Indianola Police Chief Dave Button has announced his retirement effective July 2nd, ending his career after 36 years in law enforcement and eight years of being the Indianola Police Chief. Chief Button tells KNIA News one of the traits he hopes he has passed on to the department, and one they have carried out well, is to remember to be a part of the community they police, and to not let the bad experiences that may come with being a police officer affect their day-to-day interactions with residents.

“You get to serve the people we are appointed to serve. It’s kind of cliche, but the overall motto of law enforcement is to protect and serve. And I try to remind our folks to not forget the serve part of that equation. Yes we are the front line between the good guys and the bad guys, but 99.9% of the population we deal with are the good guys, and we need to be cognizant of that while we are out on the road. So remember why we go into law enforcement to begin with, and that most of the population are the good guys.”

Chief Button also said his reaction if he hears the sirens may be the same as today, but he trusts the community is in safe hands when he steps away,

“Same thing that happens today if I hear the sirens today. If I’m home and I hear the sirens I’m curious as to what’s going on, and then depending on which vehicles I see going by whether it’s an ambulance, a fire truck or squad cars. I picture in my mind what they are heading to and where they are going, but I also know that that’s someone else’s job now. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to be the guy driving fast going down the highway with the lights and siren on, it’s someone else’s turn now.”

Listen to the full interview with Chief Button below.

https://www.kniakrls.com/2021/06/17/in-depth-chief-button-retiring-knia-and-krls/