Dallas Center Chief of Police Michelle Leonard greeted friends and wellwishers Monday afternoon at a retirement reception in the Dallas Center Community Hall. Leonard is hanging up her badge and gun after 26 years in law enforcement.
“It has been an honor and a great pleasure for me to serve the people of Dallas Center,” Leonard said as the crowd began to gather at noon.
Leonard’s 10 years at the helm of the Dallas Center Police Department was preceded by 10 years in the Dallas County Sheriff’s office. She said she began her career in law enforcement in Grinnell at the age of 21.
A leisurely retirement is not in the cards for Leonard. She is assuming the full-time ministry of the Panora Church of the Brethren, trading her dress blue uniform for the formal black of a pastor.
“I recently met with the board and the Northern Plains District committee,” Leonard said, “and we discussed some possible ways to revise our bylaws.” Thus law enforcement — or bylaw enforcement — has a place even in the ministry.
Leonard’s retirement coincides with the dissolution of the dallas Center Police Department. The city will now contract with the Dallas County Sheriff’s office for patrol services under a three-year contract that will take effect July 1.
Dallas Center Mayor Michael Kidd, among the many friends at the retirement party, said an interim agreement will see Dallas Center receive extra patrol from the sheriff’s office until July, when two deputies will begin working fulltime in the town.
“We’ll just have part timers until then,” Kidd said, “and the sheriff’s office will patrol just like they normally do, but we’ve also asked for additional patrols to fill the gap that closing our department will open.”
