Sheriff Shawn Becker and Lieutenant Nate Dean

Welcome back everybody to Midday magazine for this Monday January 6th, 2025.

Have your host James here. We're spending the hour with our good friends from the Wood County

Sheriff's Department. We have Sheriff Sean Becker with us along with Lieutenant Nate Dean.

And Sean, we got a couple of things we want to touch on here, but what we got Nate and we've

been kind of started that conversation. There were some other reasons you wanted to bring him in,

and some things you wanted to highlight about what he's doing, and what our departments are doing.

Yeah, like I'd mentioned, he oversees a lot of our, you know, recreational patrols.

He works with Mat Sus on that, and I guess it's normal. Patrol comes to mind, but it's like the

second year to roll. I don't know if the trails are going to even open. It's just, it's weird, but

he does oversee all that, and he also oversees our Native American grant, too, that we've had for

for many years, that he gets out and does a lot of community outreach with that as well.

Nate, could you tell us what that grant is specifically and how that has impacted the

department's hearing Wisconsin and just police force in general? Yeah, absolutely. So what it's

called, it's the county tribal law enforcement agreement, and what that does is it's an agreement

between us and here the Ho Chiunk Nation, and it gives us the ability to, I guess have a

cooperation with the Ho Chiunk Nation and an agreement to patrol and provide service to the tribal

lands within Wood County. Likewise, in other counties, Sauc County, Jackson County, that have

Ho Chiunk Nation lands in them. This is an agreement and a grant through the state of Wisconsin

that gives us the ability to patrol those lands and work in cooperation with their police department.

When it comes to the building those bridges between our Native American communities and

and so much of the other communities or any of this, anything to do with that, and that I

in certain name, like any community in this community, building that bridge sounds great,

that's a great idea. This also has other notes of it too to me, and this is something that you and I

have talked about as well, Sean, where the old days of doing things, if we got to have credit for

this bust or something like that, we're not really seeing that anymore. I'm just at least speaking

here in central Wisconsin where it's sharing of information and like, hey, we just want to take

care, we just want to get the bad people off the street. It's not so much about who gets credit.

The idea of our reservations and having more communication there and sharing of information,

that seems to be just the little bit of homework I've been able to do and read on this,

it does seem like that's happening more and more. I don't mean to say that like that's ever

that was a gigantic issue or there ever was this thing going on, but there was some, you know,

miscommunication, I don't want to say miscommunication, not uncommunication going on there,

where that seems to be getting healthier and better. This grant seems to be a help in that too.

You know, absolutely, we've had it for many, many years and what Nate's done throughout the

past several years is not just focusing on the patrol aspect of the grant and working in cooperation

with their police department, but is getting out in the community and doing community events.

Something that comes to mind a couple of years ago, they need a new basketball

hoop on some of their property near the casino. And despite noticing that, hey, you need a new

backboard, you know, and we're able to purchase that and get out and just play basketball with the

kids. You know, that's the kind of the concepts that he's been building upon, not just the aspect

of being reactive with patrol, but being proactive and getting out there so, you know, the people

can see us and we're not just a person in a squad car in a uniform in a badge. No, we're regular

people too and getting out there, especially with the youth. I think that's really, really huge,

because that impression that you can get that positive impression on a law enforcement officer

as a younger person can really have an impact on someone because you don't know

whoever it might be, what their home life is and maybe what, you know, interaction they've had

with law enforcement wasn't so positive, not because of their behavior, because of somebody else's

behavior, whether it's a parent or sibling or a good friend, you see something and, you know,

actions being taken because of their behavior that might not be so positive, but here are some

ways that we can get out there and despite doing something, you know, with them. And I think it

was an awesome idea that, you know, you see the need of, you know, they need a new backboard,

you know, and let's get them one, you know, and then we paid for that and then we install it

and then you know, and had an awesome day of just hanging out with the kids.

To me, it's above and beyond work and it's part of what we appreciate, it's part of what we

back about you all and so often. It's also, again, coming back to something that we kind of

touch on you and I need a little bit, but we've talked about before, Sheriff, and the applications

being down, if you will, no matter the department or no matter where we're talking about in the country,

not just here in Central Wisconsin. This is also another recruiting tool. This is another,

this is another opportunity, another avenue that maybe a resource that hasn't been tapped

often in life but is in more and more so in recent years and everything and where we're seeing

more of that. And I talk a lot about representation, how important that matters in life and in society.

You know, I was a little kid in Horshack was pretty much the only guy I saw on TV that looked

or sounded anything like me or anything like that and how I see, I saw a very little of that

in the police force or anything in Chicago where I was from and I thought that was pretty

noteworthy grumbing from a very melting pot like that and yet I didn't see a lot of that.

That ain't like the way anymore. It's changed. There is, it's not surprising anymore to see

in certain name, again, if any create any culture, any sex doing this. That's vital for our

police departments around the country and everything. So this grant has a lot of levels to it that

I think can be impactful, not just in our area but just in general. It's great to hear, man. It's

nice work. Yeah. Yeah, you bring up, you know, we talked about, you know, the applications are

down a bit but I'm going to tell you what is really, you know, awesome or cool from me to see.

You know, all right, we're not getting the level of interest. I think it's improving quite a bit.

The last couple of years that we're getting more applications for getting into this

profession, but what you're seeing, at least our department is, you know, we're starting to hire

some of our members' kids. That's cool. That is cool. And, you know, I'm just thinking about

that we just hired Haley's Whizzlin and her dad's a local Chris is a local state trooper.

You know, and we interviewed her and she had a great interview and I'm like, okay,

that's our next person we want to hire but then you just think about the background, you know,

where, you know, Haley grew up with a law enforcement family and, you know, Ted Ashback.

His son is one of our deafness, you know, and, you know, John Matthew's daughter,

also is one of our deputies. And just to see that interest of, you know, a law enforcement

family and Ted would tell you, I didn't want my son to be a cop. I'm like, why not? Let them make

their own end, you know, it's really cool to see Teddy and they've been on the show before,

go to college, you know, and kind of figure out, hey, what do I want to do? And then come back to

now I want to be a cop. And then we get the opportunity to hire him and he's doing a great job.

And it's just, those are really cool things that as we sit and talk about, you know, when you see

a family, you want to be part of our family. You know, if that makes sense, it's pretty cool.

It's very well worth it. You know, it's like my daughter, Jordan, you know, you know,

getting involved and as a dispatcher, as part of our team. And that's pretty, pretty humbling.

And you know, it's one thing for, you know, to see, to see this happen with anybody, we appreciate

anybody jumping into this service. And I cannot stress out enough how appreciative I and this

community is to anybody doing this. It really does mean something different. I grew up watching

my dad and I love boxing. I love hockey. Cannot get enough of him. I will watch, you know,

right as soon as we're done here, if you guys want to or something like that. But I also saw

firsthand what it's like to be an athlete and do go through those things. And I learned real

quick. That is not what I want to do for a living. I do not want to take a punch for a living.

I see my dad do it. He can do it. That's not me. I learned early on in that too. If we're a kid

to grow up in a family like that to see every single day, what it is like to put that badge on,

put that uniform on. And that's what they want to do. Just means a little bit more. Just, it just

adds to it a little bit more. It really tells you something. And again, as far as a recruiting tool

to me, that's a great one right there. I've seen so many people want to continue this and turn

it almost into a family business, if you will, of wanting to continue to wear that badge. And it

says a lot about the industry. It says a lot about the job. Yeah, it's I'm proud just to see that

when you have, you know, family, you know, part of the people, part of our law enforcement family

and then their family want to embark on this profession. It's pretty cool.

Nate, if people are curious about this Native American grant that we brought up and talked about

and everything, one encourage them to look into this online. Is there a website? Is there anything

in particular that we could send them to or just throw it into your search bar and you should

be able to find it? Yeah, if you search Wisconsin Department of Justice County Tribal Law Enforcement,

that should bring you right to their website and bring you the information needed for that.

Otherwise, don't hesitate to reach out to the Sheriff's Department and ask for me and I can

definitely assist with answering any questions. And if I don't know the answer, I'll definitely try

to find the answer. But it's been definitely a great thing for our department to be able to work

right with the whole chunk nation and and continue that cooperation with them. Appreciate that

and the time and everything you're putting into things. Thanks, Nate. Thanks again for being here.

Appreciate it. Yeah. Sheriff, I know there were some some issues, some things we wanted to talk

about with Highway 10, wanted to get to that. Yeah, unfortunately, you know, we're having some

issues up on Highway 10 from Marshfield extending over towards Steven's point. That stretch was

redone in 2011 and unfortunately we've been seeing some tragedies and most recently a 17 year old

female, a Lincoln high school student was killed recently on on Highway 10 and getting a lot of

phone calls, you know, of how dangerous some people feel that the highway is. We did pull some

research and since the new highway was done, I think we had either nine or 10 fatalities.

So we're going to work with department transportation. They oversee at least the signage and

the design of Highway 10, not playing any fingers, but we've gotten a lot of phone calls, you know,

recently just without the recent tragedy and then that's not the only person that's lost

their life and a lot of other people have gotten hurt too. So we've got to do something together to

try to make that highway safer. It's probably one of the hardest things that we have to investigate

are traffic fatalities and if there's something that can be done to make an environment safer,

we should do it. We should do it together. I don't mean to get you into a gray area here or anything,

but is there something we could be doing right now, just as citizens, that we could be doing better.

Great question. Talk to your legislators. You know, that's where I would start. You know, John

Spiros and I had a long conversation last week. I also spoke with Scott Soik, who works for Derek

Van Orten at length about this and I will be speaking with Pat Destin as well. I think that's

where you start with also call your county board members. Let them be aware they know, but there's

something that we need to do collectively together. You know, any option that can make any of the

intersection, that's where we've been having the problems are the cross intersections. Highway

1806 is probably the biggest one, but there's also other ones out there that people sometimes struggle

going across four lanes of traffic and not stopping, you know, in the intersection in the middle of

the median. And you know, we've got to do something out there. So it's concerning. And I'm hoping that

collectively with department transportation, we can we can do something as far as change it. We're

going to get out there and provide extra control and reaching out to the state patrol to do the same

thing, especially at those busier times. You know, when schools getting out or schools starting,

where you have especially a lot of the younger people that are driving out there that don't have

as much experience as we do, but you know, we've had people that have had numerous years of

experience driving that have unfortunately been in a crash that some of his life was lost. So

that's not it's hard to talk about because you're dealing with especially a Reese one with a

with a 17 year old. It's hard. The driver did not pass, but the other pastor did, you know, I

know, he played football at Lincoln high school and just look at the not only the physical injuries

that he's going through, but also the mental health side of things when, you know, you were driving

in a vehicle that somebody died in. You know, I can't imagine it, but let's work together to try

to prevent these kind of tragedies going on. We will be keeping on this story and we'll be

both of us will be sharing and sharing with our audience more and more of this as conversations go on.

And as Sheriff Hacker told you and reminded us, hopefully, that when it comes to our representatives,

we are the boss. We are in charge. We put them in that position. It is important that they that

we remind about that sometimes with these kind of with kind of feedback like this and reach out

to them and encourage you to do that. Yeah, please do. Have some promotions going on. I felt

the chill in the air. So that means the polar plunge is not far away as well. Oh, that's coming

fast. February 1st out at Anchor Bay again. Great venue. I'm glad it's back out there again and

yeah, we've got a plunge team. Sheriff's department has been doing a long time. It's just a great

community event and the fundraising for for special Olympics is, you know, it can't get

any better than that. Of course, a little biased, you know, but it's been fun to do. It's not

fun in the water, but you know, you get out as quick as possible and find the nearest hot tub and

it's all good. So it's a great cause, but very proud of the fact that our team, you know,

are as Sheriff's department still as a team with people willing to do it, I don't know if Nate will

or not, but you know what we'll say, you could ask. Yeah, yeah, I was going to put about this

bottom. A lot of our corrections officers have stepped up and, but no, it's all about the cost

and raising some money and having a good time and again, please come out. If you're not going to

plunge, please donate to a plunger. It doesn't have to be me or the sheriff's parent, but if somebody

that you know is plunging, please support them. It goes to a great cause and come out. Like I said,

the folks at Anchor Bay do a phenomenal job having this a great all day event and you'll have a

lot of fun in and again, come out and support the cause. February 1st, Anchor Bay plunging will

start at noon and law enforcement usually goes first, but that'll be up to the powers of you that

organize the event. Looking forward to it. We'll be covering it. We'll be talking more about it as

we get closer to it. Any other news and notes you wanted to get to in our last five, 10 minutes here.

Yeah. Well, I want to thank Dave Mosher. Every year, he, he, he, uh, donate to our Kenan unit.

And he probably won't like me saying it, but no, thank you, Dave, for the continued support your

generosity, you know, is helping support our Kenan unit. And just the donations that we get from

the community, I can tell you right now that the sheriff's department should never have to

budget for another dog at all with the donations that we have gotten throughout the last couple

of years, especially. We're going to be set up for, you know, purchasing dogs, equipment,

training for, I think ever, just the way it's looking at, you know, just a huge thank you to,

to Dave and our Inter Foundation, our case of foundation going out and getting the donations

and people supporting us as huge. And the kind of segue into that, that gives us an opportunity,

you know, to provide a service that not only exclusive to Wood County, but around the state,

you know, yesterday is a good example of the game kind of stunk. Um, I don't even want to talk

about the game, but there was a, uh, a packer game yesterday and you can laugh all you want, but

hey, it is what it is. The packer bear game is always something that, um, I treasure because

being originally from the Chicago area, my dad would take me to that game, whether it was

down in soldier field or when we moved to Steven's point, that was the game, you know, and we've

been owning, then I became a packer fan, everybody should know that. Um, first time you go to Lambo,

you're hooked, but anyway, um, where I'm going with this is, um, with Brandon Christensen, one of

our lieutenants, um, he's recently moved into that position, but he's been a canine handler for

several years and he has that unique dog, um, and the text's explosive, um, bingo, and, um, brown

county or green bay PD reached out, um, said, hey, do you want to come in at least, um, work the,

the packer games, the before the game starts because of, you know, that, that specialized dog that we

have and absolutely. So he's been, he's, I think this is the third game he's worked, but he doesn't

want to do it anymore because the record when he comes to work the game is, uh, they've only one

once about a three games. So he's like, I don't know if I want to go anymore, you know, that's, but

it just, it goes back to, you know, the community donations, especially from our foundation is

giving us the opportunity not only to serve wood county, but, you know, throughout the state for

events, you know, and even during, uh, you know, the election season, you know, he was called several

times or either candidate is to go out and, you know, make sure that, you know, whatever happens

for that event, it's, it's safe, you know, and it's unfortunate we're seeing what's going on in our

country and, um, kind of humbled in a, in a way that we're being asked to help out. So it's still

hard to, you know, look at what happened on New Year's Eve and, you know, and hearts, you know,

prayers are all to the people in New Orleans and, um, you know, those are things that just shouldn't

happen, you know, and, um, but anyway, um, going back, circling back, at least as a department,

we can go out and, and help, um, to try to make, uh, events huge events safer. Yeah, uh, you know,

it feels like another one of these topics similar to the jail where we, we start out talking about

this, this, and this, and as it goes on, we discover more and more, how important these things are

and how many different things they can do. The K9 department, I think, is one of the best examples

of this where we, you and I could spend the whole hour talking about the vital work that that does

on the job. But there's also the other end of this, of the PR part of this and building bridges

with communities that are, we found in our K9 units and they're so, they excel at and everything.

Turns out people love dogs. It's another one of those things that really, that there's so much

to this. And it's, it's, to me, another reminder to of our officers, because there are very few

officers out there that have just, this is what I do all day, every day, just this one particular thing,

more than not, you guys wear in multiple hats. And, and, and it hopefully creates a little more

empathy for us as citizens and what that is to do that. And what you sign up for and the added

things that are put on there with that, um, it speaks to that. To me, and I think to others as well,

and hopefully some appreciation of that. Yeah, no, exactly right. And, and we're very,

you know, very fortunate that we have five dogs. And, um, again, community funded, um,

everybody's Matt Lola, um, we are a therapy dog that, uh, Lieutenant Wagner is just doing up

just a fantastic job with. I mean, she gets out, not only dealing with, you know, our

innate population and the calming effect that has, you know, just being within the jail,

but out in the community, you know, recently she, uh, did, uh, kind of a fundraiser for,

I think it was called, uh, adopt a grandparent over at Edgewater. And what she did is

brought Lola out into the court, court house and talking with all the court house employees.

Um, just, um, got some, like, toiletries and stuff, you know, for the people living at,

at Edgewater and got a whole, um, wagon full of stuff and delivered it. And those are ideas

that she comes up with too, you know, like what we talked about with Nate getting out in the

community. And she's, you know, doing that as well and, and very proud of her as well for,

for going there, but to circling back, I mean, we wouldn't have that opportunity if it wasn't for

the community support. And, um, that's something that we're always going to appreciate.

We, you, um, it goes both ways because that support comes because we've seen, uh, for,

for decades, uh, consistent and appreciative. There, a community that respects its department

because the department respects the community. Right. It goes both ways, uh, and you back things

like that. You support things like that. So it's a, it's a mutually beneficial thing that we

appreciate and always appreciate the time from you guys, especially with everything that is going

on, uh, in any day, uh, for you guys to be able to take an hour to hang out with us and form our

community and everything and really have that no middleman kind of process. It's just you straight

up to the audience. It, it, uh, as we're starting a new year here in another year of doing this

every month, I'm appreciative of it. And I know I'm not alone. There's others out there that are.

You guys stay safe out there. Happy new year to you and yours. Uh, and thank you again for the time.

You're great to meet you. So Nate, good to meet you. We'll see you again. He's going to bring

it back in, man. He did too good of a job. You're going to definitely come back. Uh, thank you both

for the time. And of course, big thank you to our friends at Wisconsin Rebs Community Media.

Deeply appreciate the work they do. Do yourself a favor. Go to your search bar on YouTube and

subscribe to the work they are doing over there. Well, a more midday magazine coming up for you

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