“In the meantime, I did all the civil service testing, the written test, strength and agility, all that kind of stuff,” said Knippel, who is currently a deputy with the Webster County Sheriff’s Office. “I got on the (Civil Service) list and just waited.

The opportunity to join the Fort Dodge Police Department as a patrolman came just three months after Knippel’s 21st birthday. He started in March 1979 and stayed with the FDPD until 1998, when he moved over to the Webster County Sheriff’s Office.

Now, Knippel is closing in on the end of a 45-year career that spanned two law enforcement agencies.

Iowa Code does not allow anyone aged 66 or older to be a full-time certified law enforcement officer, and Knippel’s 66th birthday is rapidly approaching. While his last day on duty will be Thursday, Knippel’s retirement goes into effect on Monday, the day before his 66th birthday.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Webster County Sheriff's Office Deputy Brett Knippel was just over a year into his career in law enforcement as a Fort Dodge Police Officer when he was shot while walking out of the Police Station, which in 1980 was on the west side of the Fort Dodge City Hall (now known as the Municipal Building). The bullet went through his left thigh and into his right thigh, where it lodged. According to a Messenger article at the time, a hospital spokesman said there wouldn't be any permanent damage. After the trial of the shooter, Knippel kept the bullet that was removed from his right leg.

On Tuesday, Knippel was honored at the Webster County Board of Supervisors meeting and was presented several plaques commemorating his service. In the afternoon, there was a retirement reception at the Law Enforcement Center. Around the room were posters with photos of Knippel throughout the years, as well as numerous newspaper clippings from his career.

“I think it’s monumental that somebody like Brett can spend 45 years serving our community,” Sheriff Luke Fleener said. “That’s kind of exceptional because it is a difficult job.”

For now, Knippel’s retirement plans are to stay busy farming crops and cattle on his wife Margo’s family farm.

Knippel’s 45 years in uniform were anything but boring. In between writing speeding tickets and making arrests, he helped deliver several babies when their mothers weren’t able to make it to the hospital and emergency medical services weren’t able to get there in time.

Less than 18 months into his career at the FDPD, Knippel was wounded when he was struck by a bullet by being shot at him as he walked out of the police station, then located at the Fort Dodge Municipal Building.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
A life-size print of a photo of Webster County Deputy Brett Knippel from early in his 45-year career was on display during his retirement party at the Webster County Law Enforcement Center on Tuesday.

A Messenger article from the time reported that at about 9 p.m. on Aug. 11, 1980, Purl John Rauhauser, 53, drove up to the door of the police station and fired a .22 caliber rifle at Knippel, who was a patrolman and was walking down the steps at the time.

The bullet went through Knippel’s left thigh, then entered the right thigh, where it got lodged. A spokesman at Trinity Regional Hospital said he would need to wear a cast, but there wouldn’t be any permanent damage.

Prior to the shooting, Rauhauser had made threatening phone calls to judges and other officials, saying he was “going to shoot a policeman,” the article reported. Rauhauser was apprehended a short time later and charged with attempted murder and going armed with intent to do bodily harm.

Another Messenger article reported that Rauhauser was angry at Knippel because the officer had filed a harassment charge against him after Rauhauser made numerous threatening phone calls to the police station when Knippel was on duty as a dispatcher.

Rauhauser later pleaded guilty to the attempted murder charge and was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.

Knippel recalls one incident that will forever stick out in his mind. While on patrol with the FDPD, he was sent to a call where two little boys around 7 or 8 years old were playing with flammable liquid and accidentally set themselves on fire and were severely injured.

“That one hits me hard because they were the same age as my kid,” he said.

In July 1989, Knippel received a letter of commendation from then-FDPD Chief Barry Weber for assisting with the apprehension of a robbery suspect while he was off duty. According to the letter, Knippel was at a local restaurant with his family when he noticed a man acting suspiciously, so he took note of the man’s description and the type of vehicle that was being used by the subject. Knippel then provided the information to on-duty officers, who were then able to locate and arrest the robbery suspect.

“This is a fine illustration of the fact that police officers are never really off duty,” Weber wrote. “The dedication you displayed in this instance ensures that the city of Fort Dodge is a safer place for all citizens.”

In 1991, after Weber resigned, Knippel was one of 12 applicants for the position of Chief of Police. Ivan Metzger would eventually get the job.

In October 1997, while working as a detective with the FDPD, Knippel was part of a massive drug bust and what was believed to be the largest amphetamines arrest in city history at the time. A Fort Dodge man was arrested after FDPD officers executing a search warrant found a pound of amphetamines in his house, vehicle and on his person.

Knippel was also a part-time instructor at Iowa Central Community College for 13 years, where he taught defensive tactics.

In 1998, Knippel moved over to the Webster County Sheriff’s Office, where he’s served since.

In August 2020, Knippel was involved in a fatal officer-involved shooting when a suicidal female ran at him and other law enforcement officers wielding large knives. The Iowa Attorney General’s Office ruled the shooting justified and did not pursue charges against the deputy.

Between his time with the FDPD and with the WCSO, Knippel has served under nine different administrations. He said of all of them, the best has been under Fleener as sheriff.

A lot has changed with policing in those 45 years, Knippel said. The cars, the technology, how they handle different cars and even the stance they hold when they shoot their guns. Probably one of the most visible changes, however, are that patrol officers don’t wear formal patrol hats anymore.

“We called them the ‘bus driver hats,'” he said.

When Knippel first started his career, he had a perm in his hair, creating a small afro style, which was the fashion at the time. The problem was, officers weren’t allowed to have their hair touch the tops of their ears or their necks. So since wearing the patrol hats were mandatory, he’d stuff his curls up into his hat when he was at the station or out on a call, that way he could pass inspection by the shift commander.

A ‘boyish prank’

During the retirement reception for Deputy Sheriff Brett Knippel on Tuesday, several Messenger news clips from his career were on display. One interesting article told the story of a pair of mischievous young officers who landed in some hot water after a “boyish prank.” While the article does not name Knippel, one can only assume it was included with the other stories because he was involved. The exact date of the publication is not known, but estimated to be in the early 1980s.

Bull hits walls, then fan at PD

There’s always a lot of bull around any government office. And some citizens have threatened “rubbing official noses in it.”

What happened in the Fort Dodge City Hall recently isn’t quite the same thing. Not quite, but close.

In the first place it wasn’t a bull. It was a dog that somehow got into the building one night. And without a place to relieve himself (herself? We aren’t sexist) what came naturally did. In one of the corridors.

Then, according to an unofficial but usually well informed source, the urge for a boyish prank couldn’t be resisted by two of the city’s men in blue.

From out of nowhere came a firecracker. Or was it two? Carefully, we assume, the ‘cracker’ was inserted into the mess on the floor. And soon, the story goes, the city hall corridor walls were indelicately decorated.

The fun was short-lived. Some say the entire night shift was required to perform janitorial duties. Two officers were suspended because of the incident, one for three days and the other for 10.

This is the unofficial version of why two patrolmen were given suspensions from duty. Chief of Police Don Hensley will make no comment.

–Article from an unknown issue of The Messenger in the 1980s.

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