Sworn In: New Police Officer Joins Waukee Department

WAUKEE, IA — The city's newest police officer was sworn in last week, but he's no rookie to the job. Scott Kinney made law enforcement a second career after 20 years at Anderson Erickson Dairy and worked in the Pleasant Hill Police Department and Polk County Sheriff's Office before joining Waukee's police force.

Kinney's hiring brings the number of sworn officers in the community to 20 — and two more Waukee officers are enrolled in the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy and will be sworn in upon graduation.

Kinney, a graduate of Des Moines Lincoln High School, said a calling to work in public safety drew him to become a reserve officer in Pleasant Hill in 2014. He later served as a deputy with the sheriff's department and upon graduating this summer from the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy he was hired by Waukee.

“We are thrilled to have Officer Kinney on our team because he is a hard-working and trustworthy individual,” Police Chief John Quinn said in a news release. “We definitely need him here to help with growing responses to the Waukee community.”

The department's calls for service increased by nearly 80 percent in the past decade, from 4,678 in 2006 to 8,314 in 2016.

Photos via City of Waukee