Missouri Valley police chief discusses traffic, staffing and budget
Don Harrold, Executive Editor
editor@enterprisepub.com
Missouri Valley Police Chief Lee Lange said traffic on U.S. Highway 30 is the biggest problem facing the city. "Biggest problem in Missouri Valley, I think, is the major traffic on Highway 30," Lange said in an in-person interview. "Makes it a busier town than it probably should be. But we do our best to patrol the areas."
Lange said traffic is heaviest from about 6:30 to 8 a.m., when commuters from Denison, Dunlap, Dow City and Woodbine come south toward Omaha and Council Bluffs, and again from 4 to 6 p.m. "If you're trying to get out on Highway 30, you might as well turn right instead of wait for an opening," he said.
On crime in the city, Lange said, "Every town's gonna have their drugs. Every town's gonna have their domestics, their assaults, that kind of thing. We're no different. I think it's minimal. I think it's not a major problem for our smaller community."
"We're a 24-hour service with six guys," Lange said. "Somebody's always on, so our response time and all that stuff is not a factor." Lange said officers work 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. shifts. He said officers go on call only during meal breaks and can be called out of them. Lange said he also works as a cover car Monday through Friday. "I still like to patrol," he said. "I do a lot of traffic."
Lange compared the department's coverage with towns such as Persia and Pisgah, where he said a deputy has to cover multiple towns. "It might take them 30 minutes to get across the county to get to the call, where we're gonna be there in less than five, 10 minutes," he said.
Asked whether a person walking in a neighborhood at 10 p.m. would be safe, Lange said, "You are. I don't have any concerns of people out walking about. If you got a problem, like I say, we're a 24-hour service. Give us a call."
Lange is from Fonda, near Storm Lake. He said he graduated from high school in 1997 and from the academy in November 1997. He spent a couple of months in Newell before moving to Missouri Valley in May 1998. Lange said the police chief is appointed and that he believes the appointment is renewed every two years.
He said he met his wife, who grew up in Missouri Valley, and they have three children. "I like the town," Lange said. He said he also likes the people. "I don't have too many concerns that my guys ain't doing their job," he said.
Lange said turnover is the biggest change he has seen in the department. "They could go to the county, they could go to Omaha, they could do anything else for 10 grand more," he said. Lange said that after the department went to the City Council, the council looked into it and decided, in his words, "we need to keep what we do have and pay the guys." "Possibly half of the county guys have been through my department," Lange said.
Asked what the department needs most, Lange said, "Can't just point on one thing. If we go to the council, as long as it's budgeted in the previous budget, they're usually willing to look into it and say yay or nay." "I think the council does a pretty good job of giving us what we need to do our job," he said.
Lange said the county has a drone and the Missouri Valley department does not. He said whether the department would want one "depends on the cost of it and training and everything," and compared it to a police dog. "Dogs are great," he said. "They do their job. They get drugs off the street and whatnot. But the amount of time and training an officer needs to train that dog and the cost of that dog for smaller departments is a downfall."
"Being here as long as I have, I know there's a budget and like to stay under the budget," Lange said. He tied keeping "that kind of stuff at a lower cost" to being able to pay officers enough "to not be looking elsewhere, to go to the bigger city for a bigger pay."
Lange said about 1,000 people live in an area known as the Dips, which he said is not the department's jurisdiction and is the county's. He said the current Harrison County sheriff came through the Missouri Valley department. "They take their calls, we take our calls," Lange said. "We assist them if need be, and they assist us when we need be."
Missouri Valley does not have a jail and uses Harrison County's, Lange said. He said an old jail in the back of City Hall was being used for storage when he arrived.
Asked generally whether incorrect information can impede an investigation, Lange said yes. "I think people need to be patient on any investigation and wait till ... the investigation's totally done and not speculate one way or another," he said. "And then they will know instead of putting it out there on, like, social media and whatnot for people to guess and assume."
Lange said he does not have Facebook. "The public's gonna say what they're gonna say, unfortunately," he said. "And that's their right and everything, but people gotta read through the lines and do their own thing." Lange said the department will also "do a press release and go from there."
"Our number's there for anybody to call," Lange said. He said residents who need to talk with an officer can knock on the station door when patrol cars are parked on the side of the building. If no one answers, residents can call 712-642-2736. "That's the comm center, and they can get ahold of anybody that's on," Lange said.
