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Marshalltown Police Department Chief Mike Tupper and Marshall County Sheriff Steve Hoffman navigated a wide range of challenges relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the county sheriff's office, the immediate concern was keeping its jail population safe. To date, no inmates have been infected with COVID-19, according to Hoffman.
"So in a very dreary year, that is certainly a bright spot and a testament to our medical and security staff," he said. "That's not to say that our staff between the jail and patrol have been insulated from it. We have been affected by that. But the protocols in place for PPE and intake appear to be a huge success."
Marshall County has the ninth largest jail facility in the state. This year it regularly held 80-100 inmates at a time. It was at about 160 inmates when the spread of COVID-19 in the United States became known to the general public.
Tupper said his department has more frequently received domestic violence reports this year. He has also observed the cases becoming more violent.
"That could be relevant to what is going on with COVID-19 with a lot of people being at home, feeling stressed, struggling financially," he said. "There are a lot of stressors that could have an impact on family violence."
Pushing awareness of domestic violence is always one of the department's top priorities, according to Tupper. Communicating with the public through social media became one of the larger outreach efforts the department took part in as many of its usual programs were either changed to fit mitigation efforts or sidelines altogether.
"The best way to do that is to go out and meet people where they are," Tupper said. "Probably for a lot of us in 2020 community outreach was almost nonexistent. We just weren't able to do that because of the pandemic. We hope things change in that regard in 2021 so we can interact more with the public."
The pandemic was a hindrance on community outreach but both departments continued to serve and protect as usual.
The Marshalltown Police Department faced two homicide cases this year.
The first -- the March 15 shooting of 27-year-old Blake Clifford Thomas – resulted in the arrest of Mustafa Fard Muhammad, 30. Muhammad was arrested that day and is being held in the Marshall County Jail on a $1 million bond. Charges against him include first degree murder and trafficking stolen weapons. Sarah Rochelle DeSautels of Marshalltown, 37, was also injured in the shooting.
The second case, which occured on March 25, is the shooting death of Johnqwez Deanthony Lewis of Marshalltown. Lewis, 22, was shot and killed on Union Street. Devonte Allen Brookes, 27, of Marshalltown, was also injured by gunshots. No arrests have been made in the case and Marshall County Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
"That's still a very active case and a very important case for us," Tupper said. "We remain confident we are going to make an arrest and resolve this case."
In October the Marshall County Sheriff's surveillance detail arrested an alleged burglar involved in a widespread burglary spree. Douglas L. Davis, 26 of Marshalltown, was arrested after being followed to All-Star Concrete in Ankeny early in the morning on Oct. 29. It is believed Davis was in the act of burglarizing the business.
"There were up to eight counties we solved burglaries in including of course Marshall County," Hoffman said. "It was very nice to see that case wrapped up."
Davis is being held in Marshall County on seven counts of burglary, two counts of theft and one count of theft in the second degree, as well as several warrants.
Racial tension and distrust of law enforcement in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis was one of the largest issues affecting departments at every level this year.
The Marshalltown Police Department and Marshall County Sheriff's Office were no different. Floyd's murder was the instance that brought police brutality to the forefront across the country, but it wasn't the only case involving an alleged racial bias and the police.
"The calls for reform are important calls to hear," Tupper said. "I'm supportive of learning from these discussions and participating in them. We learned for sure locally the community supports public safety and very much supports the Marshalltown Police Department. We understand we have a great duty to live up to the community's expectations and we don't take that for granted."
Hoffman said the spotlight on racial injustice has been an opportunity for dialogue and learning within his office.
"We've had many positive reactions through that as well as a deserving and good dialogue regarding race relations and bias and implicit bias," he said. "We are encouraging our own staff to reach out to minority coworkers to gain an understanding of their perspectives."
Contact Joe Fisher at jfisher@timesrepublican.com