NW Iowa News

During their Jan. 25 meeting, the Hawarden City Council received an annual year-in-review update from Police Chief Corey Utech.

The police department's calls for service were up approximately 400 from last year, which they expected, reaching just over 2,600. Those calls only led to 61 cases—that is, a resultant charge or investigation beyond a fine or warning. A number of violent-crime stats were actually down this year, which was taken as a good sign. They had 50 total arrests and 53 classified as victims. Only four suspects were never arrested, for a variety of reasons.

"Then we move down to something that we've really hit hard last year, and that was the nuisance abatement," Utech said in the meeting. "We had 159 investigations, which is way more than we've ever had. And to get to an investigation, we have to start with the initial inspection or observation of that nuisance. Then we send a notice to them if nothing happens and we're forced to either, you know, take the steps forward to actually do the abatement or really press them and send them a second and final notice to have them abate the property or they're willing to work with us. That's when it becomes actual investigation. A lot of the time we get compliance just by stopping talking to them, saying, 'Hey, this shouldn't be here. Let's can we get this taken care of?' And we've had good success doing that. It's actually one of the first steps that we have to go through. And people don't really understand that, that we have to actually have contact with them and talk to them before we can just serve them a notice and, you know, do everything else."

For traffic enforcement in 2022, there were over 390 traffic stops made, 73 of which received citations that were mostly written warnings. They had a total of 33 traffic accidents, and only 11 had more than $1,500 worth of damages—so the issues were minor this year. Utech noted that these were very good numbers. He also included the amount of solely verbal warnings the officers made, saying those were good exposure moments that allowed officers to work with the community in a more positive light.

The chief additionally gave the council a refresher on one of the ordinances they have in the City. The council was set to have a hearing on a vicious animal, meaning a pet in the city that bit, clawed, scratched or seriously harmed another person or animal and was complained about to the police. Typically, the police either allow the owner to permanently remove the animal from city limits because that pet is banned for life; or, if they choose to take it to a hearing, the charge will either be repealed or the police officers will charge the animal and put it down. The hearing was ultimately cancelled because the owner decided to move the pet out of the city, but it was a good moment as a reminder for all council members and city pet owners.