Hudson police chief loves his job
Daniel Banks promotes community policing, has diverse force
HUDSON -- Daniel Banks is a big cop in a small town. And he breaks a lot of stereotypes.
He's not Buford T. Justice from "Smokey and the Bandit" or Roscoe P. Coltrane from "The Dukes of Hazzard."
The former University of Northern Iowa football player is all business and totally professional -- with a little bit of an Andy Griffith touch.
Most of all, he wants people to see a person, not just a badge.
”I love people to get to know me,” he said. “They see a big Black man in a uniform. Or when I take this off, just a big Black man. But at the end of the day, I’m the nicest guy in the world! I want to change that narrative.”
As police chief since 2019 in Hudson, a town of 2,600 just 10 miles south of Waterloo on U.S. Highway 63, he proportionately has a very diverse police department of 10 officers - male, female, Black, white and Bosnian. And a police canine. And traffic cameras.
And he has 2,600 bosses.
”I’m very transparent in everything I do,” he said. “At the end of the day they are the taxpayers. We work for them.”
He was born and raised in Waterloo, a graduate of East High School and attended UNI on a football scholarship. He graduated from the Iowa Law Enforcment Academy and been a law officer since 2002. He’s the son of a John Deere worker.
"I wanted to be an architect," he said. After dabbling in a couple of subjects at UNI he chose criminology and sociology. He interned with the Waterloo Police Department.
"Back in my day when I saw a police car go by, I got excited," Banks said. "They were superheroes." In fact, he did a research paper on Black Waterloo police office Willie Washington.
"I have so much respect for that man,” Banks said. “Did I imagine being one? No."
His family didn’t deter him.
"The only thing I really remember was when I went to Oelwein" as a police officer. His parents were concerned, "just as an African-American going to a smaller community."
The most rewarding part of his job, he said, is helping people.
Also, he said, "Being mixed-race African-American," with one Black and one white parent, "I think, over the years, I've changed people's perspective, not just on law enforcement, but on Black people in general.
"After I left the University of Northern Iowa -- I was officer there 2 1/2 - 3 years - I went to Oelwein, which is a predominantly white community. I've learned over the years, even in college, that these small communities have never had any interaction with Black people," except through entertainment and mass media. In many cases, he said, "I was the first person of color they ever talked to.
"Going into these communities - Oelwein, Tripoli and Sumner -- they're very stand-offish. And I get it — I mean, I don't get it, but I understand it. I know I've changed their perspective on Black people in general. And even here Hudson, although we border on Waterloo-Cedar Falls. I would say that's the most rewarding" part of his job.
"The most challenging - and I know I can never do this -- is trying to make everybody happy." he said. It's a goal to strive his hardest for, even if unattainable.
"I’m not naive. I understand I won't make everybody happy. But and the end of the day, that's my main goal, is to make everybody like me. I think I'm a likeable guy!"
Racism, "unfortunately," has been something he's had to deal with in his profession. "But you know, it never bothered me, I guess. I think I'm bigger than racism. Everybody's going to have their opinion of me. But it's also my goal to change your thoughts about me. You get somebody in the back seat (of a police car), I've had people say every racial slur in the book. And some stuff I didn't know was a racial slur -- I had to think about it for a couple of seconds. And sometimes I get it from my own race, my own people. I think that hurts the most, versus a white person.
"I'm think I'm trying to change the game for my race, our race," Banks said. "But unfortunately, some want to hold you back a little bit. I think I'm changing the game; I think in my heart I do. But some people think I'm being a sellout. It is what it is.
"The way the world's going with law enforcement, I'm just one person. I'm just trying to change people's perspective,” he said. “And I always will until the day I retire; after I retire. Just change people's perspective on law enforcement.
”It's going down a dirty road and it frustrates me. It frustrates a lot of people,” Banks said. “Because recruiting's getting harder -- 'Why would you want to do this job? Social media's going to eat you up. They'll critique everything you do.'
"Are there bad cops? Yeah. Are they're bad doctors? Yeah. But we're in the front row when something goes wrong,” he said.
"It sucks. But you know what? I love my job and I do it to the best of my ability," Banks said. "And I think I'm doing a pretty good job -- not to toot my own horn -- and I'm going to continue to do this job the best I can. Obviously you have to adapt and adjust to society. There's a lot of things you don't agree with, but it is what it is.”
One thing that helps him in recruiting officers, to an small but poportionately diverse department, is that recruits see in him a Black person in a position of authority. And a fit person. He’s on the board of the police science department at Hawkeye Community College and was on the interview board for the selection of Cedar Falls’s new police chief.
”I’ll help however I can,” he said. “I’m proud of our department we built as a team. I’m having no issues recruiting. I have people waiting to come here.”
”The driving force behind why I became a police officer is, I believe in rules, and I believe in consequences,” he said. “You break a rule, there’s a consequence, And you own it.”
It’s how he was raised.
"There are still some mentors I talk to every once in a while,” he said. “I still reach out to other chiefs for administrative ideas. I'm still learning in this role. I'm never going to know it all. It is a brotherhood. We're always growing and we're always learning."
The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis "didn't change my life," he said. "It changed the world, and it put law enforcement on the hot seat. I felt it made us, as good officers, now we have to go out and prove ourselves -- again.
”I understand the public. I'm human,” he said. “And I'd have to say, 98 percent of the law officers who saw that video said, 'Mmmmmm. No. That's not good. No.' But we all took a hit. It shouldn't be that way. But it is what it is. Here we go again. It shouldn't have happened.
”We're held up to a higher standard. And that's fine,” Banks said. “Record me. Because I'm doing nothing wrong. That's just my perspective. It angered me those officers did what they did. Because it set me back many years on what I've been trying to do."
Regarding police-community relations, "In Hudson, I think I'm perceived great, awesome,” he said. “I think I've brought something back to this community, which is community policing. My officers are out; they're engaged with the community.
”I want people to call me by name. I don't like the 'chief' name,” he added. “There's a time and a place for that. But at the end of the day I want my community to know me by name; want the to kids know me by name. I want to know everybody by name.
And he loves the town.
"Hey, I'm trying to recruit more African Americans to come here to Hudson. It's a great community. I love it here," he said. "I will retire here."
"Honestly, I think I'm perceived — in Waterloo and Cedar Falls, every community I've worked — I think I've been perceived pretty good," Banks said. "I want to treat you like I want to be treated. At the end of the day, we're adults here. Skin color doesn't matter. Race doesn't matter. I was raised right. I had two great parents and I see you in my parents."
The key to successful police-community relationships, Banks said, is meeting people where they are, "We need to get ouf of our (squad) cars more and interact with the community more," he said. "Waterloo's a little tougher with their calls for service. I get it. But we need to get out and interact with the youth, the parents. I perceive there’s division. There's police and everbody else. But at the end of the day, my uniform comes off. I am a human being. I have kids and a wife. It's just a job. But we need to let the community understand we're human too.”
He still works out and has a body building video. "It's just a hobby," he said. "Some people fish, or bowl. Just growing up athletic, playing sports, playing at UNI, I still have that competitive edge, I guess."
He did a photo shoot and It's landed him in magazines such as Muscle and Fitness and on online videos. “It's been a blessing," he said. "I don't like to call it bodybuilding, I just call it exercise. The amount of doors that have been opened have just been amazing. Nothing that I seek to do. I don't body build;'I work out.
"I want to be an example in so many ways," Banks said. "One, I'm 44 yearss old. When I tell people my age, they look at me like, 'No you're not; you're like 27.' Well, that's great," he said. "So I can be an example for people who are in their 40s. You can be 44 and be able to do this and that. Be healthy for my occupation -- it's a stress reliever — and just be an example for my kids. In this career, you have to find something outside the uniform to keep you from going crazy; and outlet. It's beneficial all the way around.
"Some people say you need to have goals. I'm still living a blessed life. I live day to day, What happens tomorrow, happens tomorrow. God had blessed me tremedously in everything I've done. I never imagined my elf being in this position. Being an officer, being a chief, if you would have told me back when I was 18 I'd be doing this, I'd have laughed. With the fitness and the law enforcment, I have no regrets. I'm happy where my life is and excited to see where it goes."
Pat Kinney is a freelance writer and former longtime news staffer with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier and, prior to that, several years at the Ames Tribune. He is currently an oral historian with the Grout Museum District in Waterloo. His “View from the Cedar Valley” column is part of “Iowa Writers Collaborative,” a collection of news and opinion writers from around the state who previously and currently work with a host of Iowa newspapers, news organizations and other publications. They are listed below. Clink on the links to check them out, subscribe for free - and, if you believe in the value of quality journalism, support this column and/or any of theirs with a paid subscription .
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He is a good man!
This chief seems like a good guy. Nice story Pat.