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Wayne Jerman retires as Cedar Rapids police chief after leading with community-centered approach
Jerman ‘loved his department and its officers, and he loved this city’ in 10 years of service
Marissa Payne
Apr. 11, 2023 6:43 pm
CEDAR RAPIDS — When Wayne Jerman was a teenager growing up in Maryland, he picked up a job at a movie theater in downtown Silver Spring, on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. While he worked, the local beat cops would come in and strike up conversations with Jerman, just 16 years old at the time.
Those interactions sparked his interest in becoming a police officer — setting in motion what became a 44-year career in law enforcement. At the suggestion of his friend and mentor Tom Manger, now chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, Jerman eventually searched for a leadership role that landed him in Cedar Rapids as the city’s police chief.
“It was all in the spirit of wanting to reduce the number of people who become victims,” Jerman said in an exclusive interview with The Gazette. “That’s why I focused a majority of my career on uniformed patrol. I believed that I was able to make a marked, tangible difference every day interacting with the public as a street cop.”
Jerman’s decades of service in law enforcement came to an end Tuesday when the Cedar Rapids City Council signed off on a $241,442.78 severance agreement with Jerman, who turned 66 years old March 4 and aged out of his officer certification.
The city’s stated rationale for the chief’s departure is that Jerman — who was sworn in as the 43rd police chief in October 2012 — stepped down from his position “due to confidential constraints necessitating his separation.” The agreement includes 12 months’ salary, accrued and unused flex leave and reimbursement of expenses. The Gazette has not yet received the agreement to review other potential terms.
Since March 9, Jerman has been on paid administrative leave after the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy, which handles officer certifications, inquired about whether he’d stay with the city as a civilian employee. The academy’s position is that all police officer certifications expire after age 65.
It’s still unknown whether Jerman or other top city officials were aware of or surprised by the age requirement to keep serving as chief.
Despite the abrupt ending to his career, those who have worked with Jerman say he led the police department with the utmost integrity and best intentions.
“Chief Jerman has done an excellent job leading the Cedar Rapids Police Department,” City Manager Jeff Pomeranz said in a statement. “I am proud and grateful for his hard work, professionalism, dedication and commitment to our community and the communities he has served throughout his career.”
Pomeranz has tapped Tom Jonker, who has served Cedar Rapids for 32 years and spent his entire career in the Cedar Rapids Police Department, to serve as interim police chief, effective immediately.
Jonker will stay in the role as the city launches a search for the next police chief.
Jerman most proud of ‘the people’
Jerman was lauded for his numerous accomplishments during his tenure at the helm of the Cedar Rapids Police Department. But those who know him say Jerman’s humble nature makes the achievements more admirable.
Among Jerman’s accomplishments:
- Working with Foundation 2 to add two mental health liaisons to serve individuals experiencing a mental health crisis
- Developing department training, mentorship support and leadership
- Targeting efforts to reduce gun violence through group violence intervention in collaboration with community partners
- Enhancing community involvement in policing practices, such as the police community action team to focus on addressing problems through engaging with neighborhoods
- Achieving full advanced accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies
- Garnering support of the police department to respond to advocates’ demands to create a citizens review board after George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police
- Honored as the 2022 Iowa Law Enforcement Executive of the Year by the Iowa Police Chiefs Association
Before coming to Cedar Rapids, Jerman responded to a number of large-scale crisis incidents. One such incident was when he helped Montgomery County officials manage interactions with the media during the Beltway sniper attacks — a series of coordinated shootings that occurred in October 2002 in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Ten people were killed and three others were critically wounded.
Jerman was quick to praise officers’ “unbelievable courage” in responding to crises during his years as Cedar Rapids police chief. Especially noteworthy were responses to the Geneva Tower apartment complex fire downtown and when officers ran to the active shooting at Taboo nightclub that killed three and injured 10.
“The officers from both of these incidents are considered heroes in my eyes,” Jerman said.
“The men and women here of the CRPD, they are what make the police department a great police department,” Jerman said. “It’s the people. Whether they’re the newest sworn officer up to a 35-year officer, sworn or a nonsworn professional support staff, just tremendous individuals.”
Led with love for department, city
The common thread underlying all of Jerman’s work, those close to him say, is that his love for the community and police he served was at the heart of it all.
On the wall of the front lobby of the police department is a quote from Sir Robert Peel, the “Father of Modern Policing,” that sums up Jerman’s philosophy about the job: “The police are the public and the public are the police.”
It’s all about working hand in hand to create a safer community, he said, so people can live in peace and free from crime.
Jerman said he enjoyed residents’ feedback about how much they appreciate officers’ work. He shared that regard for the officers and said he’d sometimes show up on calls just to observe.
“A day rarely went by when I didn’t hear expressions of appreciation from community members, citizens on something that an officer did or an employee did,” Jerman said. “I wanted to make sure that officers knew that — that the people who lived, worked in and visit this city truly, truly appreciate and respect the job that the men and women here do.”
Perhaps no elected official engaged with Jerman more than council member Dale Todd, who chairs the council’s Public Safety and Youth Services Committee. For years, the two spoke daily, if not more. Their bond kept the line of communication open between staff and city policymakers about the public safety issues weighing on Cedar Rapids.
“Juggling the public safety needs of a department and community is a constant struggle, especially in today’s politically charged environment,” Todd said. “Everyday events have the potential to blow into crises that tear at the heart of a community if they are not managed appropriately. Chief Jerman provided a constant and stabilizing level of leadership that inspired trust and respect. He loved his department and its officers, and he loved this city.”
Jerman will be missed for the type of person and law enforcement official he was, Todd said.
“We all benefited from his wisdom, dedication, compassion and integrity,” Todd said. “He is a good man who on a daily basis did his very best to make the department its best and the community the safest it could be.”
Cedar Rapids resident Linda Seger, a member of the police chief’s advisory board, said Jerman is an honest, soft-spoken and unassuming man who brought a focus on community policing to Cedar Rapids.
“This gentleman carried it all into the office of police chief for Cedar Rapids, Iowa,” Seger said. “He respected his department. He was quick to not always bring the focus on himself but to his department and the people that worked for the department, and making something good happen and facing a lot of the obstacles that we were beginning to see arise.”
Comments: (319) 398-8494; marissa.payne@thegazette.com