Profile: North Liberty police chief got hooked on the profession early on

NORTH LIBERTY — Of the police chiefs in Johnson County, only North Liberty Police Chief Diane Venenga can say she's been with her department during the entirety of its existence.

One of two officers hired when the department started in 1999 — the other is former Chief Jim Warkentin — Venenga has helped shaped the department during a time of rapid growth in the city. Later this month, she will celebrate her two-year anniversary of being named the department's full-time chief.

'This noble profession is all about helping others,' said Venenga, who has 16 years with the city and a career in law enforcement that goes back to junior high school. 'You don't know what you're going to get involved with from day to day.'

Venenga's career in law enforcement might not have happened if not for a trial. As an eighth-grade student in Des Moines, Venenga was supposed to follow the coroner as part of a job-shadowing program. When a trial called the corner away, she went with her second option, a ride-along with a Des Moines police officer.

'I was hooked,' Venenga recalled with a smile.

From there, Venenga joined the Des Moines Police Department's Explorer program, a division of the Boy Scouts for teens and young adults interested in a career in law enforcement. In what turned out to be a bit of foreshadowing, she climbed to the rank of chief in the Explorer program.

After high school, she attended the University of Northern Iowa with the intention of returning to Des Moines after college. But plans changed when she met her husband and she joined the Black Hawk County Sheriff's Office in 1995.

Seven months later, she was hired by the Cedar Falls Police Department, where she remained until opportunity called in North Liberty.

'It was unusual for law enforcement agencies to be starting from the ground up,' she said.

As the city and the department grew, Venenga worked as a field training officer for new hires and was promoted to sergeant in 2003 and lieutenant in 2008. The next step in her career was thrust on her in February 2013, when then-Chief Jim Warkentin left the department. Venenga was named interim chief.

Venenga recalled that period as a 'difficult' time.

'I did not have that second-in-command,' she said. 'I had to focus on the internal and external' aspects of running a police department.

A few weeks later, tragedy struck in the form of a fatal, officer-involved shooting in a mobile home park in the city. The officers' actions were justified, but Venenga called it the hardest experience of her career.

That said, Venenga said going through that experience helped to focus and understand the responsibilities of being a police chief, not only to the department, but to her officers and the community. She said she received a great deal of support from fellow police chiefs, both locally and across the state.

There are still challenges ahead, North Liberty is one of the state's fastest growing communities — Venenga jokes a new subdivision goes up in a weekend — and with that growth comes a need for more officers and space. The department, which has provided round-the-clock coverage since 2010, has 18 full-time and two part-time officers. They already are on their second headquarters — the former city hall — but space is limited. The department is storing evidence, records and other items at the fire department, streets department and two offices at city hall.

In a few years, however, the police department might have a bigger, better home. The city council is exploring the idea of a 'civic campus' that would include a new building for city hall and the police department with the fire department nearby. A rendering was presented to the city council by Shive-Hattery architecture engineering firm in August.

Venenga said there is currently no timeline for the civic campus, but the next step will be to get public input.

'That is exciting,' she said.