Colonel Robert O. Garrison
Chief of the Iowa State Patrol

A member of the Iowa State Patrol for nearly 28 years, Robert O. Garrison was appointed to head the Iowa State Patrol in October of 1999. During his tenure with the State Patrol, Garrison has undertaken a wide variety of assignments. He has served as a Trooper, Assistant District Commander, District Commander, Area Commander, Departmental Training Academy Commander, and Executive Assistant to the Commissioner of Public Safety. Colonel Garrison is the twelfth man to serve as the Chief of the Iowa State Patrol since its inception in 1935.

Troopers routinely relay emergency blood and tissue across the state, change a flat tire, testify in court, or call for a tow truck. They respond to motor vehicle collisions by attending to the injured, requesting an ambulance when necessary, directing traffic, completing reports, or making death notifications to family members.

The Iowa State Patrol has many diversified operations including:

• Airwing - providing enforcement, searches, and relays in one of the Patrol's aircraft
  
• Canine Unit - assisting in drug interdiction, searches and officer protection
• Communications Operations - receiving and dispatching emergency information
• Methamphetamine labs tactical support - drug arrests and interdiction
• Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program - commercial vehicle inspection and enforcement
• Safety Education - providing education and community awareness programs
• Tactical Response Teams - special weapons, tactics, and hostage negotiations
• Technical Accident Investigations - investigations involving traffic fatalities
• Vehicle Theft - working in conjunction with other agencies to recover stolen vehicles

During 2002, Troopers made 3,202 narcotic arrests and seized narcotics with an approximate street value of $27,466,286.

Illegal drugs in Iowa is considered a major detriment to the environment of safety that is vital to our economic and cultural growth. The Iowa State Patrol recognizes this fact and has taken significant steps to reduce and mitigate this harmful driver.

The Iowa State Patrol, funded by a grant from the Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau, recently utilized a team concept in an attempt to reduce alcohol related fatalaties in Iowa. The team worked times statistically shown to have a higher probability of intoxicated drivers on the roadways. During October, November, December 2002 and April, May, June 2003, this eighteen (18) member team arrested 466 drivers for operating while intoxicated as well as cited 397 persons for open containers, and made 311 other non-driver alcohol arrests.

Together, these actions represent over a quarter of a million contacts with citizens that can be considered as occurring in the most positive way. If a warning alone can correct a driving or vehicle equipment infraction, Iowa Troopers are more than willing to give this opportunity to a violator without the demands or stigma of formal criminal charges.

During Fiscal Year 2003, MCSAP performed approximately 4,870 inspections. These inspections resulted in 3,831 citations, 8,427 warnings, 1,882 drivers placed out of service. An additional 70 vehicles were parked for violations.

Throughout the year the MCSAP Core Group assisted the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration with approximately 300 security sensitive visits of hazard material transporters.

With the assistance of the Iowa Department of Transportation's Enforcement Division, 30 additional troopers received MCSAP qualification training during Fiscal Year 2003.

The Iowa State Patrol utilizes its K-9 Teams to assist not only other State Troopers during the course of their duties, but are also called upon by other law enforcement agencies who request their assistance as well. The Iowa State Patrol K-9 Teams have proven very effective in assisting State Troopers and other law enforcement officers in locating and apprehending dangerous criminals as well as determining the presence of illegal drugs and drug-tainted currency during routine traffic stops where criminal activity is suspected.

The Iowa State Patrol K-9 Unit was first implemented in 1992 with five (5) police service dog teams. Currently, the K-9 unit consists of seven (7) police service dog teams, all of which are certified under international standards established by the German Polizei and administered through Utah P.O.S.T. and the Nebraska State Patrol.

The Iowa State Patrol K-9 Unit assists members of the Department of Public Safety and outside law enforcement agencies in the areas of narcotics detection, evidence recovery, criminal apprehension and detention, tracking, building searches and handler protection.

During calendar year 2002, the K-9 Unit conducted 529 requests for service. Of those requests, 116 were from outside agencies. The service dogs were utilized 18 times for public demonstrations, 28 times for search warrants, 19 times for officer protection and tactical purposes. Fifteen (15) requests involved building searches following open doors, alarms, or the tracking of a suspect/missing person. Of the 15 incidents six resulted in the apprehension or location of the suspect/missing person. One of the more noteable apprehensions resulted in the capture of a known fugitive gang member wanted on felony warrants for terrorism and gang activity. Another noteable apprehension involved the capture of a subject wanted for an armed robbery at a convenience store. Both subjects were taken into custody without incident or injury to any law enforcement officers.

The K-9 Unit conducted 596 narcotics sniffs throughout the year resulting in the seizure of approximately $15,133,933 in narcotics and approximately $240,085 in property. The seizures resulted in 463 criminal charges of which 249 were felonies.

Drug-tainted United States currency seized on October 6, 2002, following a traffic stop by a State Trooper along I-80.

The Iowa State Patrol's Airwing is comprised of seven Trooper/Pilots. During 2002, these pilots accumulated over 2,875 total hours of flight time. In addition to initiating 53 felony cases, trooper pilots assisted local law enforcement agencies and road troopers in the special assignments shown in the chart at right.

Technical Collision Investigation

The Technical Collision Investigation Unit is comprised of Troopers who are highly trained in the field of highway collision investigation and reconstruction. The unit consists of 43 Technical Investigators assigned throughout the state. Technical Investigators conducted 163 collision investigations during 2002.

Vehicle Theft Unit

The State Patrol Vehicle Theft Unit was created in 1976 in response to the escalating nationwide stolen vehicle problem. Vehicle Theft troopers work to reduce the occurrences of vehicle theft for profit within the state, and to eliminate the use of Iowa as a market place for stolen vehicles imported from other areas. Officers investigate vehicle theft, insurance fraud, salvage fraud, recover and identify stolen vehicles, inspect salvage yards, identify "chop shop" operations, and conduct "sting" operations. The Vehicle Theft Unit works cooperatively with federal, local, and other state law enforcement agencies, as well as private insurance companies, to thwart nationwide trends of stolen vehicles and fraud.

ISP Communications is a network of six Communication Centers and 28 repeater/tower sites providing statewide mobile voice communications for more than 1,000 state law enforcement officers (Department of Public Safety, Department of Transportation, and the Department of Natural Resources.) In addition, ISP Communications provides services for numerous federal, county, and local law enforcement officers and agencies.

During 2002, ISP Communications handled 49,126 toll-free help line calls, 61,474 wireless 911 calls, and processed 865,587 IOWA System inquires. All totaled, this amounts to an average of 2,513 transactions per day. This does not include the number of radio transmissions conducted, events logged, or administrative calls handled.

In August 2002, Governor Thomas J. Vilsack called on the Iowa Department of Public Safety to begin the process of organizing local and state law enforcement and the Iowa broadcasters and media community to formulate an Iowa Amber Alert plan. During the first week of September 2002, Commissioner Kevin W. Techau invited Iowa law enforcement associations, broadcast and media, emergency management coordinators to examine the process needed within Iowa to implement a successful Amber Alert Program. On November 15, 2002, the Amber Alert Committee submitted a report outlining an Iowa Amber Alert to Governor Vilsack.

The AMBER Plan is a voluntary, cooperative program between law enforcement agencies and local broadcasters to send an emergency alert to the public when a child has been abducted and it is believed that the child is in danger of serious bodily harm or death. Under the AMBER Plan, area radio and television stations interrupt programming to broadcast information about the missing child using the Emergency Alert System (EAS), formerly known as the Emergency Broadcast System. While EAS is typically used for alerting the public to severe weather emergencies, it is also the warning system for civil and national emergencies. The federal government requires all radio and television stations and most cable systems to install and maintain devices that can monitor EAS warnings and tests and relay them rapidly and reliably to their audiences. The idea behind the AMBER Plan is a simple one: if stations can broadcast weather warnings through EAS, why not child abductions? The AMBER Plan provides law enforcement agencies with another tool to help recover abducted children and quickly apprehend the suspect.

The purpose of the AMBER Plan is to provide a rapid response to the most serious child-abduction cases. When an AMBER Alert is activated, law enforcement agencies immediately gain the assistance of thousands of broadcasters and cable listeners and viewers throughout the area. The plan relies on the community to safely recover the abducted child. It is hoped that this early warning system will not only coerce a kidnapper into releasing the child for fear of being arrested but also deter the person from committing the crime in the first place.

The Iowa State Patrol has 14 troopers assigned full time to presenting educational programs for the public in safety related fields. Each patrol district has an assigned safety education officer and a sergeant is attached to headquarters in Des Moines to coordinate the unit.

During 2002, Safety Education Officers (SEO's) gave 5,533 programs across the State reaching over 225,000 persons. In addition, radio and television public service announcements are regularly prepared, particularly leading up to major holiday traffic periods.

Safety programs include defensive driving, substance abuse prevention, bicycle safety, and seat belt and child restraint effectiveness seminars.

SEO's also set up informational booths at the Iowa State Fair, county fairs, sports and vacation shows, and other community based events. They also perform outstanding service in support of RAGBRAI and Boys State.

In 2002 all of the SEO's became certified child passenger safety technicians and were trained in "Operation Lifesaver".

Created: 08-07- 2003 (JLR)
Last Updated: 11-13-2003 (JLR)