Des Moines, Iowa  – The Des Moines City Council, Wednesday, gave its seal of approval to hire Michael McTaggart as the City’s 45^th Police Chief at a special meeting this afternoon. CityManager Scott Sanders said “Michael McTaggart stood out as a candidate not only for his achievements, but also for the relationships he has built in our community over the past 25 years. Chief McTaggart will have big shoes to fill in his new role and I have the utmost confidence that he will be able to rise to the challenge.”

The City Council’s 7-0 vote to approve City Manager Scott Sanders’ recommendation concludes a search for the City’s next police chief that began when current Chief of Police Dana Wingert announced his retirement this spring. The search process included multiple rounds of community engagement and feedback that helped shape the recruitment process, and including giving feedback on the two finalists.

Michael McTaggart began his career as a Police Officer with the Des Moines Police Department 25 years ago before rising to through the ranks to the position of Police Major in 2022. Through the course of his career, McTaggart has spent time in the Patrol Division, Robbery / Homicide Section, Intelligence Unit and the Investigations Division before overseeing the Operations Division as major, the largest division in the DMPD.

Chief Appointee McTaggart (City of Des Moines photo)

McTaggart’s time with the City also includes implementing and growing the C.A.R.E. and Mobile Crisis Response Team and spearheading the downtown safety plan, both of which have seen tremendous success. He possesses a Master of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati, and a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology from the University of Northern Iowa.  He has also completed training at the Senior Management Institute for Police with the Police Executive Research Forum and the School of Police Staff & Command with Northwestern University.

With City Council confirmation of Sanders’ choice for police chief, the City Manager will now finalize details of a plan for DMPD to transition from the leadership of Chief Wingert to Chief McTaggart over the next month.