You're listening to Perspective on WFHR 1320 AM 975 FM.
I'm Melissa Kay bringing you news in our community.
During this interview I'm talking with Wood County Sheriff Sean Becker on April 1st, 2026.
Thank you for joining us Sean to give the community an update from the Wood County Sheriff's Department.
Always a pleasure and happy April 1st.
Happy April Fool's Day.
Did you have any pranks played on you today?
Not that I'm aware of, but the day is so early.
The day is young, people.
Not that when you listen to this, this day will be passed.
I have a way of getting even too,
so I always
tell people
that in
an inappropriate way.
All right, good to know.
So the one that always comes to mind for me is the, what's that clear stuff called?
Plastic.
Oh, yeah,
I'm
in the door or something
or over the toilet seat.
Yeah.
No, I've pulled my pranks in my day and I've had them pulled on me as well.
You know, going back, you know, just thinking about it on the, you know, as a patrol deputy, one of my really good friends, Randy Doros, who's been retired and I really miss him and he always kept his quad car.
Just meticulous.
Yeah, he's just OCD that way and that's okay.
I mean you really he always took care of his uh, you know his equipment and I always had this thought of you know would be really cool To get him with some powdered sugar You
know
in the visor,
you
know, and so one day we we set that up and and it just wasn't happening We call him and say hey, let's meet up car to car.
Hey, could you get me something that was up in his visor?
pull it down and then it finally happened but it happened when he was at home and he let us know that it happened and yeah so.
He wasn't happy about it?
No.
Well powder sugar is slightly better than like the glitter that I heard somebody put in the air ducts so then we turn the fan on the glitter explosion that never gets cleaned out of your car
ever.
no but it's always if you can't pick out somebody then you then you know you
don't like okay life lessons with Sean Becker
yeah
should we move on to now talking about that county business sure the crypto bill passed and now it's on the governor's desk waiting for the sign
I'm hoping to hear that you know what day the governor will have it and I would hope he'd sign it but it was it was a pretty emotional day when we knew
that once we testified in front of the Senate, we said, OK, the next thing is automatic.
It goes to the whole Senate floor.
And then the day out that that was supposed to happen, we got notified by our lobbyist that he represents the Badger State Sheriff's Association.
Excuse me, little horse.
And said, for whatever reason, the bill didn't make it to the schedule.
And
that
means.
It's not gonna happen.
And I was really taken back by that because a lot of the hard work that you know we had been doing here at the Sheriff's Department and all over the state you know and like we talked before the regulation has been happening.
you know all over the country and it needs to happen here and so I just felt defeated and when I heard that I talked to Lancelot Plymouth right away some other county board members Donna Rosa and our lobbyist said hey just do what you can and call call people call the
people
that represent our area and I went beyond that.
You know, I'm not only called, you know, Pat Testin, Corey Tomcek, but I called, you know, you name it, that I was told, hey, you should connect with these people on the Senate, and as many people as I could, and then Soda Donna and Lance, and then
other
sheriffs started doing the same thing.
Oh,
good.
And then about a letter, five o'clock, Corey Tomcek texted me and said, hey, it's gonna get to the floor now.
I was like, okay, and I just felt the whole day defeated.
and all of a sudden it did and then it passed 33-0.
Wow.
So it was quite just an up and down
day but I
understand there's a process that goes on and you know lobbies are involved on the other side of this.
I get that but I don't understand it because this is a bill that protects people and there it's nothing that we're like we've talked about we're not against crypto right you know we're against you know people getting scammed and if crypto is being part of it.
There should be regulations there to prevent that.
And I think the bill was written very well by Pat Snyder up in the Wausau area.
And then Jesse James, Senator from Eau Claire, helped author the bill and got it to the Senate.
So it's passed.
I'm hoping here sooner or later that the government will have it in front of them.
And I'd love to be there when he signs
it.
Well, and for the listeners who don't know...
This bill is for, as you mentioned briefly, protection for consumers who are using cryptocurrency kiosks to purchase crypto and making sure that the money you deposit into those ATM-type machines is actually being turned into crypto that you obtain versus scammers.
Correct.
Yeah, that's exactly it.
The bill will be once signed a thousand dollar limit per day.
and then 100% refund to the victim if they report it to law enforcement within 30 days.
So,
I mean, there's always going to be unfortunately scams on
there.
And part of it is education and letting people know that, you know, there's all these different scams going on and it really seems and it's sad that our seniors give.
picked out the most, but they've saved up their life savings, and people know that, and unfortunately they get scammed more frequently.
Take advantage of that.
Yeah, absolutely.
And if we can get out, at least get an education
piece out,
but
I still think... And not also that legislation for added protection.
Absolutely.
100% spot
on.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
That is your job as a sheriff and our representatives job as local government and state leaders to protect our constituents.
Absolutely.
We all work together by partisan support.
It's regulation that makes sense.
Well, now let's move on to the next CIT training class that's coming up.
This will be the 15th class, and CIT stands for Crisis Intervention Training.
This is supported by NAMI.
Tell us about this.
Great story.
I know I've talked about it before.
I talk about every year when we have a class, and this is our 15th class that we've trained over throughout the years.
well over 300 law enforcement officers, corrections officers, dispatchers, and some people in the community, some stakeholders.
It just really evolved so many years ago when the mental health side of things were changing within the system and how law enforcement was involved.
Back in the day, number one, when I started training, I started as a law enforcement officer, there was zero training in mental health.
you know, for us on two levels, one, our own wellness, and number two, the community, you
know,
how you're going to address, you know, people when they're in crisis,
you
know, and there just really wasn't, it was just a, all right, you go handle a welfare check, are they a danger themselves or others?
If they are, I call this number for, you know, a mental health facility, and then they'll determine whether or not that person gets committed, and more often they would get committed, and that's the way
things were.
While the statute changed where really human services became the decision maker through crisis and it was a decision that happened pretty quickly and we weren't really trained on how to deal with that so the change happens and you know some of our thankfully some of our you know deputies didn't agree with that one being Doug Christiansen and he kept
Complain to me.
I don't agree with what you know crisis is doing there They're putting more people on safety plans instead of having them committed.
I feel this is a liability There's a danger here, you know, and so we started learning as we go
and
with Doug, you know continuing to complain You
know screw you will gets the oil, right?
Exactly and he didn't give up, you know, and I finally said I was the time I was overseeing patrol
I reached out the crisis and who was overseeing it, I was kid, he says, I go, we got to do something here.
And she had a background in law enforcement as well and said, well, why don't you send Doug to CIT?
You know, and we didn't have our own at the time, but the two places that in the state of Wisconsin that were really good with their training and starting it were Appleton and the Madison area.
So we sent Doug to CIT in Appleton and he came back just.
The light bulb went off and it came, you know, you got to send everybody to this.
Um, I get it now.
We need to work together as a team with, with our social workers, especially connected to crisis.
We got to get out in our community nor stakeholders because there's a lot of, you know, things that connect to people that are
in
crisis that we can help them with.
And so it grew and we were sending our deputies all over the state.
And then, you know, with Katie and Doug and some other people we like, you know what?
You know human services, why don't we start our own CIT instead of sending people all over the state?
We can do our own
and
then that gives us the opportunity to train our local law enforcement officers and You know connect them with the stakeholders and bring people and train this 40 hour training and and
Yeah, we had that vision.
We made it happen.
We're on our 15th one.
So
we have over 30
people in this class.
And that's about the average of the class.
And we train most of our staff.
Any time we hire people, they're going to go to this class.
But now we're seeing people come from all over the state to our class.
Nice.
You know, which, which says a lot that, Hey, we're, we're doing something that's being noticed not only locally, but throughout the state.
So it's something that I'm very passionate about and proud of that whole mental health aspect of law enforcement.
I've learned throughout the years, you know, how you can make a difference in the community is us learning it and applying what we know and helping people out because welfare checks on the road happen often.
And then you take the jail component.
You know, the inmate population, no matter where it is, you know, a high percentage of them are suffering from addiction and mental health issues or illnesses or together.
And that's one thing as we continue to invest in not only that type of train, but, you know, just in the community, the stakeholders and coming in like three bridges that has been in existence, I think since 2019.
That's making a difference in the community, and people might not realize that, but the more we can invest in that, I think we may make a better community.
Wonderful.
Well, this is a great place for us to pause a moment to hear from our sponsors.
I'm Melissa K talking with Wood County Sheriff Sean Becker, and you're listening to Perspective on 1320 a.m.
975 FM WFHR.
Welcome, you're listening to Perspective on WFHR 1320 a.m.
97 5 fm.
I'm Melissa K bringing you news in our community I'm speaking with Wood County Sheriff Sean Becker and where we left off we were talking about some training that Local officers are coming to and that outside entities are now joining with Let's now dive into a little bit more of a somber topic with the 31-year anniversary of Dietra Weeks killing
Yeah, 31 years is a long time for family and the community to know that that case is still open.
Our commitment is still to solve it.
We're still working on it, so we always ask people all the time, somebody knows something, somebody's living with this and please come forward.
That's what it's going to really take at this time is somebody coming forward with information that they know that it's pertinent to this unfortunate tragedy.
And yeah, that's probably the biggest.
And there's ways you can contact us directly.
You can call Crime Stoppers.
You can remain anonymous, but please, we're always begging the community to come forward with something the family deserves to know.
They've been living with this for a long time.
And I'd really, you know, we would really like to see this case closed.
I know it's difficult for everybody, but I really hope that at some point somebody either comes forward with being responsible or they truly know who did it and is responsible for this tragedy.
And can you give the numbers that people can contact?
The best thing is just look up Crime Stoppers online.
You could text it in a tip.
You can call in through dispatch and you're remaining anonymous.
That would be the best way for somebody to do that.
Or they can call us directly.
Lieutenant Scott Goldberg is overseeing the case.
He's from Vesper.
So he's very familiar with the case, even though none of us at the department were working here when this tragedy happened, but we know the case well.
It's something that we've all reviewed and know enough about, and it really takes us back to, somebody knows something, and I just really hope they come
forward.
Well, and then there's also a few other anniversaries around this time that are difficult for not only the officers involved, or your community, but the community at large.
There's three officer-involved deaths that have anniversaries around this time of year.
Yeah, it's looking at it started with Jason Weiland up in the Wausau area.
Trevor Casper with the Wisconsin State Patrol.
And Craig Burkholz with the Final Act Police Department in the last 30 days, this time frame happened in different, you know, obviously days and stuff, but they were killed in a line of duty.
And, you know, you see those tragedies come up in our, you know, in our Facebook feed along with, you know, many other law enforcement agencies that share those tragedies.
It's always a harsh reminder.
how this profession is.
You never know what that next call is going to bring you.
And the only thing we can do is try to train and prepare ourselves and protect ourselves whenever we handle any type of a situation.
But they're harsh reminders that people should know how hard this job is sometimes.
And sometimes, unfortunately, we don't go home.
And that's a tragedy not only for that family, but the community as
well.
I don't have anything to add to that.
So why don't we talk about something a little more positive?
You recently had a canine bingo night here on March 25th, 26th, my apologies.
To raise funds for your canine unit, I hear that went really well.
More than well.
You know, we had done one a few months ago, last year actually, and you know, I know bingo is pretty popular, and you know, we had a pretty good turnout.
it's really cool why don't we do it again you know beginning of this year see how it goes I think we did more marketing this time
that
that obviously helped because we were supposed to open up the doors at four o'clock at the Elks here in Wisconsin Rapids they're very supportive great partners and they have a great setup there for bingo and like well we already had people here at 330 and we're all set up like okay well let's just open up the doors and
From 3.30 all the way until 5 o'clock people are coming in and unfortunately the building got a capacity and we had to turn people away.
We felt terrible.
You know, we really felt horrible that everybody couldn't get in to the venue to play.
So it went more than successful then.
I mean, it was more than what we expected.
And Lieutenant Brandon Christensen, you know, he had been saying, you know, the week before, I think it's going to go really well and we're like, no.
I mean, we might get more people in last time, but we're not going to sell it.
I think we will.
There's a lot of people talk about it.
And I hate to say it, but Brandon was right.
But that was
good though.
Did you hear that, Brandon?
Yeah.
Well, I've told him several times already.
I just wanted to go to his head.
But no, it really is that reminder on how much our community supports us.
I felt not just the...
Canine unit but you know law enforcement in general we have such a giving community supporting us you know and even people that you know donated baskets we had a lot of raffle baskets Dave Moser Moser electric always a huge supporter of our canyon he was the event sponsor you know and then we had Colby Colby custom cues they've always done a
personalized queue for these kind of events, huge supporters.
Tim Berkhauser, you know, like a week before the event, he goes, hey, through my insurance company, Spectrum, I'll do a TV for you.
You know, just people that are just volunteering that.
And
then
some of the other, you know, businesses that, you know, just reached out to, hey, can we donate a basket?
Like I said, really, well, Ace Hardware.
I just was, you know, just taking back every time we do a community event that the support we have with that.
And it's a great transition.
I really appreciate you doing that because it makes us feel better that the people, you know, the law enforcement officers here know all the community has their
back.
And I suppose being law enforcement, you couldn't really exceed the capacity in the building and allow those people in.
Probably look a little bad, huh?
Probably.
When the exalted ruler from the Elks, Frank Isle said, hey, we're...
got to cut it off.
I'm like, okay, it's cut off.
And like I said, I felt bad for a few people.
And
are you going to plan another
one?
Yeah, I think so.
We were talking about sometime in the fall.
We might do it up in Marshfield.
You know, we had we reached out to the mayor from Marshfield came down.
She's part of our mayor Lois is part of T-Strake is part of our occasion foundation that helps fundraise for a Canadian unit.
And we're like, you know, that might be a good opportunity to have something up in the Marshall Dairy too, because being goes
popular everywhere.
And there's a lot of venues up there that would accommodate as well.
And Wood County is actually quite big.
It covers a large area and multiple big cities and not all of Marshfield though, right?
It's kind of somewhere in the
middle.
I'd say two thirds
is
probably in Wood County.
But Wood County is pretty unique when you have two larger cities equal size, but they're almost on the opposite ends of the county.
And it's been challenging, you know, when
you have, like the police department, when they have to bring somebody to jail, that's going to take somebody, you know, a good, probably a third of their shift.
And that's, you know, the geographical location, that's the way it is, unfortunately.
I believe the county does a nice job of providing services up there, human services.
We have an office up in Marshfield as well that we have deputies and investigators work out.
So there's a strong focus up in the Marshfield area to provide services because they are part of what county.
It's just that geographical location and you have the county seat here in Wisconsin Rapids
can be
challenging sometime for the people in Marshfield.
Well, as I drive around the county, I see Wood County officers pretty much everywhere I go.
It's very reassuring.
I appreciate hearing that.
Well, one other thing I'd like to touch on before I let you get back to work today, you got the cops episode recently to review.
What did, how did it turn out?
Great.
How that worked is the film crew was here for about five weeks or so, and they did exclusive filming in the jail.
And they would, our staff was great.
You know, they did a great job working with the film crew.
And they would just do some filming throughout shifts.
And then what they do is they bring that back for editing.
And then once they have that episode or that I don't want to call it story, done, they'll send it back to us for approval.
And we got our first one yesterday.
And it was great.
It
was
an excellent job by our corrections staff.
I think when people see it, they're going to understand how hard it is to be a corrections officer and how we go over.
Above and beyond to work with people that are incarcerated to try to help them while they're incarcerated And that's the first episode really highlights that not to be a spoiler alert, you know, but You know share at the Fabio I'm Sergeant at times.
She now is our co-responder and into a different position.
She's part of it along with
another Sergeant Josh Poggle and they just do a really nice job working with somebody that was arrested on a probation violation and then seeing that person through while they go through the bookend process and then into a holding cell.
All right, so you got an exclusive preview.
We did.
Who got to watch it with you?
Uh, upper command staff, but I, I am going to share it with, um, all of our staff and probably the county board because they really feel that it, it highlights the, the work that's being done in the jail.
And I think it's fair, especially our county board with that investment and what our community did with a new facility will, will highlight, you know, what we do back there.
And do you have any idea when it's going to air for the general public?
I don't.
I'm estimating sometime in the fall is what they had said.
I think they go around the country and they film many episodes and
then
I think that I don't know exactly how it works with the national networks or what network is going to either purchase
you know, a series or
something like
that.
But from what I was told, they thought sometime in the fall, but it's a good sign that now we're getting, you know, things to approve.
Another step
forward.
Yeah.
So I think that we'll probably see something towards the end of the year.
Okay.
Well, you'll let us know if we, if you get notification of when it's going to air.
I will definitely do that.
Excellent.
Well, I very much appreciate the time today.
I'm Melissa Kay speaking with Sheriff Sean Becker of the Wood County Sheriff's Department.
Thank you for talking with
me today, Sean.
Thanks for having me.
And thank you to listeners joining us for news in our community on Perspective, 1320 a.m.
975 FM WFHR.
