Chief Dana Wingert is in charge of Iowa’s largest Police force. In the last few years, he recalls riots, protests, the defund the Police movement, and removal of the Student Resource Officer (SRO) program at Des Moines Public Schools. With a rise in violence in the schools, is it time to bring officers back into the schools? Are his officers seeing the impact of anti-Police rhetoric?
Wingert discusses department accountability, his thoughts on recording Police, and how his officers are held accountable, specifically how does Des Moines and Iowa in general ensure we aren’t hiring bad cops who have been fired for bad behavior. He also recalls a moment when a few school board members tried to have him fired.
Officers in Public Schools
Des Moines Public Schools removed officers from schools in Feb of 2021 in response to the defund the Police movement. Chief Wingert believe this was a mistake, and prefers the Student Resource Program (SRO) be re-engineered, and re-instated.
After the program was ended, violence and fights increased dramatically, according to Axios. “Student behavioral problems at Des Moines schools have reached a fever pitch this year, staff, parents and police told Axios in interviews over the last month.”
He explains that officer interaction with students were actually at the request of teachers and administration. Officers didn’t go looking for issues. He also pushed back on what some called the “Pipeline to Prison” explaining not one student who had an interaction with Police went to prison. “You do the research on how many kids that we dealt with in the schools and went to prison, and the number is zero.” he said.
He also believes the SRO program should be re-instated. “…it would be good for everybody to have that reinstated.” he said. “We would have to work with the school district to reimagine what it’s going to look like, what the ground rules are, who’s responsible for what, but it could certainly be effective.”
His comments come at a time when the Iowa legislature are considering HS675 that would force local schools with over 8000 students to put officers in schools. Wingert has not discussed the SRO program with the new Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent, Dr. Ian Roberts. But has spoken to new Mayor Connie Boesen in passing.
“I have had several conversations with Mayor Boesen. Des Moines Public Schools is near and dear to her heart.” Wingert said. “We haven’t had any formal conversations about that. We’ve, we’ve discussed it in passing, but it would, it would require us sitting down and essentially redoing the entire agreement.”
Anti-Police Rhetoric
Since the George Floyd killing, anti-Police rhetoric has been on the rise in Des Moines and other cities across the nation. Tragically, the lives of two officers in Burnsville, a suburb of Minneapolis were taken last week. Is this anti-Police aggression a pattern?
Wingert expresses concern about the rise in aggression against officers, happening across the country, even in Des Moines. He lived this scenario with the tragic murder of Sgt. Anthony Beminio and Officer Justin Martin in 2016. But he also reminds listeners Des Moines and other Iowa Police run a tight ship and hold officers to account.
Defunding the Police is not the solution says Wingert. “When you defund the Police, that’s going to impact he people who need Police the most. Some of those poor communities that we have—you take the Police officers out of there, that doesn’t help anyone.” said Wingert. “Communities across the country that did it, are regretting it.”
But some council members didn’t listen, choosing to do their best to have him fired. “In 2020, there there was [sic] a couple council members that spent nearly a year trying to get me fired.” Wingert wouldn’t say which members wanted him out, but confirmed they are no longer councilmembers.
Does Des Moines Prevent Bad Cops
One bad cop can make all officers look bad, so how does Des Moines make sure we don’t get bad apples? “When you hire, you have to hire character,” says Wingert. “You don’t need to hire a supersleuth, you don’t need to hire a SWAT expert, or anything like that. You need to hire character and then teach them how to do the job.” he said.
“If you teach death lurking around every corner, now you become militarized to the point where you can’t do community Policing. You can’t have those positive interactions we like to have in Des Moines, Iowa,” he said. Unlike other cities, Wingert discusses how they prevent the hiring of officers with suspicious histories and are quick to remove officers that don’t demonstrate integrity.
“We have an accountability system in our building that is, in my opinion, second to none. Dozens of people no longer work at the Des Moines Police Department in the nine years that myself, and my administration, have been running it.” Wingert said.
He mentioned they take accountability seriously, not only are all cars GPS tracked, but all officer body cameras are tracked via GPS. They don’t mind people recording the Police either, “our officers really don’t care,” he said. “They’re used to it.”
He also mentioned getting through the Police Academy is much harder today. “If you made it to the academy after 24 weeks, you were going to graduate. Those days are over.” Wingert said. “We weed people out in the academy that we don’t think, operationally, aren’t good enough; tactically, they’re not good enough.”
He also mentioned his fellow Iowa Police Chiefs have frequent conversations to avoid hiring bad officers. On recruitment, he mentioned we are still getting great recruits, many of them home grown Iowans. “After 2020 in the midst of a pandemic, we had our two biggest classes ever. We had over 30 officers in back-to-back classes. So I think people still understand the value of it. I think people still have that mindset to serve. We’ve just been very fortunate.”
Apply to The Des Moines Police Department
You can apply to the Des Moines Police Department at the City of Des Moines Website or find more information about the Des Moines Police Department.