You're listening to Perspective on WFHR 1320 AM, 97.5 FM.
I'm Melissa Kay bringing you news in our community.
During this interview I'm talking with Wood County Chief Deputy Quinton Ellis on July 1st, 2026.
Thank you for joining me, Quinton, to bring the community an update from the Wood County Sheriff's Department.
Thanks for having me.
Glad to see you again.
It's been a little while.
It has been a few.
I pinch it for the sheriff when he's not available, and unfortunately, he's out of town today, so everybody's stuck with me.
You got vol untold?
I mean, I'd help him out wherever I could, but yeah, I mean, I got to help the guy out.
He's not gone much, so happy to help where I can.
Well, let's talk first a little bit about all of the events that you guys have been participating in.
There was a lot that happened in the month of July back the Badge bench press.
How did that go?
It was a great event again.
Can't thank the community enough for the support.
Team Rapids.
through Lincoln High School, their organization helped out.
The football team there, the members of our special response team.
Anchor Bay was a gracious host.
Sheriff Becker puts a ton of time and effort into this event too to raise money for our special response team.
So kind of a different event.
Bench Press Meets used to be a lot more common around the area.
But now we're kind of bringing them back.
And it's fun to see law enforcement and fire compete different age brackets, people of all shapes and sizes coming out and competing in a healthy event that benefits a great cause.
We had a good turnout, excellent day for it.
And again, the generosity of people, whether it was giving their time, coming to compete, donating prizes.
Really it all benefits our department and our special response team especially so a big shout out to everybody that made that a big success
and the special response team I mean obviously the name implies these are a Specific incidents where this team is called up.
But what is the special response team made up of
a special response team?
or SWAT, like people see it on TV, is members of our department, as well as we have some that will be joining from others.
We're also joined with Marshfield.
We train and deploy with them.
Members of our departments, whether it be deputy sheriffs or officers from the other departments, investigators, different ranks throughout our department that receive specialized training and equipment for the most dangerous of events.
barricaded armed people, active shooter type situations, hostage negotiations.
We have a negotiator team.
We have sharp shooters or snipers.
And they're all people that have a general duty with the Sheriff's Department of Monday through Friday, if you will, even though most of them are not.
It's rotational.
But being a member of the SWAT team is an additional ask.
commitment that all of our team members make and Sean and I were both very involved with the SWAT team, special response team in our time in patrol and investigations and through administration so we try to support them everywhere we can.
And so that being a part of that special response team requires additional training, additional time probably working?
Yes, additional training, additional time, additional equipment, all things that can be costly and so that's where we try to do our part to
raise funds and other methods rather than using all taxpayer dollars to subsidize things.
It allows us to get specialized equipment or training that maybe doesn't always fit in the budget.
Everybody's got to be fiscally responsible throughout all the departments of the county, not just sheriff or police within the cities, but so events like this help us expand the equipment that we can provide for our team to in turn make them safe and our community
safer.
events that happened on that same weekend, I believe, the Andrew Mueller Golden Sand Speedway that was a fundraiser, a car show in memory of Andrew Mueller.
Yes, that's another... I struggle for the right word for it because it comes from such a tragedy.
The Mueller family lost Andrew to an allergic reaction and I can't commend them enough because in dealing with their pain and loss and tragedy that they went through, they're doing...
the community so much good out of it.
And I can't imagine the loss of a son and to rebound as they are, to get law enforcement, not only in our area, but their goal is throughout the state with epinephrine, whether it be the pens or other, I believe there's nasal solutions that can be offered now.
I can't commend them enough.
I can't imagine going through that heartbreak and loss and just rebounding and doing so much good out of it.
And it's
already saved a life,
for
sure, in Wood County.
Yes.
And Wisconsin Rapids, I believe there is body cam footage released of that.
And what a remarkable outcome in a short amount of time to show the need and the benefit of it.
You know, like I said, struggle to find the right words because on one side, your heart really just goes out to the family.
And but on the other side, what they've in turn done to benefit the community so that so that another family doesn't hopefully have to go through that is that's just remarkable.
We're very happy to be a part, very supportive of them.
Anything we can do to help them out and expand their cause.
I know we're in.
And then one more event that also took place over the course of that weekend was Bluegrass at the Lake.
Yes, another tremendous group of people.
Like talk about a feel good day to be talking on the radio about all these people that are putting in the hard work and volunteering their time and raising funds for excellent causes.
For a number of years now, Bluegrass at the Lake has supported our SISM team at the Sheriff's Department within Wood County.
which is a critical incident stress management team.
They run debriefings after our first responders, law enforcement personnel go to it could be a lot of times fatal crash, a significant death, something just outside the norm that's hard on people.
That's something that our department values.
We put mental health at the forefront, not only in helping the community, but taking care of our staff to make sure that we can provide the best environment for them so they, in turn, can be at their best for the community.
And people in groups like Bluegrass at the lake, putting in so much work to put together a really neat event at Lake Wazecha and feature our local...
Park or Southwood County Park and bring something different to the area and in turn, you know, make a significant financial impact to our SISM team is just, again, I can't thank them enough.
And we're so blessed to have the community that we do in Mood County.
We're so well supported that just.
Like I said, feel good way to be talking on the radio, coming into the Fourth of July weekend here.
Well, and one of the things that you do in turn to help the community is let people know when scams are happening.
You have been getting reports at the Wood County Sheriff's Department of somebody trying to scam people out of money again.
Could they
just stop, please?
Yeah, this one went back to an old one.
So the Sheriff's Department remains committed to doing everything we can to protect the community.
from these types of events.
I believe that's been demonstrated through our approach to the cryptocurrency scams and the Bitcoin kiosks.
Our department put a significant amount of time and effort and a more aggressive approach in investigating and trying to deter those scams to the point that legislation got passed after a few years of hard work.
That's a testament to our team and how, how we go about these scams.
The Sergeant Davenport, um, like to have a word with Sergeant Davenport, we don't have a Sergeant Davenport at the sheriff's department.
Um, nor will we ever contact somebody.
Oh, excuse me.
Hmm.
Somebody's saying that you miss jury duty and there's a warrant for your arrest and we want gift cards or, uh, credit cards or.
Bitcoin.
That's not how government works.
Government's a bit archaic.
We don't...
We don't deal in those types of currencies.
You
don't deal in gift cards?
No.
And unfortunately, one person fell victim and was out probably $1,500.
Out.
Another person caught this, reported it to us, and deputy was able to assist them in getting the charges reversed so they were made whole again.
And again, that's a testament to our staff putting in the time instead of just going, yeah, you shouldn't have done that.
You're out $1,000.
We're not wired that way.
encourage the community with any scam if you have a name that you don't recognize saying they're from the Sheriff's Department.
Terminate contact with them.
Don't text them.
Don't email them.
And call a known number for the Sheriff's Department.
Correct.
Don't
call the number back that's on your caller ID.
Correct.
Because these scams do get very involved.
I recently had a...
a call from our front office and said, Hey, there's so and so here to see you.
I don't have appointment with them.
I remember that person from high school.
I haven't seen them and I'll date myself here, but you know, 26 or so years and more than that.
Now, sorry, 28.
Um, and I said, What is it about?
And I said, Well, you called him and said he had to pay X, Y and Z. So somebody had used my name.
Um,
to try and further a scam.
So some of these scammers will use names of people that are legitimately employed at the Sheriff's Department, probably through some research.
Sergeant Davenport isn't one of them.
Sergeant Davenport does not work at the Sheriff's Department.
If you get
a call from Lieutenant Sofa, they're also not
employed with us.
Right, not with us.
And anybody starts asking for gift cards, you can give the Sheriff's Department a call and ask for any one of us.
We will try to help you out.
The big thing is,
We're not going to try and resolve issues of monetary stuff over the phone.
We would potentially send an officer to your house if there was a warrant to discuss it or might tell you that you have a commitment with regards to court or something that may have been missed.
We're never going to ask for payment over the phone.
We're never going to ask for gift cards.
Bitcoin or any other non-standard payment procedure.
We're old, we're old school, we're a government, like we take checks and cash.
Well, it's my understanding a lot of times what those scammers will do is to incite fear, make you feel pressured, push you to make a decision before you can think, before you can rationally, like this isn't right.
I know Sheriff Ellis wouldn't or Debbie Ellis wouldn't do this over the phone.
So their their effort is to do it before you can really make a solid decision.
Exactly.
And they'll keep barrage in you with that urgency.
Whether it be a loved one who's in a car crash or is in jail and you need to give money to get them out right now.
Yeah, they will try and pull at your heartstrings, sense of urgency.
And and those are all red flags that just slow down.
Don't give them any money.
And don't hesitate to hang up.
Right.
Because that's easy.
Hang up the phone.
Look up the actual number.
If you still have a Solaris phone book in your house.
Do people have those?
I don't know.
You don't have one here at
the
station.
They exist.
Otherwise, look it up through known government websites.
Go
to the Wood County Sheriff's Department's website through the county.
Look up the numbers.
Call them directly.
And if it was us, and you hang up on us, we'll call you back.
Good to know.
Yeah.
Well, let's take a pause here for a short moment to hear from our sponsors.
I'm Melissa Kay talking with Wood County Chief Deputy Quinton Ellis, and you're listening to Perspective on 1320 AM, 975 FM WFHR.
Welcome, you're listening to Perspective on WFHR 1320 AM 975 FM.
I'm Melissa Kay bringing you news in our community.
I'm speaking with Wood County Chief Deputy Quinton Ellis and where we left off we were talking about scammers and if you ever feel pressured on the phone by someone saying they're from the Wood County Sheriff's Department.
Don't hesitate to hang up and call you back.
Correct.
Use a published number.
All of our non-emergency numbers are published or on the website.
Or you could contact Dispatch, which would be another safe bet.
Contact Dispatch and ask for the person you were just speaking with.
And I can speak from personal experience of talking with Dispatch.
They're very helpful, very friendly.
Very, very helpful to get you to where you need to go, so don't hesitate.
Absolutely.
The worst thing you're out is a phone call, right?
Maybe a little embarrassment.
That's nothing compared to thousands of dollars that these scammers, we were talking during the break that they could fail 99 times out of 100, but the one time they make it worth their while, they're going to keep going.
It's not worth it.
Anything that we're asking for can be dealt with in time.
And verified.
Slow down, give us a call.
If you're still apprehensive, we'll send somebody to the house if it's legitimately us.
We'll have several options for you to take care of a problem, not just pay us a gift card with a code over the phone.
Yeah.
But it's very worth mentioning because these things keep happening in the scammers.
They're just they're never gonna stop trying
right and if they find a target audience they're they're going to Try and exploit that a lot of times.
It's elderly people.
They're playing on the emotions.
So You know as I get up there in age my kids might have to worry about me about this I guess you know, but keep keep an eye on our vulnerable population if you have family members that That you feel might fall victim to it give them a reminder of what to do
And it doesn't
need to
be a shame or feeling guilty about not knowing.
So there's so much we don't know.
Right.
And if you do happen to fall victim to this, remember, you're not the only one either.
Don't feel ashamed to report it.
We don't know it if you don't report it.
And we will do everything we can to make you whole again on these.
Some, some can be more challenging or less avenues for us, but that doesn't mean that we won't look into them.
Good.
Well, let's talk about some of the other things that are going on in the department.
You recently had several people attend the Mid-State Technical College Leadership Development Training.
Let's talk about that a little bit.
Yes, so Sheriff Becker and our team, we really value leadership and leadership development at the department.
That's one area that isn't always looked at.
We give people hard skills, you know, how to shoot better, how to drive faster, safer.
all the physical skills.
But we noticed, you know, historically in law enforcement, a lot of times you get a promotion or a new spot and you're supposed to lead people.
But there wasn't a lot of training provided for those types of things historically.
So we're really looking at trying to change that culture within the department to develop leaders that don't need a title to lead.
Our partnership with Mid-State Technical College has just been phenomenal.
We send people there for training when we can, and Ted Melby, we have to give him a shout out, he developed this curriculum for our department after sitting down and talking with Sheriff Becker, and I was in some of those meetings at times too, to see what do we need, what's our department about, and what do we need.
And this isn't a cookie cutter training that is put on for everyone in the nation or whatever.
just one set of facts.
He really took the time to develop it and tailor it to our department and developing our people.
And if if you've ever met Ted or get the chance to talk to him, you'll tell you can tell instantly he's passionate about this.
He believes in it.
And then in turn, it shows and how he trains.
So this is our second class.
So we've had about
Roughly 25 of our staff go through it.
We will look to continue putting people through it.
Obviously we're starting with people in.
positions of leadership to begin with, and then we'll be expanding it from there.
Can't compliment the people enough going through it, because some are voluntold, but they're all making the most of it, taking something away from it, and it would be hard not to.
You would have to try not to if you're in the room with Ted Melby for a bit.
Like he's, his passion clearly shows through, and he's been just so good to our department.
checking in with Sheriff Becker and I too, if he knows there's maybe a tough time or things like that, he's just...
He's one of the real ones.
And so it's really been a blessing to have that partnership with Midstate for that training.
We also use their services to provide training and skills, life sessions, coaching sessions, HSED for our inmates in the jail.
So it's really great to have that partnership with such a great technical college right in our backyard.
It's been excellent.
And we're always looking for ways to expand it.
Excellent.
And just knowing more of how to be a leader in any position that you're in can be helpful.
Absolutely.
It takes humility.
You have to be able to take a look in the mirror first at how can I be better to get those that I'm leading to be better as well.
And I believe our staff has that.
I know our leadership team does.
We're always looking for ways that we can serve better, make the department better by improving ourselves.
And a lot of it is about communication and effective communication.
Yes, we hear that.
That tends to be where things...
Breakdown.
Trust me, I'm in a communication business.
It happens here too, surprisingly.
Yes.
So that's one thing in law enforcement after major operations will debrief.
And that's usually one of the things that communication broke down.
And that might be for any number of reasons.
Thoughts could be radios, could be technology, could be messages not being communicated down or up.
So that is a major.
I guess point of emphasis that we're all trying to improve upon, because yeah, things go smoother when communication is better.
Yes.
Well, in talking about things we don't know a ton about, you and I were speaking a little bit before we started about e-bike safety and Wisconsin law.
And well, I'm not well versed in this at all.
There are certain electric bikes that are legal and some that are not.
What does this break down to for you?
For us, it's more about being safe.
There seem to be cycles with these types of vehicles.
As technology evolves, it evolves faster than legislation.
So we've run into this with scooters before.
I remember them where they're...
labeled a play vehicle or not by statute, golf carts on roadways, UTVs on roadways, and now more recently e-bikes.
The bigger concern we have is obviously we want people following the laws.
We put out a...
Poster if you will on our Facebook page about the different levels of them and what's legal and what isn't and it's it's been a minute since I've worked patrol on the road So I can't say I'm an expert on that But the bigger concern we have is safety You know people should be wearing the proper safety gear whether required or not to ensure that they're safe protect your head wear a helmet they should be driving in a manner that one follows statute or ordinance and then
also just provide the safe environment for others.
We're experiencing some of that not happening along some of the county parks, and that is something that we're going to work with.
You know, our parks department, Chad Schooley, the director, as well as county board and seeing if there's some things we need to do.
that will make this safer for everybody.
They're enjoyable, I'm guessing.
I see them everywhere.
We just want people to be safe, as with anything, right?
Technology advances, legislation's a bit behind it.
Let's use our heads, common sense, be safe out there, not driving too fast for the areas, not ripping through family areas at high speeds or without care of those around
us.
Good to note.
Another thing that is big this time of year obviously is road construction.
We have a lot of it going on.
There's some very well-traveled roadways like between here and Pittsville that are under major construction, diverting traffic along different routes.
What can you speak to about
what's happening with road construction and increased patrols perhaps in some of those other areas?
You will see us monitoring some of the construction zones, especially over by Pittsville right now.
This seems like one of the biggest summers for road construction in my 26 years here as far as major projects going.
Please give yourself extra time if you're going somewhere, especially if you know you need to travel around a construction zone because what is a planned detour can change with a crash that happened within the detour area.
please slow down in the work zones in and around them.
There are people making their livelihoods out there trying to do their best to get the job done within the time they have.
And they too want to go home to their families.
I hate to see somebody hurt or worse because we're in a hurry to get somewhere.
So around the Pittsville area right now, slow down, allow yourselves some extra time.
There will be some work on Vesper, the area called Eight Corners, F and double H coming.
up.
So as that progresses, roads will close.
Sometimes the detours change there.
We try to communicate as best we can on our Facebook page with detours and ongoing projects.
So look for that and just be aware of your area so that if the road says closed, don't try and sneak around the sign because you think you can get through because the neighbor did.
Worst case, you might get a citation for it or best case actually worse.
cases that road might not be there anymore or a major
part of it is gone and then you have damage or worse.
So be mindful of the construction zones, slow down, give yourself extra time.
And if you can't avoid them, please do.
It makes it safer for the people working it and everybody commuting around it.
And those signs are there for a reason.
Try to read them in full.
I have been guilty of this as well.
It says, road closed ahead.
I missed that sign 10 miles ago.
Sure.
And then I get up to the, no, actually road is closed.
Oh, all right.
Well, I guess I need to turn right.
Right.
And when the sign says.
road closed and there's an officer there manning it or staffing it.
If you say, hey, can I get through?
The answer's not going to be yes.
So just be mindful of them, patient with one another, and give yourself that extra time.
Extra time, extra grace.
Yes.
Well, I very much appreciate you talking with me today.
I'm Melissa Gay speaking with Chief Deputy Quintan Ellis of the Wood County Sheriff's Department.
Thank you, Quintan.
Thanks for having me.
And thank you to listeners joining us for news in our community on Perspective 1320 AM, 975 FM WFHR.
