Nevada Police Chief Chris Brandes was born to serve.

He’s captivated by the crisp navy blue uniform he pulls on each day, knowing that life can be saved at any moment.

Brandes, a 2004 graduate of AHSTW High School in Avoca, is six months into his dream job, leaning on lessons learned during a deployment in Iraq and a lifetime spent in rural Iowa. To Brandes, there’s nothing he’d rather be doing than keeping the streets of Nevada safe and free of crime.

“There are times where you know when you’ve left a situation that you’ve helped that person with whatever is going on in their life,” Brandes said. “I’m not a counselor, therapist, or anything of that sort, but the ability to go into somebody’s house not knowing the situation and know when you’ve left you’ve made it better is very rewarding.”

Brandes dreamed of becoming a police officer, idolizing his cousin, a Sheriff’s Deputy in Palo Alto County. That dream solidified when Brandes job shadowed his cousin and saw what the job entailed.

“I just loved everything about what he did,” Brandes said. “He always spoke very highly of law enforcement, and I always thought of that as an exciting and fun job to do.”

Brandes lives in Nevada with his wife, Jessica, and their two young sons, Easton and Hunter.

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Patriotism and dedication

Brandes’ desire to serve can be traced back to his high school days.

He enlisted in the National Guard as a senior, where he’s served as a health care specialist since 2003. He was deployed “all over the place” after graduation before he was deployed to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005. He was deployed in the Middle East for two years, earning his combat medic badge, recognizing that Brandes performed combat medic tasks while directly under enemy fire.

Brandes was offered a position as a combat medic instructor at Camp Dodge in 2007, an opportunity he thought was perfect to share his firsthand experience with combat treatment.

“I had just deployed and had experience with a lot of those things, and I was bringing that experience back,” Brandes said. “It was really beneficial for me to give back to give back and provide to the next generation of medics going over and prepare them for it. I know instructors who have firsthand experience provide more credibility to what they’re teaching.”

Brandes worked with paramedics, flight paramedics and nurses who all had firsthand civilian experience.

He retired from the National Guard at the end of 2023 after spending 20 years as a combat medic, but with it came a desire to serve and to protect at the local level.

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A risk well taken

Though he’d never visited Nevada before, Brandes applied to join the police department in 2013, kick-starting a decade-long stint.

His first foray into law enforcement provided plenty of spontaneity, presenting a challenge he loved.

“You could come to work, and you had no idea how your evening was going to go, whether your only interaction with people would be traffic stops or if you were going to have a variety of criminal offenses,” Brandes said. “That was very fun for me.”

He quickly became one of the department’s most dependable officers, serving as a patrolman, a training officer, an investigator, and a patrol sergeant.

Brandes worked as an investigator for two years, typically investigating extensive theft or assault cases. He was promoted to patrol sergeant in 2018, and after picking and training the new detective, he went back on patrol.

Brandes also stepped into more of a mentorship role over the years, though he also spent time working on budgets, proposals, and contracts, a beneficial skill he’s used as chief.

“Five years of doing that kind of helped the transition (to chief) a little bit,” Brandes said.

Time served was plenty enough ammo for Brandes, getting sworn in as Nevada’s police chief in July 2023, punctuating a 10-year stint.

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The Nevada Police Department’s growth over time

When Brandes joined the Nevada Police Department in 2013, the city of Nevada had created the Public Safety Department, a collaboration between the police and fire departments. The initiative has allowed local officers to develop a team mentality and partner with the fire department under the public safety umbrella.

“They’re there to help us with whatever task we need,” Brandes said. “That bond and partnership has grown a lot in the last 10 years to a very healthy relationship now.”

The police chief has also seen the department go from short-staffed to a full team, where they currently sit. He said the workload is currently distributed better with significantly more officers, and the cohesiveness is much stronger.

“We have a lot of young officers eager to do well in the community and stay here,” Brandes said. “I’d say over half of our staff lives here and have children that will be involved in the community. There’s a real family feel.”

Celia Brocker is a government, crime, political and education reporter for the Ames Tribune. She can be reached at CBrocker@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Meet Nevada’s new police chief, bolstered by his deployment in Iraq