Chief Doug Phillips, a veteran of the Sheriff’s Office serving since 1979, leads all Law Enforcement Services. The Sheriff’s Office provides law enforcement services throughout Polk County. The Sheriff’s Office is the responsible agency for unincorporated Polk County, the cities of Alleman, Bondurant, Elkhart, Grimes, the U.S Army Corps of Engineers at Saylorville Lake and the Polk County Courthouse.

Patrol
The Sheriff’s Patrol Division is the backbone of the law enforcement component of the Sheriff’s Office. Patrol Deputies are the first responders to all major crimes and other emergencies. It is the responsibility of the Patrol Division to respond to every type of call for service from a barking dog to a fatal motor vehicle accident or homicide scene. Patrol Deputies respond to and assist the public in these and many other types of volatile situations.

Criminal Investigations
The Criminal Investigation Division (CID), under the command of Major Allan Tunks, investigates crimes committed in Polk County and our contract cities that are reported to the Patrol Division and directly from victims. Crimes investigated by CID include Homicides, Property Crimes, Theft, Burglaries, Arson, Forgery, Criminal Mischief, crimes committed against children, physical and sexual abuse and missing persons. Detectives obtain evidence, interview victims/witnesses, determine suspects and evaluate cases for prosecution. Their duties also include evaluating crime trends and recovering stolen items. In addition, CID has two trained polygraph examiners and two detectives trained as crime scene investigators.

Mid Iowa Narcotics Task Force
The MINE Task Force is a multi-jurisdictional drug task force. The Task Force is designed to aggressively combat street level drug dealers and to disrupt and dismantle mid-level to upper-level drug trafficking and manufacturing organizations in the task force area.

Communications
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office Communications Center is the lifeline that connects citizens with emergency services. It is the responsibility of the Communication Specialists to determine the nature and urgency of each call and route it to the proper response unit as quickly as possible.
The Sheriff’s Office dispatches for 16 law enforcement agencies and 15 fire departments.

Court Services

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office is responsible for ensuring the orderly, peaceful and safe conduct of business at the Polk County Courthouse. Entrance to the Courthouse requires passing a weapons screening, similar to those in place at most airports. Screening stations are located at South Public Entrance, and the West Handicap Entrance.
Items Prohibited:

• Guns or Toy/Replica
• Knives or Box Cutters
• Mace or any Self Defense Weapons
• No Sharp items - Nail files, scissors, needles etc.

Photography and Video only allowed under the discretion of the Court.