After 30 years in law enforcement, Mason City Police Chief Jeff Brinkley will retire later this year.
Brinkley, a 1992 Hampton-Dumont graduate, has served as police chief in Mason City since January 2016, when he took over for then-chief Mike Lashbrook.
“Just in a small world moment, I actually knew Mike from when I dispatched in college over at Hawkeye Community College when he was working at Cedar Falls PD. And so I came up and interviewed him and talked to him about the job before I applied to make sure it was going to be a good fit for me. And there was a lot of familiarity in terms of size of the agency, Mason City’s 48 officers at full strength and down in Ames, we were at 53 officers, I think at the time that I left and so the feel of the department, the operation kind of some of the challenges that we faced were very similar in different aspects of the work. And so it really was an opportunity for me to really kind of get in and go right to work. I inherited a very functional organization. I did not have to come in. There were not sweeping changes that were needed.”
Prior to joining the Mason City Police Department, Brinkley served as a patrol officer with the University of Northern Iowa Department of Public Safety and, as he stated, spent nearly 20 years with the Ames Police Department. Brinkley says there have been a lot of changes during his three decades in law enforcement.
“The technology is the big one. When I started, police officers wrote good reports. We didn’t have recording devices. You know, when you went to court, a good report was all you needed. Now you have to have it on video or it didn’t happen. The public perception and the impact of the media has drastically changed the profession. I think with where we are in policing today, post George Floyd, post COVID, with all of the things that have happened with policing reform, recruiting is challenging. I remember when I tested at Ames PD, I showed up to take the test there with about 300 other people. I mean, it was amazing. I never even thought I would get a second glance and I was lucky enough to get hired. And now we’re really doing good if we have 15 people show up on a testing day. But the thing that hasn’t changed, think, and this is the part that really reassures me that we’re still doing all right, is we still get good people.”
Brinkley’s retirement is effective November 14th. The city council in Mason City last week approved the appointment of Michael McKelvey as police chief. McKelvey will be the acting police chief upon Brinkley’s retirement and will serve as permanent police chief effective February 10th, 2026.
Full response from Brinkley regarding changes in the last 30 years;
