Iowa County agrees to put deputies at hospital

MARENGO — Iowa County Supervisors approved a 28E agreement with Compass Memorial Hospital this month to provide deputies at the hospital.

“I approve of the contract. The hospital approves of the contract,” said Iowa County Sheriff Rob Rotter during the Feb. 7 meeting of the Iowa County Board of Supervisors.

The agreement will not cost taxpayers, said Rotter, and it could help Iowa County because the additional deputies assigned to the hospital will be available to the sheriff’s department in the event of an emergency.

Compass will pay the salaries and benefits for the two officers who will work 12-hour night shifts at the hospital, Rotter said. The county won’t have to buy another car or pay for fuel because the officers will stay at the hospital unless they are needed for an emergency in the county, he said.

The position will be assigned to specific officers, said Rotter. It won’t be part of the rotation for general deputies. That would make scheduling more difficult and would cause “hiccups we don’t need,” said Rotter.

Rotter will be hiring new deputies to cover the position. The positions will be offered to existing deputies first, he said. If current deputies accept the hospital position, Rotter will have to hire deputies to replace them.

Rotter said hiring a new deputy or seasoned deputy will cost about the same.

A deputy who is new to law enforcement will have to attend the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy, but a deputy who has already passed the academy will require a higher pay.

The cost is similar, said Rotter. In addition to the cost of Academy, officers are paid while they are attending and are housed in a hotel.

The hospital understands that the county won’t provide other deputies to cover when the deputies at Compass are absent because they are sick or on vacation, said Rotter.

“They are hiring specific officers. They aren’t paying for ours.”

The county doesn’t have a lot of calls for service at the hospital, said Rotter, but this move will remove those calls from the workload of the Sheriff’s Department.

“I think it’s great,” said Supervisor Abigail Maas during the Feb. 7 meeting. “I think it’s a great collaboration between public and private entities.”

Rotter likes that it's not going to cost the county. Adding a car would greatly increase the cost, but the hospital deputies won’t need one.

“They have a place [in the hospital] that they’re going to have desk,” said Rotter. They’ll be walking the halls, walking the perimeter, he said.

The position is similar to a school resource officer but in hospital, Rotter said. The situation is good for public relations because the deputies will be helping people a majority of the time rather than enforcing law, he said.

And the presences of deputies could deter criminal behavior, he said.

According to the 28E agreement, deputies will conduct hourly rounds on the hospital campus, inside and outside. They will confront anyone who doesn’t belong on the hospital’s campus after hours.

Deputies will escort hospital personnel to and from their vehicles as requested and will secure the scene when a helicopter is landing at the hospital. They’ll assist in medical emergencies according to their abilities.

Other duties include helping nurses transfer patients and get patients in and out of vehicles and providing supervision for difficult patients, prisoners or people experiencing mental health crisis.

Deputies will begin working at the hospital after new officers are hired, said Rotter. The process takes 45-60 days, he estimated, so deputies should be in place at the hospital in the early part of April.

(This story was updated with specific duties spelled out in the 28E agreement.)