The straight and narrow

Count all of the public safety officials, peace officers and others who are keeping Adair County safe and they’d be too numerous to count. But in the mix of all of these officials are three men who serve in the Iowa State Patrol and call Greenfield home.

These Troopers are Ryan DeVault, Ryan Zenor and Andrew Ehrsam. They’re the subjects of this week’s edition of a career appreciation story series during the month of May. This week also happens to be National Police Week. Also in Adair County, Ethan Warrior is a State Trooper who lives in Bridgewater.

DeVault is based out of District 3, which includes Adair, Cass, Pottawatamie, Adams, Montgomery, Mills, Fremont, Page and Taylor Counties.

Because they are K-9 units, Ehrsam and Zenor are each stationed out of District 15 in Des Moines, though they say they still spend a great deal of their time working in District 3.

Ehrsam has the least amount of years of service of the three, having joined on in 2006.

A graduate of Nodaway Valley in 2005, Ehrsam says the fact that he enjoys helping people was a main driving force in leading him to law enforcement.

Ehrsam even remembers that DeVault gave him a speeding ticket once when he was in high school.

“I enjoy helping people and feel that’s where I’m most well suited. That’s not something that everyone has the patience or the time to want to do but I felt it would be a good fit for me,” said Ehrsam, a 2005 Nodaway Valley graduate. “I came on in 2006 and I feel it’s jived with me pretty well. There are days that it’s a job like anything else, but you also have a lot of freedom and a lot of fun doing the job.”

Zenor began with the State Patrol in 2005. The Iowa State Patrol has only four K-9 units in the entire state. One is in Poweshiek County, one is stationed near Winterset in Madison County and two are in Greenfield. Because of how limited the Iowa State Patrol is with its K-9 units, Troopers Ehrsam and Zenor are often called to help in other portions of the state.

Ehrsam and Zenor say that the dogs go home with the Troopers when they’re off duty and they’re like having another child almost. Zenor’s dog is named Milo and Ehrsam’s is Lucy.

Zenor’s father was a State Trooper for 36 years, his uncle served as a State Trooper for that same amount of time and he’s a third generation State Trooper in his family, who are from Stanton.

“My grandfather’s the one who got me into law enforcement. I knew at a very young age that I wanted to be a State Trooper,” Zenor said. “I stuck with it, went and got a 4-year degree in Criminal Justice and here I am.”

DeVault, who also grew up in Greenfield, has been in the career for 21 years. He’s a 1996 graduate of Nodaway Valley.

DeVault says anyone wanting to get into law enforcement or the Iowa State Patrol, which is actually under the umbrella of the Iowa Department of Public Safety, should stay on the straight and narrow because the weeding out process is rigorous.

DeVault remembers doing ride-alongs with now retired State Troopers Clel Baudler and Kenny Jensen, and those experiences led him into law enforcement.

“The thing about it is if this is the career path you’re choosing, like the three of us have chosen to do, the main thing is to do the right things for the right reasons, keep your nose clean and stay out of trouble,” DeVault said. “There are a lot of difference influences that kids have nowadays, some that maybe aren’t necessarily positive.

“We at the Iowa State Patrol and the Department of Public Safety try to stay the cream of the crop. We still understand in the hiring process that kids make mistakes and you can grow out of that and move on, but if you want this as a career you better stay on the straight and narrow.”

DeVault, Zenor and Ehrsam all have wives who work in the Greenfield community and have children who attend the local schools.

“We talk about the thin blue line, and as brothers and sisters we’re all there, but we’re very fortunate that for the three of us, our families are friends and our kids are friends,” Zenor said. “It’s a very close family relationship between ourselves, even to our sheriff’s department and police. We’re all friends and stay pretty close.”