Cedar County Sheriff Ends Law Enforcement Contract With Lowden | Best Stories

LOWDEN, Iowa (KWWL) – The Cedar County Sheriff's Office is terminating its law enforcement contract with the city of Lowden.

Lowden is a town of just over 780 people located in the northwest part of Cedar County.

Sheriff Warren Wethington announced the decision this week in a press release posted to a community Facebook group. Wethington said the contract would end June 30 and the sheriff's office would stop providing law enforcement services to Lowden.

Starting July 1, deputies will only respond to emergency calls. However, in his press release, Sheriff Wethington said this response would cost the city. He said the Sheriff's Office will be charged $86.00 per deputy per hour to respond to a call, investigate a crime or perform work associated with a case.

“The hourly rate of $86.00 per deputy will be billed to the Town of Lowden for each hour spent responding, investigating, writing a report, prosecuting and adjudicating the appeal/case generated in the Town of Lowden and will be due within 30 days of the invoice date,” Wethington said.

The move comes after residents raised concerns about speeding in the city, particularly along the Old Lincoln Highway, and pressured city council members to install speed cameras that issue tickets .

For his part, Sheriff Wethington said he was not in favor of cameras. He told the city council at the time that he would not enforce them in his county, emphasizing that speeding tickets are not a priority for law enforcement and that there are more serious problems in matters of delinquency which can use the resources which would be devoted to it.