North DSM News

The Johnston Police Department is pleased to announce two promotions. On Monday, Dec. 19, 2022, Chief Dennis McDaniel promoted Sergeant Kenny Agan to the rank of Lieutenant and Officer Nathan Johnston to the rank of Sergeant. Mayor Paula Dierenfeld swore in Lt. Agan and Sgt. Johnston. Lieutenant Kenny Agan began his law enforcement career with the Ankeny Police Department in 1996. Agan left law enforcement in 2003 to pursue a private sector position, but returned to the profession and joined the Johnston Police Department in 2006.  

Agan worked as a patrol officer until he was selected as Johnston's first School Resource Officer (SRO) in 2007. From 2007 – 2011, he was the SRO for all schools within the Johnston Community School District.   

In July 2011, he was promoted to Police Sergeant, where he supervised the overnight shift for six years. He performed supervisory duties as a Sergeant in the Field Operations Division from 2011 – 2019 and has led every patrol watch. In 2019, Sgt. Agan was selected as the Investigations Unit Supervisor and remained in that position until this promotion.  

Lt. Agan is assigned as the division commander of Support Services and will oversee the Investigations Unit, Community Policing Unit, the Property & Evidence section, and all Crime Scene Investigators.

In addition to Kenny's leadership duties, he is the department's lead Driving Instructor, a De-escalation Instructor, a certified Crisis Negotiator, and a member of the Johnston Police Department's Quick Response Team (QRT).

Sergeant Nathan Johnston has been an Iowa Certified Police Officer since 2017. He joined the Johnston Police Department in May 2018 after serving as a deputy with the Polk County Sheriff's Office. 

Over the past four years, he has grown his experience in OWI enforcement, drug and criminal interdiction, and critical incident response. He has served as a Field Training Officer in the department, successfully training five of Johnston's current officers. 

In May of 2022, Nathan began the department's leadership development program and was selected as the Officer-In-Charge for the 3rd Watch patrol shift. This new opportunity challenged him to take the skills he has developed as a proactive police officer and use them to build, develop, and lead the team around him. 

In addition to Sergeant Johnston's supervisory duties, he will continue serving the department as a Standardized Field Sobriety Instructor and Pepperball Instructor. He will also remain a team member on the department's Quick Response Team and a tactical operator on the metro's Suburban Emergency Response Team.

Original source can be found here.