Now, he is all in. After graduating from Hillsdale, Prim accepted a position as a supervisory special agent and training administrator for the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation. The 27-year-old was recently promoted to supervisory special agent and training administrator for the DCI. Overseeing a staff of a dozen or so officers with a $3 million budget in the state capital of Pierre, Prim has multiple responsibilities, including supervising officer training and standards, managing officer misconduct investigations, and directing the state’s police academy. He also investigates homicides, shootings, sexual assault and financial crime cases.
“We cover all those different things,” Prim said of his current role with the DCI. “It’s a mix between police work and education. We make sure we’re hiring the right people into what’s a really important job.”
A political economy major, Prim said his Hillsdale education has helped him quite a bit in his law enforcement career. During his college summer internships, he helped solve white-collar crimes for both Cook County and United Airlines.
“A lot I learned at Hillsdale as a poly econ (major) were things that I directly applied to solving some really big embezzlement cases,” Prim said. “Just understanding the different political and economic structures…was really how I could find those back doors and find some really good evidence on those cases.”
He said his education is also relevant to his current position, especially in critical thinking and problem-solving.
“Economics is nothing more than the study of human decision-making,” Prim said. “Hillsdale talks about how to communicate, how to work through problems, how to make good decisions.”
At a time when many are exiting law enforcement, Prim said he is dedicated to improving the profession.
“We work through problems and come up with better and longer-term solutions,” he said. “We want to make police officers emotionally intelligent. The academy focuses on good decision-making. We spend a lot of time talking about questions such as how do you interact better? How do you manage what is a lot of stress, and a lot of critical issues? We have the time and space to really develop that.”
Prim, a native of the Chicago area, said South Dakota has been supportive to law enforcement. Despite a recent blizzard that produced up to 10-foot snow drifts, he said he enjoys life in South Dakota, including hiking the Black Hills and experiencing all the outdoor activities the Mount Rushmore State offers.
He said law enforcement must build trust and provide transparency if it wants better outcomes, and he is dedicated to making that happen.
“This is a really important way to keep a profession that is near and dear to my family headed in the right direction,” he said. “For me, staying in law enforcement and being part of crafting what policing is going to look like for the next 50 years is very meaningful.”
Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s director of Alumni Marketing. He enjoys connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.
Published in January 2023