By Mason Clarke
People of all walks of life traverse safely night in and night out in Iowa City and bring downtown to life. Scenes like these were once not an integral part of the city, but officials say that through 11 years of police-chief service, Sam Hargadine, who retired in late June, helped create the current warm and welcoming Iowa City.
“I think it is a very different downtown, and I think it is a very different nightlife than it was prior to Chief Sam Hargadine coming here,” said interim Police Chief Troy Kelsay.
One Iowa City official said he thinks Hargadine was good at building relationships with all different types of people.
“[He] always maintained an open-door policy,” said Iowa City police Officer David Schwindt. “In some agencies, you do not talk to the chief of police, as an officer, without going up the chain of command … His door was open and officers were welcome to pop their heads in to say hi or to talk to him about a concern.”
Schwindt said Hargadine’s trust in his officers allowed for much of the improvement that took place while he was in charge.
In 2013, Schwindt was assigned to patrol downtown and act as a liaison. He said Hargadine allowed him to own the downtown position and noted that the trust in turn allowed him to help make what he referred to as steady downtown improvements over the last three years.
Kelsay, who served as a captain under Hargadine, said he thought Hargadine had used a hands-off style of leadership that proved effective.
“The previous chief that I worked for was much more into the day-to-day details and sometimes [micromanaged] the police department,” Kelsay said. “[Hargadine] would provide guidance and direction … but a large part of what he did was outside the walls of the police department.”
Those things were largely composed of human-relations duties. Hargadine not only worked to build a good relationship with those working under him but also local business owners and the community as a whole.
“I’ve always had a positive relationship with Sam,” said MC Ginsberg owner and Downtown District President-elect Mark Ginsberg. “As opposed to putting himself in a subjective position, he always seemed to push back a little bit and view challenges from a little more sympathetic approach to a solution.”
Mayor Jim Throgmorton said he thought for some time many people were not fans of Hargadine simply because of his title of police chief. But Throgmorton noted that Hargadine’s style and efforts went a long ways toward creating a more peaceful and coexisting community in Iowa City.
Kelsay, Schwindt, and Ginsberg all noted Hargadine constantly made an effort to bring the Iowa City police and the University of Iowa police together to help keep the community as safe and functional as possible.
The efforts to better the community relationships with the police came in especially important over the last few years as turmoil between residents and police spread across the nation.
“I think he tried very hard in his later years,” Throgmorton said, referring to building a positive relationship between the police and the community.