The scum was starting to spread back when Harold Knight called Des Moines a "jungle" and the Register's lightweight lefty Donald Kaul jumped ugly on him, thus putting Kaul's career into third gear. The DM city manager (basically a form of "progressive" city government, BTW) at the time was a rock of jello and the chief of police would not deal with - or really acknowledge -the nascent gang activity. That was 40 years ago.
From Burlington to Sioux City, most city governments in Iowa these days will just tell you to "move along, there's nothing to see here." There is plenty to see, as this couple found out.
Yeah, I lived in IA a few years in the 80s, I knew then that Des Moines had sketchy areas and gang activity, and some of the smaller cities had a lot of Hispanic crime.