I'm Melissa Kay bringing you news in our community.
During this interview, I'm talking with Wood County Sheriff Sean Becker on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2026.
Thank you for joining me, Sean, to bring the community an update from the Wood County Sheriff's Department.
Always a pleasure.
Thank you for letting me be here.
Yeah, it went great.
You know, I always want to throw out the, you know, you know, recognize the people that make that.
You know, entire fair happened.
It's such a highlight for Central Wisconsin and the Marshfield community.
But, you know, all the means that take place.
And then, you know, for us, just having that part, you know, got to really, you know, throw out there, Lieutenant Nathan Dean, Nate had an idea several years ago about, hey, let's get
you know, you know, back involved in the fair, you know, maybe we can get a decent spot where we're connecting with the community or people come in to enjoy the fair.
And it worked out great.
We're, you know, one of the entrances, that's where our booth sat.
And then that's expanded, not only just with us, but the Marshall Police Department, Marshall Fire Department.
Um, Wood County emergency management, our dispatch center, it's all like in one area, which I think is a great idea because if people are looking for help, you know, they need something, you've got every single aspect there of public safety to, to work out.
So I really look at that as something that, that Nate started, you know, and, and, and took that on and, uh, it's, it's gone out great.
Yeah.
I had a lot of great, you know, community and public interaction with people, um, you know, gave
got a lot of prizes.
It's football season, so my vision is low football.
We had a Kenai unit football that we were giving out to people along with many other things.
all of our staff that took the time from their busy schedules to help.
be part of our booth is very rewarding.
You know, both of our therapy dogs were there, Rip and Lola and their handlers, but the therapy dogs are more important than that.
And that's just a joke.
The handlers are just kind of there in the background.
But Lieutenant Susanna Wagner, you know, put a lot of time up there.
Deputy Jesse Nels also also did as well.
And other, you know, like I said, other staff was up there
So
Overall a great success for us and just a way for our community can get out there.
I got to spend some time with my grandson We had gotten
for our department, one of those smaller cars that you can ride in.
Um, and we had, uh, decals, products, the sheriff's departments who were letting younger kids get in there.
And, uh, you know, we have a remote to it.
So they drive around.
So yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Let me get to see us in a, in a different light.
And, uh, those are always great, you know, opportunities.
who used to be part of the community.
Yeah,
ridges.
um, teamed up with the Wisconsin Rapids Lions club and started doing bingo there.
And a big part of that is, uh, partnering with local, uh, charities, local 501 C threes that, um, they can come in and do the raffle, you know, prizes, 50 50.
And, uh, last year we're talking, uh, you know, Frank Hoffer, he's, uh, one of the lions from, uh, Wisconsin Rapids and said, you know, what about you guys have a foundation for your kidney unit?
It's called location foundation.
And I'm like, yeah, it goes, would you guys want to do it?
It didn't work out last year because the schedule got pretty busy, but we're going to have one coming up.
Take a look at our Facebook page.
We'll have that date established, but we'll come in with prizes that we'll raffle off as well.
We've got a lot of great community supporters that donate items, TVs, Tim Berkhauser.
Probably going to be calling Tim from Spectrum Insurance, but he's been great.
Grab a TV, you know, and we'll raffle that off, you know, and those kind of prizes that we'll do.
So, um, you know, that's going to be coming up, but once we get the data out there, I'll make sure that everybody knows.
Um, the other thing that is coming up, that's established on, uh, September 19th out of club forest, uh, just into Portage County.
Um, Sarah and Chris Adams had a great idea.
Um, new TVs and ATVs have become so popular, um, you know, within central Wisconsin.
Um, there's a lot of different rides that the.
that are done to benefit, you know, again, a non-profit.
Absolutely, and like I said, it's such a growing sport, recreational sport.
So anyway, we're gonna do on the 19th of September, leaving Club Forest and then stopping at several other taverns between
Wood and Portage County that are very supportive of our canine unit.
So people are interested in doing that.
You have a UTV and you want to go on a ride, I'll be going on a ride.
I'll be a part of that along with people from Portage County.
It's not just exclusively raising money for our canine unit.
It's going to be split between Wood and Portage County Sheriff's Department's canine units.
So we'll have some gun raffles, basket raffles.
It's $25 per UTV to take part.
I hope to see a lot of people there.
And
September 19th Saturday.
Okay.
Yeah.
No, it's just the community support for the canine unit.
It's just, I always say it.
We're just so blessed.
I'm so lucky.
Because of the support, we're going to be out in the canine unit.
James Pigeon retired from our canine unit.
He sought the department, did a great job.
It was just time to step away
that's totally understandable.
And again, did a phenomenal job.
But we look at...
You know, we looked at it at a department and say, okay, we could, we could add one because of all this community support.
And, uh, we're going to do that, um, sometime early next year, but we're going to start that process very soon within the department.
Lieutenant, uh, Brandon Christensen, uh, oversees our canine units.
So he's going to take that process and run with it, but the community can see another, um, a full service law enforcement dog, a canine that will be specialized in drug detection.
Okay.
Um, so that'll be happening.
Um, early next year, but it's a process to get there and the training, um, the vendor is just Tiffany kennels, um, near Beaver dam.
We partnered with them several years and we're very fortunate to have a vendor within the state.
Um, we didn't before.
And then you're sending people, you know, to.
you know, Indiana or even further away.
There's a lot of, you know, great vendors out there, but we're very fortunate to have one within the state because it's a pretty, you know, multi-week training program that you go through.
And it's a huge, huge commitment to be a K&N officer.
so that's what this process that Brandon is going to put together is going to show who wants to have that level of commitment, not just to the department, but to the program.
canine program.
And on top of that, the family commitment,
Absolutely.
You know, so it's not going to be somebody that is going to be selective to saying that I want this and I want that.
And, you know, I want a dog.
No, it's going to be, you know, if the people that are interested are listening, I hope you have the conversation with the people that you live with to determine that they are going to support that and have that level of commitment as well.
Because that's, for me, what I'm going to be really looking for.
One of the really most important things is a new K9 handler.
Like, okay, what do you have for, you know, at home support for this program?
So, yeah, I'm excited to see that process go through.
Very, very happy with Brandon.
He put together a very, very fair process.
And early next year, we'll have a, we'll have an addition to our department is a new K9.
Well and along with all those fundraisers that are happening like you mentioned the ATV-UTV one on the 19th there is a ATV-UTV safety course coming up.
I was looking at the numbers a little bit from the last month and and there really haven't been a whole lot of of accidents or citations for those vehicles and there's been concern over that in previous years or just people's worries about these vehicles because they're not the same as a as a regular
you know car or truck
correct and and we've been sharing you know the you know in wood county most of the county highways with you know regular motor vehicle traffic and that was a pretty significant hot topic you know how do you continue to share you're adding more vehicles to the roadway but remember
You know, pedestrians have right to be on, on, on every highway, roadway, street bicycles.
Um, it's an awareness thing, you know, for us.
And then the safety course that we've been teaching for a few years now, uh, Sergeant Matt Suze has done a awesome job with that.
Part of his position is ATV, UTV enforcement.
Um, you're not going to, we haven't had a crash now that you mentioned it, but it could happen.
You know, and, um, we're prepared for that.
We just hope it doesn't, but.
But I think when we can get out number one, talk about it like we are right now.
and offer up these programs, not just exclusively to younger people, but to everybody.
Well,
Absolutely.
Yeah, it's a recreational sport that it's growing.
And if you look at other communities throughout the entire state, one that always boggled my mind with
you know, with the high traffic volume, Wisconsin dollars is open.
And that happened years ago.
And I even remember like being up in Eagle River all of a sudden seeing UTVs on their main street.
So I knew that this was just going to continue to expand, you know, Marshfield,
of their streets are open, you know, and I think at some point,
you know, Wisconsin Rapids, well, one section is, which is, I know, appreciative by the people that have you TVs and ATVs that you can at least get around the city instead of being, you know, closed off for, you know, like five, 600 feet, whatever it might be on, on Griffith Avenue, County Highway Z, but, you know, as time goes on, maybe they'll expand that.
We'll see.
That'll be up to the powers that be within the city limits, but.
Yeah, so it's a recreational support.
I mean, recreational sport that is going to continue to grow.
I'm Melissa K talking with Wood County Sheriff Sean Becker, and you're listening to Perspective on 1320 AM, 97.5 FM WFHR.
Welcome, you're listening to Perspective on WFHR 1320 AM, 97-5 FM.
I'm Melissa Kay bringing you news in our community.
I'm speaking with Wood County Sheriff Sean Becker and where we left off we were talking about ATV-UTV safety course that is coming up.
Where can people go to find that information?
Check out our Facebook page.
We've got all the information down there.
It's coming up on October 23rd at the courthouse.
So that would say the easiest way and you can call our department for information as well.
But just check out the Facebook page.
You'll see the post that we have and then you can register from there.
Yeah,
ours there.
The Sheriff's Department has a UTV that we got off a grant when we had farm technology days up
Marshfield a few years ago, and then we also just bought a folder a couple years ago.
You know, extra patrols.
You know, the dual role, if we have to respond to an incident that's off-road, we'll use either one of them, otherwise extra patrols like you brought up the fare.
We had our UTV there the entire time.
And we utilize that within the fairgrounds or even, you know, leaving the fair.
Like we had a broad fry for a candidate unit that the wheelers did that Duffy, Jesse Nels came with his partner rip to, to, you know, make an appearance and show the support for the can unit.
Um, you know, wheelers has been a great partner for us throughout the years where they've been doing broad fries at.
both of their locations here in Wood County, Marshfield and Wisconsin Rapids, and we're having another one coming up tomorrow here in Wisconsin Rapids, but always been a great supporter of the Sheriff's Department and the Kenan unit.
I hope so.
Yeah, don't depress me.
School started today or
Yeah, I know, okay.
All right,
Yes,
Yeah, every time I talk about it, it's hard not to get choked up about because, you know, Andrew passed not that long ago and for the family to, you know, push this initiative as much as they have is
They were saving lives already.
I mean, we just had this where, you know, somebody had an allergic reaction to a bee sting and Deputy Jesse Nels was close by, all of our squads carry the EpiPens, and he went over there and was the first person there, you know, right before the ambulance, which happens periodically in rural communities where we might get there ahead of time.
And he, you know, used a dose of it and, you know, helped that person out,
know, save somebody's life.
And
You're seeing that happen more and more off the initiative that the Mueller family's been doing.
If you pay attention to, you know, their Facebook page, they're up in Florence County and got their Sheriff's Department, you know, that start to have all of their squads carry it.
They've been all over the state and connecting with Sheriff's departments.
That's the primary.
connection or goal that they'd like to be with because of what I said, you know, the rural
Correct.
And that happens.
That's not a knock on our first responders.
We're all part of that.
And equipping everybody with that is going to save lives and it has been.
So yeah, that happened recently and you know, a big shout out to the
Mueller family, sorry for your loss.
Appreciate what you've been doing because you are saving lives and making a difference.
Not just in Wood County, but Portage County.
I mean, it's endless.
You see, you know, the, the departments that they're connecting with and signing them up, but they're going to continue.
mean, there, I can see this.
I think the goal is the entire state and, you know, tell what, if that happens, Mark, you're going to be going to other states, you know, but, um,
You know, a huge thank you to the Mueller family.
Sure is.
Sure is.
Yeah, and you're seeing it.
There's been a lot of attention to Flock for various reasons.
We've had the program for a while now.
For whatever reason, it became quite a big topic.
You know, and I look at it, you know, just, uh, the enforcement level with staff, um, and I'll comment that that, um, if you have staff members that abuse it, they need to be held accountable.
You know, um, and, and you see that unfortunately in Wisconsin where I'm an X officer, we needs to be an X officer was using it to stalk ex-girlfender.
I don't know exactly the circumstances, but in
Absolutely.
And, um,
Terminated and then part of the sentence will never be a law enforcement officer again, which he shouldn't be And then spending time in jail.
I support that 100% You know, I look at you know, there's a lot of laws already in place that will connect to you know when when police officers unfortunately Abuse the equipment that they have available to them and that's what you know is concerning with me I trust our staff.
I really do
Um, and there's, I've got a lot of success stories locally.
I could tell you and we'll probably get into them a little bit, but I want to make it very clear to the listeners, you know, on my end, as an administrator, you know, we, we bought into this program, um, to, to provide a better service to the community.
All right.
And if you abuse it.
For whatever reason, you're going to be held accountable and you're not going to be working for our team anymore and you'll be in jail.
We're not going to tolerate that because people trust us.
They trust us as law enforcement officers.
And, you know, the unfortunate thing is what you are seeing, not just here in Wisconsin, but throughout the country.
And that jeopardizes this program.
does.
And if, if that would happen with our agency and somebody abused it, they will be held accountable.
We won't have the program anymore.
Bottom line.
Right.
Um, but on the flip side of it, and I make our county board.
aware of all these situations that come up and made them aware that we have the program, we've had the program for a while, it's been budgeted for.
We weren't hiding anything,
course it wasn't when we signed up for this program, it wasn't as big of a topic as it is right now, but they're very well aware that we have this
we're not hiding it.
Just success stories that we've been part of, just in the last three days, stolen vehicles.
We had one on Saturday, one of our deputies checked on for Deputy Aaron Anderson and there's a stolen vehicle out of Marshfield that went by one of the cameras.
We are notified of it immediately.
Aaron was close by, found the vehicle and stopped it.
We had one yesterday very similar circumstance another stolen vehicle out of Marshfield and we had another deputy Ross pull that vehicle over fortune without incident going back a couple weeks now What can be controversial is the information sharing between law enforcement agencies?
Some people don't like that, but I'm gonna tell you something we had a stolen vehicle out of Iowa here with runaway juvenile
Um, and another person that was wanted and they want to appear in Wisconsin rapids and a Grand Rapids officer, um, found that vehicle from flock, a pursuit initiated and we got that vehicle stopped.
Um, and then other things that have happened, not that long ago, we had a kidnapping in Wisconsin rapids, um, that was related to domestic incident that, um, once that information was put in flock, um, that person was stopped in Plover and that was a very serious incident.
and that that victim I think was saved you know but she was kidnapped from Wisconsin Rapids then because the flock is an exclusive obviously to Wood County or Wisconsin Rapids it goes through
other communities as well.
You know, another one in the Pittsville area, we had somebody that, oh, an elderly person went missing.
A silver alert was out and we had the vehicle information to plate and Flack and LaCrosse picked up that person and we were able to, you know, the law enforcement in that area were able to stop that person and get them and return them home.
A lot of the searches that we do are really mental health related.
welfare checks.
We'll get information on somebody that might have left an area that we had information on that might want to do self harm or something that needed to go down that welfare check line.
When we looked at what our searches, our inputs were, that was the primary thing that we've been doing locally to find people that need help.
Again, I understand that it's somewhat political and I know that there's a feeling of people do not.
support the program.
I understand that.
For me, it's been a good tool for us to help keep the community safe.
But the abuse is what will end the program as far as a law enforcement administrator.
I want to make that very clear.
If we have staff that abuse it is gone and that staff member will be held accountable.
And you know, as time moves on, you know, you might see some restrictions, some laws coming out.
I know that, you know, political leaders are looking at it from both sides dial.
And maybe there will be some specific restrictions on, you know, abuse or or some other, you know, things that that want to be addressed.
Sometimes it takes a while for a lot to catch up with technology.
But
You know, we'll see as that moves forward.
You bet.
My pleasure.
And thank you to listeners joining us for News in Our Community on Perspective, 1320 AM, 97-5 FM WFHR.
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 Sheriff Sean Becker on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2026.
Thank you for joining me, Sean, to bring the community an update from the Wood County Sheriff's Department.
Always a pleasure.
Thank you for letting me be here.
Yeah, it went great.
You know, I always want to throw out the, you know, you know, recognize the people that make that.
You know, entire fair happened.
It's such a highlight for Central Wisconsin and the Marshfield community.
But, you know, all the means that take place.
And then, you know, for us, just having that part, you know, got to really, you know, throw out there, Lieutenant Nathan Dean, Nate had an idea several years ago about, hey, let's get
you know, you know, back involved in the fair, you know, maybe we can get a decent spot where we're connecting with the community or people come in to enjoy the fair.
And it worked out great.
We're, you know, one of the entrances, that's where our booth sat.
And then that's expanded, not only just with us, but the Marshall Police Department, Marshall Fire Department.
Um, Wood County emergency management, our dispatch center, it's all like in one area, which I think is a great idea because if people are looking for help, you know, they need something, you've got every single aspect there of public safety to, to work out.
So I really look at that as something that, that Nate started, you know, and, and, and took that on and, uh, it's, it's gone out great.
Yeah.
I had a lot of great, you know, community and public interaction with people, um, you know, gave
got a lot of prizes.
It's football season, so my vision is low football.
We had a Kenai unit football that we were giving out to people along with many other things.
all of our staff that took the time from their busy schedules to help.
be part of our booth is very rewarding.
You know, both of our therapy dogs were there, Rip and Lola and their handlers, but the therapy dogs are more important than that.
And that's just a joke.
The handlers are just kind of there in the background.
But Lieutenant Susanna Wagner, you know, put a lot of time up there.
Deputy Jesse Nels also also did as well.
And other, you know, like I said, other staff was up there
So
Overall a great success for us and just a way for our community can get out there.
I got to spend some time with my grandson We had gotten
for our department, one of those smaller cars that you can ride in.
Um, and we had, uh, decals, products, the sheriff's departments who were letting younger kids get in there.
And, uh, you know, we have a remote to it.
So they drive around.
So yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Let me get to see us in a, in a different light.
And, uh, those are always great, you know, opportunities.
who used to be part of the community.
Yeah,
ridges.
um, teamed up with the Wisconsin Rapids Lions club and started doing bingo there.
And a big part of that is, uh, partnering with local, uh, charities, local 501 C threes that, um, they can come in and do the raffle, you know, prizes, 50 50.
And, uh, last year we're talking, uh, you know, Frank Hoffer, he's, uh, one of the lions from, uh, Wisconsin Rapids and said, you know, what about you guys have a foundation for your kidney unit?
It's called location foundation.
And I'm like, yeah, it goes, would you guys want to do it?
It didn't work out last year because the schedule got pretty busy, but we're going to have one coming up.
Take a look at our Facebook page.
We'll have that date established, but we'll come in with prizes that we'll raffle off as well.
We've got a lot of great community supporters that donate items, TVs, Tim Berkhauser.
Probably going to be calling Tim from Spectrum Insurance, but he's been great.
Grab a TV, you know, and we'll raffle that off, you know, and those kind of prizes that we'll do.
So, um, you know, that's going to be coming up, but once we get the data out there, I'll make sure that everybody knows.
Um, the other thing that is coming up, that's established on, uh, September 19th out of club forest, uh, just into Portage County.
Um, Sarah and Chris Adams had a great idea.
Um, new TVs and ATVs have become so popular, um, you know, within central Wisconsin.
Um, there's a lot of different rides that the.
that are done to benefit, you know, again, a non-profit.
Absolutely, and like I said, it's such a growing sport, recreational sport.
So anyway, we're gonna do on the 19th of September, leaving Club Forest and then stopping at several other taverns between
Wood and Portage County that are very supportive of our canine unit.
So people are interested in doing that.
You have a UTV and you want to go on a ride, I'll be going on a ride.
I'll be a part of that along with people from Portage County.
It's not just exclusively raising money for our canine unit.
It's going to be split between Wood and Portage County Sheriff's Department's canine units.
So we'll have some gun raffles, basket raffles.
It's $25 per UTV to take part.
I hope to see a lot of people there.
And
September 19th Saturday.
Okay.
Yeah.
No, it's just the community support for the canine unit.
It's just, I always say it.
We're just so blessed.
I'm so lucky.
Because of the support, we're going to be out in the canine unit.
James Pigeon retired from our canine unit.
He sought the department, did a great job.
It was just time to step away
that's totally understandable.
And again, did a phenomenal job.
But we look at...
You know, we looked at it at a department and say, okay, we could, we could add one because of all this community support.
And, uh, we're going to do that, um, sometime early next year, but we're going to start that process very soon within the department.
Lieutenant, uh, Brandon Christensen, uh, oversees our canine units.
So he's going to take that process and run with it, but the community can see another, um, a full service law enforcement dog, a canine that will be specialized in drug detection.
Okay.
Um, so that'll be happening.
Um, early next year, but it's a process to get there and the training, um, the vendor is just Tiffany kennels, um, near Beaver dam.
We partnered with them several years and we're very fortunate to have a vendor within the state.
Um, we didn't before.
And then you're sending people, you know, to.
you know, Indiana or even further away.
There's a lot of, you know, great vendors out there, but we're very fortunate to have one within the state because it's a pretty, you know, multi-week training program that you go through.
And it's a huge, huge commitment to be a K&N officer.
so that's what this process that Brandon is going to put together is going to show who wants to have that level of commitment, not just to the department, but to the program.
canine program.
And on top of that, the family commitment,
Absolutely.
You know, so it's not going to be somebody that is going to be selective to saying that I want this and I want that.
And, you know, I want a dog.
No, it's going to be, you know, if the people that are interested are listening, I hope you have the conversation with the people that you live with to determine that they are going to support that and have that level of commitment as well.
Because that's, for me, what I'm going to be really looking for.
One of the really most important things is a new K9 handler.
Like, okay, what do you have for, you know, at home support for this program?
So, yeah, I'm excited to see that process go through.
Very, very happy with Brandon.
He put together a very, very fair process.
And early next year, we'll have a, we'll have an addition to our department is a new K9.
Well and along with all those fundraisers that are happening like you mentioned the ATV-UTV one on the 19th there is a ATV-UTV safety course coming up.
I was looking at the numbers a little bit from the last month and and there really haven't been a whole lot of of accidents or citations for those vehicles and there's been concern over that in previous years or just people's worries about these vehicles because they're not the same as a as a regular
you know car or truck
correct and and we've been sharing you know the you know in wood county most of the county highways with you know regular motor vehicle traffic and that was a pretty significant hot topic you know how do you continue to share you're adding more vehicles to the roadway but remember
You know, pedestrians have right to be on, on, on every highway, roadway, street bicycles.
Um, it's an awareness thing, you know, for us.
And then the safety course that we've been teaching for a few years now, uh, Sergeant Matt Suze has done a awesome job with that.
Part of his position is ATV, UTV enforcement.
Um, you're not going to, we haven't had a crash now that you mentioned it, but it could happen.
You know, and, um, we're prepared for that.
We just hope it doesn't, but.
But I think when we can get out number one, talk about it like we are right now.
and offer up these programs, not just exclusively to younger people, but to everybody.
Well,
Absolutely.
Yeah, it's a recreational sport that it's growing.
And if you look at other communities throughout the entire state, one that always boggled my mind with
you know, with the high traffic volume, Wisconsin dollars is open.
And that happened years ago.
And I even remember like being up in Eagle River all of a sudden seeing UTVs on their main street.
So I knew that this was just going to continue to expand, you know, Marshfield,
of their streets are open, you know, and I think at some point,
you know, Wisconsin Rapids, well, one section is, which is, I know, appreciative by the people that have you TVs and ATVs that you can at least get around the city instead of being, you know, closed off for, you know, like five, 600 feet, whatever it might be on, on Griffith Avenue, County Highway Z, but, you know, as time goes on, maybe they'll expand that.
We'll see.
That'll be up to the powers that be within the city limits, but.
Yeah, so it's a recreational support.
I mean, recreational sport that is going to continue to grow.
I'm Melissa K talking with Wood County Sheriff Sean Becker, and you're listening to Perspective on 1320 AM, 97.5 FM WFHR.
Welcome, you're listening to Perspective on WFHR 1320 AM, 97-5 FM.
I'm Melissa Kay bringing you news in our community.
I'm speaking with Wood County Sheriff Sean Becker and where we left off we were talking about ATV-UTV safety course that is coming up.
Where can people go to find that information?
Check out our Facebook page.
We've got all the information down there.
It's coming up on October 23rd at the courthouse.
So that would say the easiest way and you can call our department for information as well.
But just check out the Facebook page.
You'll see the post that we have and then you can register from there.
Yeah,
ours there.
The Sheriff's Department has a UTV that we got off a grant when we had farm technology days up
Marshfield a few years ago, and then we also just bought a folder a couple years ago.
You know, extra patrols.
You know, the dual role, if we have to respond to an incident that's off-road, we'll use either one of them, otherwise extra patrols like you brought up the fare.
We had our UTV there the entire time.
And we utilize that within the fairgrounds or even, you know, leaving the fair.
Like we had a broad fry for a candidate unit that the wheelers did that Duffy, Jesse Nels came with his partner rip to, to, you know, make an appearance and show the support for the can unit.
Um, you know, wheelers has been a great partner for us throughout the years where they've been doing broad fries at.
both of their locations here in Wood County, Marshfield and Wisconsin Rapids, and we're having another one coming up tomorrow here in Wisconsin Rapids, but always been a great supporter of the Sheriff's Department and the Kenan unit.
I hope so.
Yeah, don't depress me.
School started today or
Yeah, I know, okay.
All right,
Yes,
Yeah, every time I talk about it, it's hard not to get choked up about because, you know, Andrew passed not that long ago and for the family to, you know, push this initiative as much as they have is
They were saving lives already.
I mean, we just had this where, you know, somebody had an allergic reaction to a bee sting and Deputy Jesse Nels was close by, all of our squads carry the EpiPens, and he went over there and was the first person there, you know, right before the ambulance, which happens periodically in rural communities where we might get there ahead of time.
And he, you know, used a dose of it and, you know, helped that person out,
know, save somebody's life.
And
You're seeing that happen more and more off the initiative that the Mueller family's been doing.
If you pay attention to, you know, their Facebook page, they're up in Florence County and got their Sheriff's Department, you know, that start to have all of their squads carry it.
They've been all over the state and connecting with Sheriff's departments.
That's the primary.
connection or goal that they'd like to be with because of what I said, you know, the rural
Correct.
And that happens.
That's not a knock on our first responders.
We're all part of that.
And equipping everybody with that is going to save lives and it has been.
So yeah, that happened recently and you know, a big shout out to the
Mueller family, sorry for your loss.
Appreciate what you've been doing because you are saving lives and making a difference.
Not just in Wood County, but Portage County.
I mean, it's endless.
You see, you know, the, the departments that they're connecting with and signing them up, but they're going to continue.
mean, there, I can see this.
I think the goal is the entire state and, you know, tell what, if that happens, Mark, you're going to be going to other states, you know, but, um,
You know, a huge thank you to the Mueller family.
Sure is.
Sure is.
Yeah, and you're seeing it.
There's been a lot of attention to Flock for various reasons.
We've had the program for a while now.
For whatever reason, it became quite a big topic.
You know, and I look at it, you know, just, uh, the enforcement level with staff, um, and I'll comment that that, um, if you have staff members that abuse it, they need to be held accountable.
You know, um, and, and you see that unfortunately in Wisconsin where I'm an X officer, we needs to be an X officer was using it to stalk ex-girlfender.
I don't know exactly the circumstances, but in
Absolutely.
And, um,
Terminated and then part of the sentence will never be a law enforcement officer again, which he shouldn't be And then spending time in jail.
I support that 100% You know, I look at you know, there's a lot of laws already in place that will connect to you know when when police officers unfortunately Abuse the equipment that they have available to them and that's what you know is concerning with me I trust our staff.
I really do
Um, and there's, I've got a lot of success stories locally.
I could tell you and we'll probably get into them a little bit, but I want to make it very clear to the listeners, you know, on my end, as an administrator, you know, we, we bought into this program, um, to, to provide a better service to the community.
All right.
And if you abuse it.
For whatever reason, you're going to be held accountable and you're not going to be working for our team anymore and you'll be in jail.
We're not going to tolerate that because people trust us.
They trust us as law enforcement officers.
And, you know, the unfortunate thing is what you are seeing, not just here in Wisconsin, but throughout the country.
And that jeopardizes this program.
does.
And if, if that would happen with our agency and somebody abused it, they will be held accountable.
We won't have the program anymore.
Bottom line.
Right.
Um, but on the flip side of it, and I make our county board.
aware of all these situations that come up and made them aware that we have the program, we've had the program for a while, it's been budgeted for.
We weren't hiding anything,
course it wasn't when we signed up for this program, it wasn't as big of a topic as it is right now, but they're very well aware that we have this
we're not hiding it.
Just success stories that we've been part of, just in the last three days, stolen vehicles.
We had one on Saturday, one of our deputies checked on for Deputy Aaron Anderson and there's a stolen vehicle out of Marshfield that went by one of the cameras.
We are notified of it immediately.
Aaron was close by, found the vehicle and stopped it.
We had one yesterday very similar circumstance another stolen vehicle out of Marshfield and we had another deputy Ross pull that vehicle over fortune without incident going back a couple weeks now What can be controversial is the information sharing between law enforcement agencies?
Some people don't like that, but I'm gonna tell you something we had a stolen vehicle out of Iowa here with runaway juvenile
Um, and another person that was wanted and they want to appear in Wisconsin rapids and a Grand Rapids officer, um, found that vehicle from flock, a pursuit initiated and we got that vehicle stopped.
Um, and then other things that have happened, not that long ago, we had a kidnapping in Wisconsin rapids, um, that was related to domestic incident that, um, once that information was put in flock, um, that person was stopped in Plover and that was a very serious incident.
and that that victim I think was saved you know but she was kidnapped from Wisconsin Rapids then because the flock is an exclusive obviously to Wood County or Wisconsin Rapids it goes through
other communities as well.
You know, another one in the Pittsville area, we had somebody that, oh, an elderly person went missing.
A silver alert was out and we had the vehicle information to plate and Flack and LaCrosse picked up that person and we were able to, you know, the law enforcement in that area were able to stop that person and get them and return them home.
A lot of the searches that we do are really mental health related.
welfare checks.
We'll get information on somebody that might have left an area that we had information on that might want to do self harm or something that needed to go down that welfare check line.
When we looked at what our searches, our inputs were, that was the primary thing that we've been doing locally to find people that need help.
Again, I understand that it's somewhat political and I know that there's a feeling of people do not.
support the program.
I understand that.
For me, it's been a good tool for us to help keep the community safe.
But the abuse is what will end the program as far as a law enforcement administrator.
I want to make that very clear.
If we have staff that abuse it is gone and that staff member will be held accountable.
And you know, as time moves on, you know, you might see some restrictions, some laws coming out.
I know that, you know, political leaders are looking at it from both sides dial.
And maybe there will be some specific restrictions on, you know, abuse or or some other, you know, things that that want to be addressed.
Sometimes it takes a while for a lot to catch up with technology.
But
You know, we'll see as that moves forward.
You bet.
My pleasure.