Iowa law enforcement academy administrator retires amid pressure

The assistant director of the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy announced this week he will retire amid pressure from a lawmaker concerning complaints the administrator made inappropriate comments to female students and co-workers.

Mike Quinn, 71, said he was retiring to spend time with his young family while he is still healthy, according to a memo to Director Arlen Ciechanowski. Gov. Terry Branstad's staff provided the memo to The Gazette Friday.

Quinn was barred from teaching Violence Against Women classes after a female student complained that Quinn had asked her and two other women in June 2012 whether penis size mattered.

Nancy Brady, then a trainer with the academy, reported the allegations to the state's Crime Victims Assistance Division, which has authority over the grant-funded training. She also reported Quinn's comment to her that he would 'slit her throat” if she spent too much time talking with another employee.

Quinn was admonished after the 2012 incident, but kept his $91,000-a-year job.

Brady was fired, although officials said it wasn't retaliation for whistle-blowing.

Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, has lambasted the Branstad administration in recent weeks over Quinn's continued employment with the state's main training academy for law enforcement officers.

'Sexual harassment and workplace threats are unacceptable,” Hogg said in a prepared statement. 'The removal of the deputy director of the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy is long overdue. I am still deeply troubled that he will continue to work there until June 30.”