Monroe County Sheriff Dan Johnson retires after 20 years

by Krystal Fowler Associate Editor

Monroe County Sheriff Dan Johnson said goodbye to the job he has held for the last 20 years on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024.

Although his technical last day was Jan. 1, 2025, Johnson was treated to a reception celebrating his retirement on Tuesday afternoon at the Monroe County Law Center.

Friends, family, colleagues and community members packed into the law center from 2-4 p.m. to wish Johnson well and thank him for his service to the community. Johnson said that he was surprised by the turnout to see him off.

The celebration brought a close to Johnson’s 20 years as Monroe County Sheriff. He was first elected in 2004 and took office in 2005 but he had served in different roles in both the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and the Albia Police Department since coming to Albia in 1988 as a patrolman for the city of Albia.

In total Johnson spent almost 37 years in law enforcement after returning to school to study criminal justice in his mid-20s.

Johnson is originally from Sumner, Iowa in Bremer County in northern Iowa. He graduated from high school there in 1978 and married his wife Pat, who is also from Sumner, in 1983. They just celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary in December of 2024.

Johnson said after high school he worked in the construction field but in the early 1980s both companies he had worked for went out of business.

He took an aptitude test through the Iowa Workforce Development Office and one of the areas it suggested for him was law enforcement.

So Johnson decided to attend Hawkeye Tech, now known as Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo, earning an associate of arts degree in criminal justice. While still is school he was hired by the police department in Lawler, Iowa in Chicasaw County.

He said he only served there a few months though. After seeing a job opening with the Albia Police Department, Johnson and his wife decided to move to the community.

Johnson said at first they planned to stay for five years before returning to northern Iowa, but by the time five years had passed, the couple’s two children, Matt and Katie, considered Albia home and they decided to stay. Matt was born in December of 1987, just around seven months before they moved to Albia and Katie was born after they moved here.

Johnson said he was grateful for the support and understanding his family has always given him for missed events.

“They’ve never wavered,” said Johnson. “They understood that dad couldn’t be there all the time.”

He and Pat now have four grandchildren. Their son Matt and his wife Stacey have three daughters, Sloane, Collins and Sutton. Their daughter Katie and her husband Brandon Blanchard have one daughter, Kennedie.

After moving to Albia Johnson continued to work for the Albia Police Department, working his way up from patrolman to night sergeant to assistant chief before taking a job as a sheriff’s deputy with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department. After about two years there, he became the Albia Police Department’s Chief of Police for about two years before running for the office of sheriff in 2004.

During that time Johnson said he also taught D.A.R.E. in the schools for 16 years, something he had to get used to as someone who hated public speaking at first.

Running for sheriff was also a new experience, as he had to never run for an elected position before.

Johnson said over the years the amount of paperwork involved in the job has increased. He said that technology has also made a lot changes, including the addition of cameras and computers both in the office and in patrol cars.

One of the other big changes Johnson experienced was the building of a new law center that houses both the Albia Police Department as well as the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department. The facility opened in 2016.

“There’s people that say that’s a great accomplishment, but it’s because the citizens decided we needed something different,” said Johnson. “The citizens are the ones that did an amazing job getting it passed the first go around.”

Johnson said the hardest part of working in law enforcement was dealing with child deaths. He had a few during his career, none that were criminal, but they were still very difficult.

He said one of his most memorable times on the job was when he as working the late night shift on patrol for the Albia Police Department. Johnson said there was an elderly woman who would call in two to three times a week because she was hearing noises.

“I would go up and check on her,” said Johnson. “Basically she was lonely and wanted to talk to somebody.”

Johnson said when he would get to her home she would always have coffee and cookies.

“So we’d visit for about half an hour…and when I left the late night shift, I talked to her and said hey these are gonna be the guys that are gonna be working my shift. I’ve told them that you’re probably gonna be calling and just take a few minutes and visit with you.”

Johnson said he visited with her for about three years and the visits continued until she passed away.

“And that’s the stuff people don’t know we do,” said Johnson.

For the most part though, Johnson said he dealt with run of the mill calls for service while on the job.

Johnson said that he knew during his last run for sheriff in 2020 that it would be his last term.

“I told everybody then, I’m going to be done,” said Johnson. “Thirty-six years is enough.”

Johnson said that he plans to take it easy over the winter after his retirement, but he said he expects he might find a part-time job in the summer.

“Something that’s less stressful,” said Johnson.