But reflecting after nearly 33 years spent at the Webster County Law Enforcement Center, his retirement from the Webster County Sheriff’s Office, where he served since 1996, was notable for just that — humbly serving as a representative that embodied the goodness of the community while in uniform.

While law enforcement has seen a notable departure in public opinion, primarily through the lens of national media, Strait said he can hardly go anywhere anymore without being thanked. But he didn’t take the job for the praise.

“It’s just something I had always wanted to do,” he said, matter-of-factly, as he remembered his mindset when first joining the Fort Dodge Police Department as a 23-year-old in 1988.

But even after resentment has risen widely against his profession, he said it never really showed in Webster County — quite the opposite.

-Submitted photo
Chief Deputy Rod Strait’s son, Andrew, observes him at work at the Webster County Sheriff’s Office in 2015. Rod Strait retired from the Sheriff's Office at the end of 2020.

“I think our community is pushing back against that and other communities are as well,” he said. “We just have to roll up our sleeves and earn their trust.”

After tragic events, the forces of opinion he calls a “pendulum” swing one way, before eventually swinging back the other way.

Most of Strait’s time with the Sheriff’s Office was spent in the day-to-day operations. From 1996 to 2012, he was a road deputy. After his promotion to chief deputy, his main responsibility was to support other deputies working the roads.

And while that might not be as flashy as working on special drug task forces or being involved in high-profile investigations, it may be the area of the department that has the biggest impact on public perception with regular folks. That area of the Sheriff’s Office represents the highest percentage of contact.

“An unmarked car and unmarked officer doesn’t draw attention to everybody,” he said. “The way we affect people most is when they’re seeing us.”

More often than not, the Clare native said he enjoyed being visible during the good times law enforcement shows up, not just the bad. His most memorable times over the decades were working with children during Santa Cops, as a school liaison officer and D.A.R.E.

“(Children) never ask for much, just a few minutes of your time,” he told The Messenger earlier this year.

“Those events are fun and uplifting. We’ve had a lot of tragedy, and that makes the job easier,” Strait said. “It’s not all doom and gloom. It’s not just just good for the kids, it’s good for the officers as they participate in things as well.”

While Strait isn’t eager to brag about himself, his wife is more than happy to remind him of his achievements.

“He’s gained a lot of respect from people in our community,” Nancy Strait said, simply by the way he treats them. “There’s been so many times we’ve been out in public and more often than not, somebody will come up to Rod.”

And after a friendly interaction, she’s surprised to learn that some of them were arrested by her husband at one point. He’s never experienced overt hatred from arrestees after all these years — a statement of character, she said.

In 1988, his first year on the force, he was recognized as Officer of the Year for pulling someone out of a burning car at Loomis Park, where his sister was getting married. “Some kid was going up the hill and left the roadway, hit a tree, and the car caught on fire. My brother-in-law and I went up there and couldn’t get the door open. We just pulled him out through the window.”

“We’re expected to be a miracle worker at times,” Rod said, as responsibilities and workloads on officers and deputies continue to compound as a seeming catch-all for a lot of social issues. “Individuals have moved in their course of life for years, and a law enforcement officer comes in during an event and we’re supposed to take care of all those issues that have been going on for years in minutes.”

And while the miraculous can happen, and officers do often go out of their way to help, it’s often the simple, ordinary acts in the course of service that can leave a lasting impact on the public.