WATERLOO, Iowa (KWWL) -A 34-year career in law enforcement is over for Waterloo Police Chief, Joe Leibold.
Leibold stopped by the KWWL-TV studios this week to talk about his retirement for this week's edition of The Steele Report.
In a special retirement ceremony Friday morning in the Waterloo City Council Chambers, the City bid farewell to the Cascade native, with his wife, 90-year old Mother and two of his adult children looking on, as well as many current and former area law enforcement officers and local supporters.
Coincidently, Leibold's wife, Jill, also retired on Friday, after more than three decades with her company, The Principal Financial Group.
It was a ceremony led by veteran Waterloo Police Captain Rob Duncan, believed to be a top candidate to replace Leibold as Chief.
Joe Leibold served as Waterloo's Police Chief since November 2022, but has been with the department since he started in Waterloo on Memorial Day, 1990.
Leibold came to Waterloo, after starting his career as a Police Officer in Guttenberg.
Chief Leibold said he is past his retirement date, and when he took the Chief's position a year and a half ago, he told his family he would not be in the job forever.
"I had in my head that there was a term limit here. I was not going to be around forever," Chief Leibold said. "I just watched, and as the Department grew, we got to where I thought we needed to be. I felt it was a good time. We have a good staff, a good group of people. It's in a good position. And it felt like it was the right time for me to move on."
Over his 34-year career, Leibold has worked in just about every division of the Waterloo Police Department except as a school resource officer or the narcotics unit.
"I looked at school resource officer early on in my career a little bit before I had children, so that was pretty early, and it didn't work out," Leibold said. "I tried for the task force a couple of times and never got it."
Chief Leibold's career has spanned assignments in the patrol division, investigations, the tactical unit, crime lab, internal affairs office and training.
Technology is one of the most significant changes in the last three decades. Officers now have computers in their patrol cars, cell phones, and body cameras, and many buildings have surveillance cameras, which can be an immense help in investigations.
Former Chief Bernal Koehrsen hired Leibold from the Guttenberg Police Department in 1990. He started as a patrol officer on the 2nd Shift. In 1995, Chief Leibold moved to the Investigations Division, where he worked on sexual assault and homicide cases before being promoted to Sergeant and then Lieutenant in 2004.
"Honestly, getting promoted to sergeant was kind of a surprise," Leibold said. "When I got to sergeant and then Lieutenant after that."
As Lieutenant, Chief Leibold moved back to the patrol division and 2nd shift before switching to become the Lieutenant of Internal Affairs, where he remained until he was promoted to Captain in 2008.
"I enjoyed the training aspect of it, whether it was field training the new officer or training officers at the training center on different tactics or opportunities," Leibold said. "I did it for a while until I got Lieutenant, and then it was time to go on and do something else. I always kind of like moving to the next step."
While Captain, Leibold worked in the administrative division, focusing on budgeting, training and records.
In 2012, Former Chief Dan Trelka promoted him to the rank of Major and made him Captain of Police Services and Patrol Commander, which is the department's Operations Officer.
Leibold also worked as Investigations Commander, Public Information Officer and Chief Operations Officer.
Being a Police Chief is not a job he considered or necessarily aspired to for much of his career. The first time it came open, he said he didn't apply since, at the time, he was young and didn't want to make a 15 to 20-year commitment. Leibold also served as Interim Police Chief for nearly seven months after Former Chief Trelka retired in November 2019. He applied to be chief and went through the process, but ultimately, the city selected Former Chief Joel Fitzgerald. After Fitzgerald took over in 2020, he made Leibold Assistant Police Chief.
"I got to work side by side with him for a couple of years, which was very beneficial," Leibold said.
He served as interim Chief when Joel Fitzgerald left the position in August 2022 for a job in the Denver area.
"When he left and the job opened up, I'm like, okay, I'm going to try one more time, and what happens happens," Leibold said. "If I don't get it, I don't get it, and I will hit my retirement date."
Mayor Hart removed the interim tag for Leibold in November 2022.
One of the things he is most proud of from his time in the department is creating the Violent Crime Apprehension Team and joining the Safe Streets Program, where local officers work with federal law enforcement.
"They draw laser focus to violent crime, which allows the other officers in the department to do more and get more involved and to get out and to address crime more frequently, and maybe address some of the offenses they wouldn't have to do if they had to focus on these violent crimes," Leibold said.
The most recent data from Waterloo Police and the city's 2023 crime statistics show crime decreased in 2023.
The figures show that overall crime fell 6.56% during the year, dropping from 5,509 in 2022 to 5,146 in 2023. Property crime was down nearly 17%, from 2,998 in 2022 to 2,489 in 2023, and violent crime was down 3%, from 339 in 2022 to 328 in 2023.
Leibold said he is happy with the direction in which the trends are going.
"We've been on a positive trend downward, which is great. We're seeing that trend continue into this year early into the summer. Summer months are always our busiest months because it's not nice in February," Leibold said. "It's getting nice out, and we're starting to see things, but right now, we're pretty confident that the numbers will continue to trend down over the next year or two."
Leibold said he believes the department is in a good spot and set up for success in the future.
After a few years of struggle hiring officers, the department is now back at full staffing.
"We've kind of completed some of the transitional stuff, and we're getting to a place where I think it's a good time for somebody else to step up and advance and move things forward with their direction," Leibold said.
Asked about the toughest challenge he faced in his 34-year career, Leibold said it was the arrival of COVID-19 while he was interim Police Chief before Fitzgerald arrived in June 2020 because there was so much we just did not know.
"We had officers on the street not knowing what COVID was. Nobody really knew. They're making arrests of people who have COVID, and officers are wondering what that means for their family?," he said.
Leibold said that we had to address those fundamental concerns, and they had to keep officers on the street since working from home was not an option.
Leibold said he is looking forward to only having one cell phone and getting a good night’s sleep without one of them going off in the middle of the night.
He also looks forward to spending time with his family, who has supported him throughout his career. He loved the job, but he said it was not always easy for those closest to him as he had to leave in the middle of the night or get up from the dinner table to respond to an emergency.
"My family has had to deal with me being in and out, and I was really invested for a long time. As time passed, I learned to balance and get a little better at it as my kids got older," Leibold said. "I think it's been difficult for them as well as me at times, and it's been great for them and me at times. It's an up-and-down career. It has its moments of panic and moments of joy."
Looking back at his more than three decades of wearing a badge as a Waterloo Police officer, Leibold said it is the officers he worked with, community members, and incredible experiences he will remember most.
"I've met great people. I've got to do so many things that I wouldn't have gotten to do without this job," Leibold said. "I've met the President, been a part of funeral possessions, and there are so many things I have got to do throughout my career that most people never get to experience."
During Monday night's City Council meeting, Mayor Quentin Hart recognized Leibold for his service to the city. Hart thanked him for his dedication.
Chief Leibold thanked the citizens of Waterloo for allowing him to serve them for the last 34 years and said he has some plans for his retirement.
"I'm just gonna take some time off, enjoy the summer months in Iowa, play a little golf, spend some time with my wife, do a little traveling, enjoy that time and we will see where it takes me," Leibold said.
When Leibold announced his plan to retire in March, the City said it was considering the best process to find his replacement. So far, the city has not provided any public updates on the search for a new Police chief.
