Axne meets with Creston Police Chief

U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne (IA-03) met with Creston Police Chief Paul Ver Meer Thursday to share with him legislation she’s working on to help small, rural law enforcement agencies access federal funding.

“We had a great meeting,” said Axne. “The chief really articulated what, unfortunately, I’ve heard far too often which is why this bill, for departments that are under 200 people are so important. he’s having a hard time hiring people.

From Ver Meer, Axne said she learned the application pool has dwindled from dozens to a few.

“He’s struggling there. Just like every other police department across the country, they’re dealing with issues that are extensions of what they do, so to speak, of what they do,” Axne said. “They’re just trying to even make sure they’ve got enough police on the beat to just take care of general things, let alone something really intense that requires a behavioral specialist. So we talked about that.”

Axne said Ver Meer feels the pushback on police, much like other cities in general.

“And that does not just have to be in Minneapolis or Seattle for them to feel the impact here, because the impact is that, first and foremost, they have less people stepping up to want to take on a position that is seen as contentious, especially you’re working in your community, people you grew up with, parents that scolded you when you were a child, whatever. And now you’re supposed to go in there and do your job in a time when, unfortunately, across this country, people are negatively talking about our police departments. This all has to change.”

Invest to Protect

Axne is one of 21 Democrats cosponsoring the bipartisan “Invest to Protect Act’ with 17 Republicans. The bill helps law enforcement agencies with less than 200 employees access federal funding.

“Right now they have to go through the same process, through the Department of Justice that the City of Des Moines ... Chicago has to go through as well. You can imagine there’s a heck of a lot more folks that can write grants or go after money in Chicago or even Des Moines than there is in Creston,” she said.

Axne said the bill does many things for smaller agencies like Creston Police and Union County Sheriff’s Office.

“First and foremost, helps with hiring and retention,” Axne said. “So through bonuses and higher pay, helps also through retention with things like education, going back to school.”

Provisions of the bill include:

• Investing in officer safety, de-escalation and domestic violence response training

• Allocating resources for body cameras — specifically funding for data storage and data security.

• Supplying grants for small departments to recruit new officers.

• Providing retention bonuses and investment for officers pursuing graduate degrees in public health, social work and mental health.

• Providing critical resources for departments to provide mental health resources for their officers.

“So that’s what this bill does,” said Axne. “And when you have to compete against big cities, [smaller communities] almost always come out on the short end of the stick.”

Axne said the bill will help communities like Creston draw applicants from its community as well as nearby cities.

“I firmly believe there are a lot of people in our urban areas that would prefer to stay in more rural areas if they could,” Axne said. “If we can’t compete against the Des Moines salary and you want to be a police officer, then you’re going to leave the Creston area to go up there because you can make $20,000 more and it doesn’t cost you. The cost of living isn’t that much different.”

Ver Meer said, if passed, the legislation would help.

“We’re smaller agencies, we’re not the Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, things like that, and the way it was told to me, I think the way the money would be able to be used, would be beneficial to our agencies,” Ver Meer said.