Buchanan County

Buchanan County consists of 571 square miles and has a population of approximately 21,000. Within the county are eleven incorporated cities and two unincorporated towns, six major parks, twenty-one nature areas and five river accesses with the Wapsipinicon River running straight through the county.

The Buchanan County Sheriff's Office provides police protection and enforces local, state and federal laws for eight of the eleven incorporated communities in Buchanan County as well as all of rural Buchanan County. The communities are Aurora, Brandon, Hazleton, Lamont, Quasqueton, Rowley, Stanley and Winthrop. The Patrol Division is comprised of 10 full-time Sheriff's Deputies, each certified by the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy.

Buchanan County is a member of the Rural Area Interdiction Detail ( ), a multi-jurisdictional drug and crime task force. The Task Force, which is operated out of Buchanan County, also includes the Benton, Delaware and Fayette County Sheriff's Offices and the Independence Police Department. The Sheriff's Office has three Deputies that are certified Clandestine Lab Investigators.

In July of 2010, the Buchanan County Sheriff's Office began operating out if its new building which was constructed on the south side of the Buchanan County Courthouse. The new building houses the Sheriff's Office as well as the Communications Center and Correctional Center (jail).

The Communications Division provides dispatch services for the Sheriff's Office, Emergency Management, police departments in Fairbank, Independence and Jesup along with the Buchanan County Health Center and Area Ambulance Service. Dispatch services are also provided to ten of the twelve fire departments in Buchanan County with the exception of the Mental Health Institute Fire Department and Stanley Fire Department. In 2000, the communications section of dispatch was revised to include updates to Enhanced 911 (E-911) and Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD), radio system upgrades, weather radar and updated fire/ambulance paging. Several other portions of the Communications Center are regularly updated as needed or required. In early 2014, Communications Operators attended training for Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD). The Communications Division is comprised of four full-time and three part-time Communications Operators.

The Correctional Center is capable of housing up to 46 inmates. These inmates range from individuals brought in after arrest by Buchanan County Sheriff's Deputies, area police officers and State Troopers, inmates that are "overflow" from other county jails and inmates that are being housed for the Federal Government.