The Ames Police Department is able to change with the times and work well with the community, said Sgt. Randy Kessel, and he is glad to be a part of it.

Kessel spent two years in the Marine Corps before he joined the Ames Police Department in 1974. After he was hired, he commuted to Simpson College in Indianola to get his degree in criminal justice.

He was promoted to administrative assistant to the chief of police on July 1, 1997, and is the fourth person to fill the position.

“The major thing this office does now is [serve as] press officer,” Kessel said. “It deals with the everyday needs of the press and the public’s information as for their right to know.”

He said as the police department grows, officers will be interacting more with the public due to more community policing. Kessel said the Ames community is the police department’s best tool for fighting crime.

“We are really enlisting the public, not only the citizens of Ames, but working closely with [the Department of Public Safety] and through our committees with students,” Kessel said. “We’re really enlisting them to be partners against crime with us.”

He said the policing style of the 19th century is a kind of “mold” the department would like to get back to.

“The philosophy of American policing in the 1800s was that the police were just an extension of the public, and the public was really involved,” he said.

Kessel partially blames the advent of the car for the social distance between the police and the public.

“The idea of policing got to where it was putting an officer in a car, and the officer would drive around, doing a lot of high-profile police work while losing contact with their base of support and information,” he said.

Kessel said some of the programs the department is involved in are helping to build contact with the community.

“Our officers are very involved with Special Olympics and the Iowa Games,” he said.

Kessel said they also have anti-crime programs such as “Cop with a Jock.”

“What we do is have an [ISU] freshman football player ride with one of our officers so that he can be comfortable with us when they see us around,” he said.

The officers also speak to other student athletes and give them tips on how to stay out of trouble, he said.

Other ways Ames police are trying to get in touch with the community is by talking to various demographics, such as the elderly.

“We really want to have a good relationship with them so that if we discover someone is targeting the elderly for a scam, we can let them know quickly,” Kessel said.