As the new Dallas County Law Enforcement Center reaches its completion this April, the Sheriff’s Office is transitioning their focus to another project.

The planning phase for the community-funded “Ride the Thin Blue Line” memorial will shift into a higher gear once the new county jail opens, though there’s no firm timeline for completion. The idea came from Sheriff Chad Leonard, who says a volunteer board is now working on the three-phase memorial to fallen Iowa officers and first responders. It will be placed along the 1,340 feet of the Raccoon River Valley Trail that runs behind the law enforcement center, and will include monuments, an outdoor viewing area, and an education center.

Leonard believes the memorial will be a popular tourist locale in central Iowa when finished, with word spreading by word-of-mouth. “We want people to come out there, take a look, and say, ‘Wow, this is pretty cool!’ And we want you to pull in on your bicycle and want to go home and grab your family and come back and pay tribute to the fallen first responders in the State of Iowa. There’s a lot of thought going into this and how we’re going to do it, and then we’re always looking for more ideas. And any way we can accomplish this for obviously the least amount of money would be great. But we’re going to make it a destination spot for sure.”

To learn more about “Ride the Thin Blue Line” or to donate to the project, click the first link below. You can also hear more from Leonard by clicking the second link to listen to the recent Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program with him.

https://ridethethinblueline.com
https://www.raccoonvalleyradio.com/2020/02/27/lets-talk-dallas-county-2-27-2020-chad-leonard/