Clayton County, Iowa

What's New in County 22 - August 2012

Tis’ the season to slow down a little.  This next month there are several reasons to slow down and take your time.  I mention this about every year but school is back in session.  Kids are crossing streets and school buses are stopped along the roads.  Also with the dry summer we’ve had I’m sure the farmer’s will be out in the fields again soon.  That is if there is a crop in some locations to pick?.  You will start seeing more tractors out on the road so use caution, especially when passing one.  The reason you need to pay closer attention is that you may need to do some defensive driving.  Watch out for the other guy.  A good friend of mine and his family members were just hit yesterday in a horrific accident by Rossville.  The driver of the other vehicle did not make it, which makes two fatalities in the northeastern counties of Iowa in two days!  Please use caution. 
 Some of you may have noticed an award we recently received from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) for the excellent investigation conducted by our department with the plane crash at the Elkader Airport.  This award was for the investigation itself, but I would like to thank the Elkader Fire and EMS departments for an excellent job they did in locating the plane for starters, and then the great job they did in extricating the victims from the plane and medical care at the scene.  Awesome job gang!  The Iowa State Patrol also assisted us in the investigation and should get credit for the award also.

This year we implemented an extensive firearms training program to our full-time and reserve deputies.  This spring the full time deputies had a mandatory 8 hour firearms training starting from the basic classroom to hours on the range.  Just last weekend we did the same for the reserves.  The purpose of this is to improve their marksmanship skills and discuss and train on responses to gun calls in general.  The Iowa State Law Enforcement Academy requires law enforcement officers to qualify with the weapon they are carrying once a year.  The Clayton County Sheriff’s Office policy is to qualify twice a year.  During this officers also shoot in nighttime hours to simulate night conditions.  The extensive training is not a training we will do every year but maybe every few.  I’m also interested in doing this for defensive tactics training down the road. 
 
If you have any questions, or comments, feel free to contact me anytime, e-mail me, or stop by to see me.
 
Thanks and be safe,
 
Sheriff Mike Tschirgi

Last Updated on Thursday, 27 December 2012 10:52