Waterloo Police Chief Is Sticking Around…For Now

After some back and forth between the Waterloo City Council and the police chief, it looks like Joel Fitzgerald will be sticking around for the time being.

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News broke earlier this month that Waterloo Chief of Police Joel Fitzgerald was
a finalist for a different law enforcement position. Reports claim that Chief Fitzgerald was one of the five final candidates for the Vancouver, Washington chief of police.

This got the Waterloo City Council talking and considering a proposal to give the Chief of Police a pay raise where he will end up making $165,000 a year, according to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.

The minimum pay rate for this Washington state position was $178,000.

On Monday, at the Waterloo City Council meeting, the councilors voted to give Fitzgerald a new contract and a raise, according to reports.

The only councilor who didn't vote in favor of the pay raise and contract renewal was Dave Boesen. This new contract for the police chief states that he will be employed until April 19th, 2026.

However, this contract doesn't stop him from resigning from his position.

This comes after a tumultuous two years in Chief Fitzgerald's current position.

Fitzgerald made history as the city's very first black police chief. Reports say that Mayor Hart sought out the Pennsylvania native back in 2020 because of his,

"level of education, professional experience, and success in implementing community problem solving, the use of intelligence-led policing, and enacting evidence-based strategies to abate crime."

A little over two years out and there have been multiple instances of the man trying to leave the Cedar Valley with a new job. He was sworn in in June of 2020 after being let go from his last job.

It all started in late 2020, the then newly minted police chief had applied for a position in Miami, according to various Miami news outlets. Fitzgerald was apparently one of 36 applicants for the chief of police position.

Then a month later in early January, news came out that he was also in the running for a position in New Mexico.

Just last summer, Fitzgerald was one of 25 candidates considered for the Chief of Police position in Austin Texas, according to KWWL.

The Police Chief was fired from his position as the Chief of Police in Fort Worth, Texas after an incident in Washington D.C. that had city officials reportedly questioning his “judgment and leadership” according to a report from the Baltimore Sun.

Fitzgerald has held four police chief positions since 2009 in the following cities:

Missouri City, Texas (2009)

Allentown, Pennsylvania (2013)

Fort Worth, Texas (2015)

Waterloo, Iowa (2020)