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WBPD hits target of 5 officers
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · September 18, 2024
More than two years passed before West Branch Police Department got back to full staff.
In June 2022, “full staff” meant four police officers. But one officer left for another job.
And then another, and another. Even after going through several rounds of applications, the police department dropped to one full-time officer at the end of 2023.
But the West Branch City Council raised the salaries, aimed for hiring five officers, and more applications started coming in.
It took two years and one month to get back to four officers, then two years and three months to get to their goal of five.
“It was just an amazing thing to get that done for the city so we could actually start providing the services that the community deserves and expects from their police department,” Chief Greg Hall said in a Sept. 11 interview.
The police chief said city leadership made the right decisions to get the WBPD back to where it needs to be.
“I’m very impressed and happy with the City Council and the mayor with their support for the department,” the chief said. “Without their support and the leadership of Mayor (Roger) Laughlin, we would not have the five that we have. I’m very appreciative of that.”
Hall said he wants residents to know that they should feel free to talk to any officer.
“The police department is here, we’re here to serve. Come talk to us and let us be a part of the solutions to any issues and problems you have,” he said.
He noted that Sgt. Cathy Steen served alone for about two months before the city hired four others over the course of five months.
“Sgt. Steen has held down the fort ... really heroically, honestly, doing the work of admin, patrol — everything fell on her shoulders,” Hall said. “Giving her the ability to breathe a little bit is great.”
Here’s a rundown of the five officers:
• Sgt. Cathy Steen was a part-time officer for years before she was named the Student Resource Officer in 2016. She was promoted to full-time status in July 2020 and then promoted to sergeant in December 2023.
• Chief Greg Hall was hired in February.
• Ofc. Ryan Dorsey was hired in March. He was a certified police officer in Delaware but had to go through academy training to get certified in Iowa. He graduated on Aug. 16.
• Ofc. Brad Longlett was hired in May.
• Ofc. Daniel Cotterill was hired in July.
Hall said the services these officers can provide “are greater than the West Branch Police Department has ever been able to before.”
While still shorthanded, the city entered into an agreement with the Cedar County Sheriff’s Department to hire off-duty deputies to pick up extra shifts. Now, West Branch covers all but the 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. time slot, the typically slowest time of the day.
If an emergency arises during those hours, sheriff’s deputies will respond and will notify either Chief Hall or Sgt. Steen as they are the ranking officers. One of them will make a decision if more officers are needed.
If a call is not an emergency, those calls will be held over until 6 a.m. and West Branch officers will respond.
Under the intergovernmental agreement, deputies picked up evening and weekend shifts for six to eight months, Hall said.
“So we owe a lot to the sheriff’s office and Sheriff (Warren) Wethington in particular for getting us by, getting us through,” the chief said. “I very much value the relationship between the department and the sheriff’s office. We work well together and we will continue to foster that relationship.”
During lean times, Steen cut back on her hours working in West Branch Community Schools, but now has returned to working 20 hours a week in the three buildings, which is what the contract states.
“She’s really good at it,” Hall said.
Only full staffed for about a month, the WBPD will first focus on patroling and other essential duties, Hall said.
However, the chief hopes to learn what the community wants that the police department might provide.
“I have a lot of ideas of things I would like our people to be involved in. I also strongly encourage any of our officers that if they have a passion project, I want them to do that as long as there is a community policing aspect to it, I will be 100 percent on board,” he said.
With four subdivisions actively building homes and new roads, the community continues rapid growth. The city council anticipates new neighborhoods heading west and joining Golf View Heights in Johnson County.
Hall recognizes this growth, but he does not know if or when the city might add a sixth officer.
“We will have to address the needs of 24/7 coverage as call volume increases and dictates that,” he said. “At this time, we have no plans of moving to a sixth or seventh officer, but, obviously growth will most likely dictate those kinds of things.”
The police chief said the most common calls here involve traffic complaints, business checks, dog complaints, and domestic abuse.
“Unfortunately, we have had a surprising amount of domestics since I’ve been here,” Hall said. “That is definitely something we have noticed an increase in.”
Hall said the reasons behind domestic abuse vary, but family finances are most common.
“We do tend to see an awful lot of them in lower socioeconomic (families),” he said.
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