As new Coralville police chief takes over, he talks vision

Kyle Nicholson has been the police chief in Coralville for almost two weeks, hired after a national search for candidates to replace retired Chief Shane Kron.

The Coralville City Council approved the hire Sept. 17, agreeing with City Administrator Kelly Hayworth’s recommendation to promote from within to appoint Nicholson over three other finalists.

Nicholson joined the Coralville department in 2014 and was promoted to investigations/administrative lieutenant in 2023. He has a master’s degree in criminal justice administration from Columbia Southern University.

The police chief oversees a department of 40 employees, 36 of them officers. The department’s budget for fiscal 2025 is a little over $6.1 million. Nicholson’s salary as chief is $138,353.28 a year.

A Gazette reporter recently spoke with Nicholson to get an idea of what he hopes to accomplish as the new head of the city’s police force.

Q: What drew you to apply for the position as the new police chief?

A: I've had my eye set on this for a long time and it came a little earlier in my career than I was expecting, but the opportunity presented itself. It was either now or wait many years to see when the next opportunity might present itself, and I don't plan on going anywhere. Coralville’s home for me. I've had some job offers from other parts of the state. My family still lives in this area. My wife's family still lives in this area, so it's important to us that we stick around to our roots and that we stay right here in this community.

This is a department that's home to me. These people mean a lot to me, and when the opportunity presented itself, I said, “Yeah, absolutely, I'm going all in for this.”

  Buy Photo

Q: What vision and goals do you have for the department?

A: I think our goals will be somewhat similar to what they were with Chief Kron. … When he became chief, we went from a one or a two page mission statement — if you asked an officer what the mission statement the police department was, they wouldn’t know — and Chief Kron did a very good job of changing that so that our mission statement is simply “to exceed the expectations of the community we’ve sworn to serve and protect.” I think it's great, and I think it's something we're going to capitalize on.

That being said, I think that Chief Kron came from a different generation than I did. No disrespect to him by any means, but there are just some things that need a fresh look. Peer support is something that's very important to me, and I said it thousands of times throughout the process — we have to protect and serve those who protect and serve. Across the state, across law enforcement, across our department, historically, we've done a horrific job of that. We have a peer support team. … We have an application we're looking to roll out to our staff that allows if they want to talk to somebody about something. I think that after any critical incident, we'll look at having a debrief of some variety.

I also like the idea of mandating our staff to have annual evaluations with a licensed psychiatrist of some variety. I'll pay for them to go and they can sit there and twiddle their thumbs for all I care, but I want to put them into that situation and present them with the opportunity to have a conversation with somebody about the horrific things that we see.

Taking care of our people is going to be a priority. I think our policies also could use a good fresh look. There are some things there that are outdated, and some things that could use updating for sure.

Q: What strengths do you see in the department that you want to continue to foster?

A: Our department is phenomenal, and that's because of the staff that we have within our organization. The people that leave our department to go somewhere else, the hardest thing for them is leaving an agency where people genuinely care about one another.

This is a very tight-knit group of individuals here in our organization, and we take very good care of one another. So, I think that's something that we need to continue to foster and nurture and expand upon as best as we can. That environment that we've created, and the culture that we've created within our department, is huge and goes to retention, and it can also help the camaraderie within the organization.

Q: How do you plan to prioritize your time in this new role?

A: I am looking forward to the opportunity to promote a lieutenant. I'm also looking forward to the opportunity to assign a new officer to our Community Relations Division. I've worn that hat as I was a sergeant and as I was a lieutenant, but it's just a role that I'm not going to be able to hold while being the chief of police. So, getting somebody in the position of Community Relations is something that's going to help take a lot of time off of my plate, and a lot of things off of my plate on a daily basis.

Q: How do you balance backing police officers and giving them the support they need, while also fostering community relationships, especially with community groups that may not always feel comfortable with the police?

A: There are folks in the community that we have been ineffective in reaching in the past. When we can effectively reach those individuals, I don't know for certain that I'm going to change their mind as to how they feel about law enforcement, but I think I can explain to them … why it is what we do.

With a Community Relations officer, I'm hopeful that we can build different partnerships with people we haven't partnered with in the past. I had a great conversation with the mayor earlier this week about different things we can do, maybe through the food pantry, and I plan to use our Coralville City Community Policing Advisory Board members that are connected with different organizations and different folks in the community that might not be the biggest fan of law enforcement, to use them to hopefully bring other people to the table.

Q: What's your approach to transparency and information sharing with the public?

A: I would love to be far more transparent than we have been in the past. There are things that we do that we don't always get right, and I understand that we're not perfect by any means, but we're held to a higher standard, and I hold my staff to higher standard. So, going forward, I hope that we can be much more transparent, that we can have a difficult conversation with folks throughout the community, whether it be with media or elsewise.

I'd love to see some more press releases from us on things that are going on within the community, so folks that live in an area aren’t calling in wanting to know what's going on. … If we can be more transparent and share more of what's going on here and what we're responding to, I think it's a win-win for all of us.

Q: Is there anything else you want the public to know as you move into this position?

A: We're excited about the opportunities here in our department and in our community. The department is going to continue to exceed the expectations the community in every shape and way that we possibly can. I'm thankful for the opportunity. It's been a been a long process. There were four highly qualified candidates. I'm grateful to be selected, but I also understand that those folks were phenomenal human beings, and I appreciate them and their willingness to put their neck out there and apply for this position as well.”

Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com