Newstrack: Marion police chief on his first six months with department

MARION — Six months into his role as Marion police chief, Jeremy Sprague is confident about the direction the department is taking and impressed with the community support for police officers.

Background

Sprague was hired in July 2025 and started work a month later in August. His hire came after a monthslong search for a successor to Mike Kitsmiller, who retired in April 2025 after 38 years in law enforcement and about seven years as the Marion chief.

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Sprague was one of four finalists for the job. He’d worked in law enforcement for 25 years and spent his previous 19 with the Des Moines Police Department.

As a lieutenant in the Des Moines department, Sprague managed the department’s $85 million budget. He had previously worked as a patrol officer, detective, hostage/crisis negotiator, and sergeant and had directed patrol operations, fatal traffic crash investigations and sensitive cases involving child deaths, internet crimes against children, and sex abuse cases.

He has a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in emergency management administration. He also developed Iowa’s first public safety peer support program within the Des Moines Police Department and established the Peer Support Foundation, which supports first responder mental health nationwide.

Some Marion firefighters and police officers had completed the peer support training Sprague developed.

Sprague previously told The Gazette one of his priorities for the department would be to focus on community policing, by ensuring that officers make good connections with community members.

“Community policing is not a program,” he said in July. “It actually has to be instilled in getting our officers out there. They do a great job already, but can we take it to the next level? Building those relationships, I think that’s really important.”

What’s happened since

Sprague said he’s been impressed by the level of support Marion police officers have for each other and for the community they serve.

“It’s been busy trying to get my feet wet, learn the staff. I’ve sat down with every staff member in the agency and talked to them one-on-one,” Sprague said. “Everyone here truly cares about each other and about the city. They really want to support each other and the city. That’s pretty unique.”

The police department has 44 sworn officers, with two new hires starting soon, and 12 civilian staff.

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Sprague has created committees within the department, including ones devoted to community engagement, strategic planning and wellness.

The community engagement committee has been working on reviving a regular annual event the department once did, called a 5k4k9, in which people can sign up to run a 5k, with proceeds going toward the police department’s K-9 program. This year’s race is scheduled for May 9, and more information will be coming as plans are finalized.

This year, Sprague said he plans to put the money toward a Crisis K-9, a new type of police dog. Crisis K9s are trained therapy dogs that can support community members in crisis, as well as support police and other first responders after they respond to a critical incident.

The community engagement committee is also working on putting together a citizens police academy for the fall, where community members can participate in basic police training and experience some of what it takes to be a police officer.

“My goal is to have different community engagement events for the different age groups,” Sprague said.

The wellness committee is focused on peer support and supporting the department’s chaplain and physical wellness programs. The department recently hosted peer support training for 44 attendees, including police officers from Marion and other nearby departments and for critical incident responders, such as hospital staffers.

“It’s a proactive model where we try to train our peers to support employees every day,” Sprague said. “They’re kind of a bridge between the first responder and resources. … They are supposed to keep their eyes open for any change in behavior. If someone starts calling in sick more, they’re the first line to find out (if) something else going on?”

Future goals

The strategic planning committee is working to develop a five-year strategic plan to replace the last plan, which expired in 2024.

Going forward, Sprague said one of his goals is to make sure the department is adequately staffed to handle the ongoing growth in the city, which now has more than 45,000 residents.

He’s planning to do a staffing levels study to determine what the department’s future staffing needs may be.

He also plans to move forward with a policy review with a third-party consultant, whose assistance was approved when Kitsmiller was still chief.

The long-term goal, he said, is to bring the department’s policies up to par with standards set by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, a national organization — a task that may take a few years of work.

Overall, Sprague said, he has appreciated the community support he’s seen in his first six months as police chief.

“Our officers are out there working hard every day, every night,” Sprague said. “When I get letters from community members, when people will drop off food and things to the police station, we really appreciate that support.”

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