Part 2 - Patrol Operations & Public Safety

The next step of my plan is to address patrol procedures and public safety. I will talk about things that I feel currently work well with the Sheriff’s Office in Waupaca County and also some things that could be improved upon. Most things that need improving upon are either through my own experience, judgement, and opinion or more importantly - they came you, our community members. I have communicated with so many of you over the past 2+ years and I have kept track of said issues. Here we go:

• Community Policing: This is one that I think is done well but could use some strengthening in some areas. Deputies do a great job with calling out self-initiated complaints thru dispatch (or via their in-squad computer) such as extra patrols, business checks, school walk-throughs, campground patrols, etc. When there is down time, this is something that always be prioritized - especially on day-shift with school being in session. The more presence we have in our schools, the better. Our children and their safety are so important!

- What I would like to see strengthened is the quality of some of these types of complaints. For example: I have seen it several times where a deputy will pull into a business parking lot or a school parking lot, call out the extra patrol complaint, and then close it out right away (within seconds) and leave to return to regular patrol. I have also seen business checks done at storage units (which is fantastic!), but they don't actually check the individual storage units or even drive around the building to see if there are signs of tampering/break-ins. The deputies who do check - amazing! You do great work! However, there are several deputies who don't do this. I think our businesses and business owners are huge assets to what makes this county great - therefore we need to take the extra time & due diligence to perform solid security checks of their businesses.

- Now I have seen it also go the opposite way. What do I mean by that? I mean there will be deputies who will park in the same business parking lot, or at a park, or town hall parking lot for several hours per shift. This would happen frequently. Yes - there are always exceptions to this. For example, if other units are busy with urgent calls and they are the one deputy who is available, they have to cover the entire county until other units can clear up. This could be a time when the deputy is posted up in a certain area for a period of time – at an area where it would give them the best response time to get to another call for service or to go and back up their partner(s). Another exception would be attempting to get caught up on paperwork or completing follow-up on a separate call for service. There will always be exceptions that are appropriate. Putting it very simply, I am talking about encouraging my deputies to be pro-active when there is downtime.

• Patrolling all of Waupaca County

- This mostly pertains to the more rural areas of Waupaca County - such as Embarrass, Marion, DuPont, Northland, and Iola. Yes, those areas get patrolled - but they aren't patrolled nearly the same as some other areas. This does depend on call volume. This means the areas of the county with the highest call volume get the most attention (faster response times, more patrol, more police presence, etc.). What I would like to see is more patrol in these rural areas as well. These community members pay their fair share in taxes and in some locations, they have rarely seen a county squad car drive past. Crimes can and do still happen in these rural areas and we need to be there for all of our communities.

- How will I accomplish this? There are several ways to accomplish this without jeopardizing safety or coverage in other areas of the County. Just a few examples could be: a squad covering an area (sector 2 is north half of the County) could patrol these rural areas during downtime (or during "slow") parts of their shift. Another example is having a patrol sergeant (which there is almost always one on duty per shift) patrol these areas during down time, leaving the patrol deputies available to respond to calls. Another example would be me, or other members of administration (getting paid salary), coming in and helping patrol through-out the month, giving the sector squad extra free time to patrol these rural areas. The list could go on with examples - the bottom line is we need to be present out in all areas of Waupaca County.

• Traffic Details

- I like how the Sheriff’s Office participates in several details throughout the year. These will continue if elected as Sheriff. Some of these include speed grants, OWI grants, Click it or Ticket, Drive Sober or get Pulled Over, State Patrol air patrol detail, amongst others. Grant shifts are reimbursed by state funding, which is great because the accrued overtime doesn’t affect the budget! One thing that deputies & Sergeants have done in the past when call volume would allow was conduct a small-scale drug detail. Multiple deputies, along with a K9, would team up on a certain stretch of highway and focus on drug enforcement. Heroin, meth, cocaine, MDMA, illegal prescriptions, amongst others have been seized from Waupaca County highways during these operations.

• Construction zones

- As your Sheriff, this is one thing that will get the much-needed attention that it deserves! Our highway workers need to be able to return home to their loved ones after every shift. Period. They deserve this. Their families deserve this.

- Similar to that of extra patrols, I will instruct my guys & gals to make this a high priority throughout their shift. When there is downtime, I would like these construction zones to have law enforcement present, sending a clear message that safety is being taken seriously on our roadways in Waupaca County.

• Special Events

- This one touches both patrol operations & public safety and fiscal responsibility & transparency. There are several community events that occur throughout the county where deputies are requested to be at. Some examples include the Manawa Rodeo, Symco Thresheree & Shakedown, Scandinavia Corn Roast, Iola Car Show, amongst others. The deputies, and sometimes Sergeants, are all paid overtime for these shifts.

- The Sheriff's Office used to have a Reserve Deputy unit. This unit was comprised of 30-50 part-time deputies, most being retired officers or those who recently graduated from the police academy. They would be hired by these event organizers to perform duties such as foot patrol, crowd control, traffic control, etc. It would keep from a full-time deputy needing to be at every event, being paid their full-time overtime wage. It would also help with deputy’s mental health and fatigue because there were less shifts to fill during the busy months of the year. The deputies could remain focused on their regular scheduled patrol duties, rather than maybe sometimes working a 16-hour shift in order to get these special event shifts filled/staffed.

- I would like to see something similar to a Reserve Unit program or maybe a cadet program started. This would be beneficial in many ways.

1. It gives new recruits fresh out of the police academy a chance to “get their foot in the door” in law enforcement.

2. It saves the county money. Even if the event organizers reimburse the Sheriff’s Office, they do not reimburse any other accruals that could happen from having to complete reports, complete investigations, attend future court hearings, potential weeklong trials, etc. When this occurs, the full-time deputy then gets paid overtime that is reimbursed by the County – which comes from the overtime budget. Also – the starting wage for a part-time deputy is much less than that of a full-time deputy on overtime. So, not only does this save the county potential money, it saves the club/organization a substantial amount of money. In doing so, that is more money going back into our community through these clubs and organizations wanting to hire us.

3. We get to see how these part-time deputies handle their calls, how they treat people, how they react under stressful situations, etc. If they do well, then it would be an easy full-time hire if they were interested in working for us full-time. If they don’t succeed, then we aren’t wasting the extra time & money trying to train someone right out of the academy, just to find out months later that they aren’t going to work out. I am just thinking out loud here but this would definitely be given some serious consideration if I were elected as your next Sheriff.

• Take-home squads

- I have been asked several times about this topic. As of right now, this is my way of thinking. I always will welcome feedback from my colleagues or my community if they think this could be improved upon.

- Currently, the Sheriff’s Office has a take-home policy where deputies are allowed to live so many miles outside of Waupaca County. There is multiple deputies and/or Sergeants who live or have lived in neighboring counties. Now, there are three common things that are brought up with this. 1. Why aren’t these deputies living and spending their time in our community? 2. What happens if something bad happens outside of the county (liability)? 3. Who pays for the gas to drive their squad car miles outside of the county?

- Putting it simply, I think the benefits outweigh the risks/negatives with allowing take-home squads. Here are some of those benefits:

1. A deputy having their own assigned squad, the deputy tends to keep it cleaner & more organized. They are more responsible with getting maintenance done on time (oil changes, tires rotated, etc.). They are overall just more accountable for their squad car and equipment.

2. In the event of needing to be called in for an emergency such as a search and rescue, bad weather, staffing shortage, etc. – they can check on-duty and arrive on scene much faster than having to drive their personal car to the Sheriff’s Office, find an available squad car, load up their gear/equipment, and then finally respond to the scene. For example, if a deputy lives in Appleton and there is an active situation in Fremont, the deputy would have to drive the speed limit and follow the rules of the road from Appleton to Waupaca before finally getting a squad car. They could then drive lights and siren to the scene in Fremont, which they originally passed by on their way to get their squad in Waupaca. A different but similar example is if a deputy lives in Marion and has to travel to Fremont for an active situation, the deputy coming in their squad from Appleton is still going to beat them there. So, I ask what is the difference, just because they have to cross over from another county? The out-of-county squad still beats the in-county squad to the scene.

3. It allows there to be marked squad cars in different neighborhoods across our county. Not only does this deter crime from happening in those neighborhoods, but our community members also feel safer seeing those squad cars and knowing they have help coming from a short distance away if something bad were to happen.

- Take-home squad cars will only be approved to those who need a squad car to perform their duties. For example, both the Jail and Dispatch Captains have brand new take-home squad cars. In a recent record search, Jail Captain Wogsland put on 17,998 miles in just 8 months and never responded to a single call for service. (He wouldn’t respond to a call for service because he is the captain of the jail.) These miles were most likely a result of traveling from Waupaca to the Iola area every day (take-home squad). I will discuss this in more detail in my fiscal responsibility plan – but nonetheless, the thousands of dollars saved here can be put toward other priorities in our county.

This concludes my plan with regards to Patrol & Public Safety. Over the next several weeks, I will continue with sharing my plans regarding:

- Criminal Investigations

- Jail Operations and Inmate Considerations

- Recruitment, Retention, Training, and Employee Wellness

- Technology & Innovation

- Emergency Management & Critical-Incident Planning

- Fiscal Responsibility & Budget Priorities

- Transparency & Accountability

- Partnerships with Local Agencies, Businesses, and Community Organizations

As always, please let me know if you ever have any questions, comments, concerns, or feedback you would like to provide. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!