Creston sergeant honored with Hero Award

Every year, Mothers Against Drunk Driving Iowa celebrates the work law enforcement officers across the state do to keep roads safe from impaired drivers. Creston’s own Sergeant Patrick Roche was one of a handful of officers honored at this year’s MADD Law Enforcement Recognition ceremony.

Officers nominated for the Hero Award are judged by the MADD nominating committee on DUIs, specialized certification, victim support, community engagement and education and prevention of underage drinking.

“Thanks to your dedication, traffic stop control, OWI enforcement and community engagement, countless more lives are protected. Your work helps prevent thousands of crashes every year across the state of Iowa, ensuring that families can return home safely,” MADD Programming Specialist Allie Houston said at the ceremony. “Sometimes people can forget that behind the uniform is a person, just like any of us. On behalf of MADD, thank you for the courage you show and the heart you bring to this work.”

Roche was nominated by Ringgold County Deputy Shannon Arends, who previously served as lieutenant in the Creston Police Department.

“Through proactive OWI enforcement, extensive training and mentorship, Sergeant Roche has demonstrated outstanding dedication to traffic safety and impaired driving prevention. He has led department efforts in OWI arrests, maintained a 90% conviction rate and conducted numerous DRE evaluations while supporting fellow officers in becoming ARIDE certified,” Dannie Zempel, a former officer, said when presenting the award. “He has received commendations for life saving efforts at a fatality crash and continues to support victims and families affected by impaired driving. His passion and professionalism makes him a true advocate for safer roads.”

Zempel is also a survivor of an impaired driving accident, and told her story that night. She shared that anyone can be impacted by impaired drivers and reminded the audience to always be aware when driving. This sentiment was reiterated by Brian Ortner, AAA public affairs representative and event sponsor.

“A public roadway is the responsibility of all of us when we get behind the wheel. Driving is a privilege that comes with responsibility. While none of us is the perfect driver, we can all work to focus on that perfection,” Ortner said. “I think we all know this - slow down, buckle up, put the phone down, don’t drive impaired. Four simple things to make a difference to get us home safely.”

Drivers aren’t the only ones who can work to keep the road safe through constant improvement. Roche has gone through a number of extra programs to learn more about impaired driving. He holds an Drug Recognition Expert and Standard Field Sobriety Test Instructor certificates, as well as Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement and Seated Battery Standardized Field Sobriety Test training.

Roche’s passion for impaired driving enforcement stems from early on in his career. Pulling over his first drunk driver, Roche had numerous questions for his partner.

“I didn’t like feeling like that, that I had no idea what to do, so I made it a point to not feel like that again,” Roche said. “And the only way to not feel like that was to keep doing them and continue to educate myself, go to classes, get more training on how to do them properly.”

As Roche learned more and gained various certifications, he was able to take more impaired drivers off the road, something he says keeps everyone safe.

“You’re not only affecting yourself when you make that decision to get behind the wheel after you’ve been drinking or smoking or taken too many pills or whatever when you’re impaired,” Roche said. “You can be taking the life of a family member of somebody else that was being responsible; they weren’t out there being reckless.”

Zempel felt similarly, saying the most impactful aspect of taking impaired drivers off the road are the moments no one has to experience.

“I know our work is a lot of times measured in citations and arrests, but a lot of times it’s measured in the silence of what didn’t happen, of what never occurred and the family that never got that call,” Zempel said at the ceremony. “Remember, you’re not just enforcing laws, you’re saving lives and protecting futures, so thank you.”

Despite the danger impaired driving presents, it’s still a common phenomenon across the nation. According to the CDC, 32 people in the United States are killed every day due to impaired driving, one every 45 minutes. Approximately 1 million arrests are made every year for driving under the influence, though a 2020 survey showed more than 40 million U.S. residents drove under the influence.

In bigger cities, the answer is easy: call a cab or rideshare. Living in smaller towns like Creston means that’s not usually an option, but it’s still not an excuse for impaired driving.

“We don’t have the rideshare options, but every time somebody needs to get bonded out after they get arrested for an OWI, somebody wakes up to that phone call and comes and bonds them out, a sober person, almost every time,” Roche said. There’s always somebody out there that they can call, they just chose not to because they don’t want to inconvenience somebody else. Ultimately they did, just two hours after they would have inconvenienced them.”

While many people may think of alcohol when it comes to impaired driving, drugs can be just as bad. A common occurance in Union County is driving after using marijuana products. Even if someone has a medical prescription, driving while high is illegal.

“The main thing would be, similar to alcohol, the impaired perception of time and distance. You’ll see people that have been smoking weed, they’ll either be driving really fast or really slow, depending on the strain of marijuana that they’ve smoked,” Roche said. “They’ll start really far back from a stop sign or they’ll be really far over the stop line. You’ll see some of the similar driving behavior - they’ll be all over the road.”

Though consistently working with intoxicated and impaired drivers can be physically and mentally draining, Roche knows it’s worth the effort.

“An instructor told us, ‘In law enforcement, it’s almost impossible to prevent a homicide, but by taking an impaired driver off the road, you can almost assure that you’ve done that,’” Roche said.

Not a job that often gets vocal community appreciation, Roche and various officers around the state were told by everyone attending the ceremony how much the work they did mattered.

“You are leaving a legacy every time you have contact with somebody in the community,” Iowa Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice Susan Krisko said. “The selfless work you do each day to keep your neighborhood safe and to protect the vulnerable to save lives will help shape communities for generations. You are heroes to us, and all of Iowa appreciates your service.”