What started out as a childhood wish to help others has developed into an over-three-decade career in protecting his native community. After graduating from East High School, Stephen Bogle joined the Iowa Army National Guard and became a law enforcement officer for the Des Moines Police Department for 13 years. Since then, he has served in a variety of positions with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and Department of Public Safety, including executive assistant for the commissioner, training coordinator and fleet manager, and homeland security coordinator. He also has been through several prestigious training programs, including the U.S. Army War College, from which he received a master’s degree in strategic studies. All of his assignments and studies have led him to one culminating role: director of the DCI.

What are you looking forward to most as director of the DCI?

One of the things I believe this field does is allow you to help people. At this level, I don’t have the opportunity to do that anymore. So I guess my fulfillment now is being able to create the environment and garner the resources so that the Iowa law enforcement across the board can work together and be successful.

How have television crime shows changed this field?

I think there are things now that the public has been exposed to, but not in the sense that they have a realistic understanding. Some of the technology you see on TV is a little embellished. It’s not that there isn’t something similar to it, but it doesn’t work as fast or maybe it’s not quite as accurate. The other piece I think you see on shows like “CSI” is you’ve got a group of people that process the crime scene, analyze the evidence in the laboratory, interrogate the suspect and make the arrests. Those are separate functions here. That being said, there probably have been more positives than negatives. We went through a time when we were struggling [to get new candidates]. I wouldn’t say there’s been a sharp incline, but I think we’re seeing the trend line starting to move upward. We also have a higher-quality candidate.

What’s been the hardest training program you’ve been through?

The Army War College. It’s helped me look at issues not as a law enforcement leader but as a senior leader of a government organization and to understand that we are competing with other necessary services for funding. There is a certain way to get our priorities aligned with state and federal leadership and to understand that every decision you make will have a subsequent effect. It didn’t necessarily change my views, but it changed my decision-making process. By 2000, I didn’t think there was much about me that was going to change, you get set in your ways, but it did [change me].

Is it common for an officer to go through so much coursework?

I’ve been goal driven and I love school.

What’s the biggest challenge facing the DCI?

I think our greatest challenge is to continue to get enough resources to not only meet the needs we have but also some of the new challenges, which includes cyber crime. That’s a whole gamut of things, whether we talk about crimes against children, fraud, or fishing. Cold cases are an issue as well. We have over 140 cold cases since 1965. We evaluate them if a new lead comes in, but we just don’t have enough agents to assign someone full time. I am convinced if we did, we could solve some of those.

What’s your greatest fear?

The thing that keeps me anxious is not letting our people down. Of all the leadership philosophies, the most important thing is to take care of your people. What I mean is to set high standards, then give them the resources, time, training, equipment and motivation to achieve those high standards. The thing that keeps me going is wanting to create the environment where everyday people want to come to work and to do a good job. Sometimes people mistake me for a workaholic. I like my days off to go play golf, fish or hunt just like the next person. But over the past 31 years, the majority of the time I have looked forward to coming to work.

What’s your family like?

My wife and I were high school sweethearts. We have two children who each have children. We really enjoy being grandparents. I wasn’t sure I was ready for it, but now I highly recommend it.

– Sarah Bzdega