Syler Koder celebrates receiving his Nevada Police Officer badge with his family, which includes his wife, Tanner, and their three daughters, Tatum, Eleanor, and Parker.
Nevada’s newest police officer has had an opportunity to become familiar with the community over the past few years.
Skyler Koder, 27, married Nevada native Tanner Messerli in 2020, and the two made Nevada their home, moving here from Altoona shortly after.
Skyler, originally from Monroe, is a 2015 graduate of PCM High School, where he was active in wrestling, football, track, and band. “I’d been in Nevada at different times for sports back then,” he said. In fact, he brought his sports background to Nevada, coaching wrestling at the middle school level and then becoming an assistant wrestling coach at Nevada High School.
Skyler grew up one of three kids with an older brother and sister. His father, Jeff, was a sheriff’s deputy in Marion County, and his mom, Julie, worked in a clerical position and ran her own can and bottle redemption business for about 10 years.
Skyler attended Iowa State University, and following his father’s footsteps, he earned a degree in criminal justice in the spring of 2019. During his time at Iowa State, he met Tanner, who graduated from ISU in the fall of 2018.
His first law enforcement job was as a detention officer (working in the jail) for Polk County. He said they were short-staffed, and the work schedule was overwhelming, so with his first child about to be born, he took a step back to look for a job with better hours for a new dad.
He found a job working as a student aide for SE Polk School District. He did that for a semester and then had a call from his home school, PCM. “An old coach and teacher of mine wondered about me getting into special education, so I went to his room as a longtime sub that year in the special ed classroom setting.”
Then life shifted again. Tanner got a job teaching for the iJAG program at Nevada High School, and Skyler got a job at ALMACO, prompting their move to Nevada.
At ALMACO, Skyler worked as an assembly technician for the past two years. He was trained by the company and enjoyed his time there. “It was a good work atmosphere, but it wasn’t what I went to school for,” he said. “Now that my kids are getting a little more on schedule, it gave me the opportunity to get into law enforcement again.”
When Syler says “kids,” it’s because he and Tanner now have three daughters: Tatum is soon going to be 3, and twins Eleanor and Parker are 15 months.
The thing he’s most nervous about with attending the Iowa Police Academy soon is leaving his wife alone with the three youngsters. But he’s comforted knowing she has her family living here to help, so he can concentrate on all there is to learn at the Academy.
As for returning to serve Nevada as an officer, Skyler is looking forward to this career in this community. “I really love the sense of community here. It seems like there is always an event going on up on main street or somewhere in town. Everybody wants to get out and participate in these, and the fire and police departments are usually well represented at events.”
When he begins working as an officer after completing the academy, Skyler said his goal will be to make a positive difference in the community. “I hope to be someone whom anyone can come up to and have a conversation with.”
Skyler wants people to know that he has a very calm demeanor. “Working in the jail (in Polk County) there were some stressful scenarios that I had to work through, but not getting overworked and staying level-headed are very important traits as an officer. You’re going to deal with all sorts of people in all different states, so you need to be able to talk to anyone and lower tensions.”
–Written by Marlys Barker, City of Nevada
