Department Scrapbook at Department of Public Safety

This scrapbook was compiled through the tireless efforts of Officer Joel Swanson. Joel sent numerous letters and made many phone calls to obtain information about the early years of the Department of Public Safety. We are happy to share them with you here.

THE BEGINNING

During the 1930’s, Iowa State College was adding more cinder parking lots to deal with the ever growing vehicular traffic on campus. it was during this time that Knute Heglund was hired to patrol campus on foot as a Night Watchman and Parking Control Officer. Knute patrolled the campus with his dog.

Chief Walton came to our department in 1955 from the Ames Police Department. He was hired to formally organize the department. The department employed armed officers and night watchmen. There is a story that came up through the years that the reason ISU Police lost the right to carry firearms is because an officer shot someone’s dog that was running loose. The person was a night watchman, not an officer and that is what prompted university officials to hire Ivan Walton to make a well organized department. The reason ISU officers became unarmed was a national trend to make campus police less authoritative and more of a campus security force. This is what made Chief Walton and most of the officers between 1955 and 1958 to leave the department, because they did not want to do the job unarmed.

It took several years to phase out firearms. Some officers kept carrying their sidearms into the Chief Frederick Tonne era. One officer remembers hearing Chief Tonne tell another officer that if he continued to carry his sidearm, he would be fired.

UNIFORMS

Iowa State College Police wore light gray shirts, black uniform pants and a black 8-point police style hat. They wore a cross-draw holster with a .38 Special revolver. The College Police were deputized by the County Sheriff.

Chief Dean Drake changed our uniforms to a light blue shirt with black pocket flaps and epaulets, french blue pants with black stripes, a french blue 8-point police style hat and clarino duty belts.

During the Chief Joseph Wehner era, we wore all navy blue shirts, navy blue pants with a light blue stripe, a rounded police style hat and clarino duty belts. For a very short time, our patches read “ISU POLICE”.

Our current uniform is the navy blue shirt, navy blue pants with the light blue stripe, basket weave duty belts and a sheriff style hat. Our patches read “Public Safety Department”.

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Ivan W. Walton, the first chief of the “organized” university police department

CHIEFS OF DPS

Ivan W. Walton………………………………….

1955-1958

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Officer Wallace Wright Jr. Iowa State College Police 1957. His personal car was used for police work. Officers were paid $15.00 per month to use their personal cars. Wallace served from February 1, 1956 to September 1, 1964.

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