Welcome everyone to midday magazine for this January 3rd, 2024 of your host James J. Mailoff here.
We're about to spend the entire hour with a good friend, Sheriff Sean Becker from Wood County Sheriff's Department.
Sheriff, good to see you.
Good morning, always a pleasure to be here, James.
And we have a friend in, a good friend of not only yours in our station and our community, but Jordan is with us here.
I believe you guys know each other.
Yes, my daughter, Jordan.
George daughter, I knew there was a connection.
I used to say Jordan Moon, now that she's been married, but yeah, Jordan grew up in Wisconsin Rapids.
I think in high school grad and now as a dispatcher and I want to dispatch her for a night of county,
but she still comes back quite a bit to Wisconsin Rapids area.
A lot of still strong ties like with the Aqua skiers and the community.
So she gets back quite a bit and today was a radio show and I did give her a 24 hour notice.
Nice, that was nice, that was nice.
Yeah, the option, not like my dad, I didn't get any notice at all.
Right, we got in the parking lot, but I'm very proud of her and I'm hoping to get
our other daughter Caitlin on here too, but today I'd love to just brag about Jordan today and
yeah, anything else comes up.
Appreciate that and you know, Jordan, it's been a while since we were just talking in our
pregame. It's been a while since you were on the air with us with the Aqua skiers and that,
how have you been?
Good, I actually ended up taking over the tournament.
I'm the co-tournament director for the Wisconsin State Water Skishow Championships now.
Last year was our first year and it was really fun years.
Very cool. You and I'm sure enjoying that.
I'm very curious and about the job that you're doing now though and how you're adapting to it,
how you're enjoying it, the difficulties of it.
Yeah, so dispatching your talk about.
Yes, yes.
No, I started with Wood County in 2020 and then my husband got a job offer up in Crandon and
so ended up up there at Onida and I really do like it.
You never know what's going to happen over there.
It could be a quiet day.
We don't say that word in dispatch.
That's the unwritten rule or it could just be a crazy day of just non-stop calls
and lots of things happening.
It's very weather dependent.
Yeah, oh, I imagine.
It's one of those things that the sheriff and I and some others of our guests of ours we've
talked about before but I don't know if we ever really dive into enough and the important work
and how vital that job is in the chain of events that you know with most situations that
a law enforcement or our medical or EMTs or anybody is involved in.
Yeah, we're really the first responders.
We get the call and without us getting the call we can't get the help to you.
So really where you are that first person that determines who's going where and if it's
medical, if it's law enforcement, fire like we have to do a lot of quick thinking to get
the right responders in route and we have to a lot of times do medical instructions over the phone
like I'll do CPR over the phone with people and I mean every second counts in those situations
so you really have to be a quick thinker.
What would you say and I imagine this is difficult to answer but what would you say is the most
difficult part of that job of being a dispatcher?
Yeah, I would say the most difficult part is I mean the multitasking is hard sometimes when
there's a lot going on but like the most difficult for me is just when someone doesn't make it
like when you spend minutes on the phone with someone doing CPR and like it they don't make it
it's sad and or even just fatal accidents anytime someone dies it's just not a great call.
I mean we're a team and we're all there for each other and that's really important after
a tough call to have your coworkers be like you did a great job and like ask you if you're okay
so that's good.
Yeah yeah that's a port I imagine especially from people that know what it's like you know
it's one thing for me or your dad to empathize with it but we don't know what that's like
and necessarily what is one here's a part that we never get to ask dispatchers what is something
you enjoy about the job what is one of the more rewarding parts of the job?
I think helping people I really like being able to help people it's very rewarding in that sense
and I enjoy I guess like even like yesterday I had to work and like a little lady called in that
was just having difficulty with her TV and just being able to just talk to her and you could tell
she was lonely and just like being able to help her a maker day like that always makes me feel good
just being able to make a little difference in someone's day.
Yeah I imagine too having a I don't mean that that's not an important call but maybe not a stressful
call as sum and everything I meant that that is nice too that's a lighting of the day and a chance
to kind of hang on to something good yeah yeah and just connect with someone in not a negative way
of just it's just someone that's lonely and doesn't know what to do and I'm able that's an easy
call I can walk them through that or even just like sometimes we'll get calls where we don't get
all the information and like we really are kind of investigators in there too like we do a lot of
research and just trying to figure it out for our officers while they're in route to a hot call
if we don't have all the information like just running the people and running them in how seeing
what information I have and maybe the we didn't get a vehicle description but I'm able to look
through and be like oh this person drives this car here's a possible play like I always find
satisfaction in that and then end it up like that's the right information be like all right like
say we'll help them chip off the old block officer it's and I bring that up to a to a to a degree
because you know any chance as parents any chance to promote our kids to brag about our kids we
are going to take it I use every opportunity to kind of brag about my oldest daughter my youngest
daughter my son or any of this stuff and and my kids so my all of my kids have gone into the
arts in some way or another some more than others and they follow through on that that was something
I pushed on them in fact I actually told them please do not go into have a day job at all these
things and stuff but they followed their passions they followed what was inside of them you grew up
in this family and in a police family you've seen firsthand much more than most of us ever have
as far as your dad going on the job or not knowing if he was kind of come home or the fact that most
the time the people that he meets me he's meeting them on the worst day of their life or one of the
worst days all of that and you you still go into a job like this was this a calling was this something
that you you pulled towards or you just you just it was in you this is what you wanted to do um well
I started my career I guess like first career was not I was a nonprofit for a while I started
with special Olympics and I absolutely love that job and planning events and fundraising I was
very good at it and I really liked it but in nonprofit you don't make a profit so and like when
COVID started I wasn't happier I was and it just wasn't a great a great I wanted something more
and I wanted more of a career and better insurance and retirement and all those things so I think
I needed a change and I I don't know why I decided I think one day I saw that Wood County was
hiring for dispatchers and I just brought it up and he was like yeah it'd be a good like you should
try it and I think just having that reassurance I was like okay like why not I had no idea what I
was getting into and it was very very difficult the training is very hard not everyone can do it
they say less than 5% of the world's population can do the job that I do I believe that to be able
to come through at the end and like pass all of the training and be able to be a dispatcher that was
pretty intense and exciting so I kind of I don't know if I stumbled into it and I think maybe just
because with special Olympics we work really closely with law enforcement that special Olympics that
is part of the organization so I had all of these law enforcement officers and dispatchers that I
worked with so I was like oh I like all of them like it'd be fun to be part of their team so I think
that kind of helped and just the experience of my dad being in law enforcement kind of helped drive
me there I really appreciate this Jordan I apologize for peppering you with questions right out
the gate but you knocked it out of the park nice job a really nice job and I think that the
conversation ties into what we're going to talk about with Sheriff Mecker as well because you
know sir I was just talking about being a dad and how I told my not just my kids I tell my
students the acting students I have and everything you can follow your dreams but have a day job you
know we we we want our kids almost wrapped in bubble wrap and did not have to worry about anything
that for their lives to go so smooth and perfect but when it comes to this and she comes to you
with a position like hey I'm thinking about getting into this and I'm sure there's a part of you
that that wants to again protect the kid not to have them have a difficult job or any of these
things but you're also supportive and encouraging it's a tough balance to have especially when you
have the knowledge that you do of what that job entails so in that position she comes to you like
that is is it are you dealing with all those different emotions or is it right away your first
feeling no this is a good fit for you you should go through with this well no it's her decision
you know and I never pushed or or anything like that it was um I think she laid the foundation
perfectly with the you know the position she had with special Olympics and of course I'm going
to brag about her but I think the if I remember correctly um for the polar plunge I don't know
what year it was it raised the most money ever you know in central Wisconsin you know and that's
that's her connections that's her getting out and doing what she's supposed to but going
above and beyond it and I think that laid the foundation for her to not only um she knew what I
did you know I do for a living but now you get to interact with not your just your dad but so
many other people that you know it's not about the job it's about what you do in the community and
how you can not only make a difference when you're working but off duty and making those connections
I think kind of laid the at least the foundation for the interest in in law enforcement um so very
proud you know of both both daughters you know because they both connected at some level to what
you know my profession is you know Caitlin being a social worker is dealing with you know kids
that need help Jordan's a dispatcher doing anybody that needs help you know taking those phone
calls you know 24-7 and and getting that information out I can't tell you how much you know how important
a dispatcher is not just a law enforcement but anybody else you know fire EMS in the community they
take the first call uh and then they have to get that information out to whether it's a
deputy or a police officer or fire EMS that information has to get to us immediately and
you know her interest was just you know the connection with um with I believe special and
based kind of you that foundation and then you know hey there was an opening and she came up with
the idea and you know we talked about it and applied and here we are you know I didn't stick my
nose into it I made it very clear that you know with wood county it's a little different than a lot
of the other law enforcement and she's throughout the state especially counties were dispatches
under control the sheriff's department we're not like bad dispatch is a separate entity of uh of
you know a department of the county so she could work there um if it was under the sheriff's
department she couldn't because of napatism right down so the opportunity was there and you
know I've made it very clear that all right George you know and you know she got through training
and she's right it's not easy you know and I mean the multitasking I think would be probably the
most challenging for me even because you got a phone call coming in and then you're typing
information at computer you're you know taking a break and getting that information out to
whoever needs and then coming back to the person that you know it might be screaming in their
ear or it could be a loved one screaming hey I'm I'm doing CPR and I need to know how to do CPR
and somebody so you can just think of you know all that you know all those you know tough calls that
come in but then as you mentioned which is really cool to hear is you know yesterday a phone call
from somebody that might just be lonely but you still take the opportunity and time and talk to
them and try to help them out so I mean the the position of a dispatcher and I'm not just saying
it because Jordan you know is it in the profession it is the most important position in you know in my
opinion for the law enforcement field you know that's where we get our information how important
and since you alluded to it a little bit but then you look at the OS or safety considerations you
have to get that information out where you you look what information is available in house you know
the computer system within you know that county or or municipality and then what else can you get
because more is better for us especially in those high-risk calls and that's a huge part of what
she does I don't I think of chemistry often when it comes to the arts I don't think of it very often
in these settings but it seems to be a chemistry is very important for this for dispatcher officer
no it's it's called communication and and it's a system of of a team that we're all part of one
team together and they have the most important part of it and I'm very proud of the fact that
this is a profession not a job but a profession that that she wanted to join and be part of
know whether it's here in wood county or up in any county where she's at right now she's part of
the team whether it's a couple hours away or right here she did about a year here at wood
county it was awesome to hear in the radio you talk about this proud moments as a father you know
when you're in the squad car and you can hear you know you know Jordan dispatching out not just
for me but for whatever it's going on it was fun uh um you know a couple times I had the opportunity
I did a traffic stop and choose and you know and dispatch and and answered me so that's cool
that that's got to be a really surreal interesting moment for both of you I imagine that's that's
very cool too and and Jordan I admire you appreciate you no way I could do the job you do
and and thank you to you and the team over there to all of our dispatchers throughout the whole state
but do say hi to your team for us and thank them for us we appreciate you uh I imagine our
dispatchers have been pretty busy in recent weeks months uh even we have had a run of wrong way
driving um and uh I know this because I saw a report on it uh on our news the other day
yesterday uh that featured Mr Becker here uh who is uh constantly getting more and more TV time
than I do I'm the actor in the friendship here I should be getting nothing but it always do a great
job with those sir but uh I didn't want to talk about that topic because I don't think it's one
that we really face very often no pun intended but it's one not one that we seem to it comes up very
often yeah the unfortunate thing is um you know we didn't have a very very busy holiday season but we
had a tragedy you know up on highway 10 just outside of um march field where there was a head
on collision where we had a wrong way driver driving on on 10 and um the other driver was passing
a semi so just pulled out and it happened within seconds and unfortunately um you know one person
is deceased to 25 year old wasn't from the area um it was a really hard situation for us to investigate
because we have to make that notification we have to make that that terrible phone call um to
you know the loved ones that um somebody is you know not with us anymore um but the whole situation
could have been prevented um and it's a good reminder well it's a terrible reminder to be honest
that we have this tragedy and and it seems like some of these highways that are divided you know and
they're they're they're two way you know they're four lanes you know two going in the opposite
directions that sometimes people get confused uh unfortunately and you know as a driver it's your
obligation to bow all the signage you know or what county highway shop does uh and I'll say
in job providing as much signage out there same with department of transportation you know it's
just you know be aware of your surroundings no matter if you're from there or not it's it's it's
it's your you know your privilege that you get to operate a motor vehicle and part of you know
part of that is doing it safely you know because if you get confused and you put some other
you have somebody else's life in the line and that's what happened here and um you know it's it's
those harsh you know reminders when we we deal these kind of situations you know as a driver you
know you know if you're out of four lane highway it's divided stay out of the left lane you know um
you know unless you're passing somebody or something but the best advice you know you can say just
stay out of the left lane as much as possible um that could that could help obviously keep your
headlights on especially during bad weather but you know I know with the newer vehicles the headlights
usually stay on anyway but make sure that they stay on you know and then if you see a wrong way
driver um you know obviously do your best to avoid it call it in yeah you know no matter where you
are on the road call it in because hopefully we can have a law enforcement officer close by
or get in the area because we can you know potentially prevent that tragedy you know there's
several reasons why people might be you know in in this kind of situation you know um maybe they
weren't paying attention to the signage um impaired you know not paying attention um maybe they're
on their phone but remember as a driver it's your your duty you know um to to make sure that you're
operating a motor vehicle safely because it's not about you it's just about you know it's it's more
about the other people that are around you as well and that's the tragedy that we're dealing with
right now there's nothing in the constitution or bill of rights the guarantees you'd have a driver's
license right this is a this is a gift this is something that you earn and you have to you you
consistently earn you don't just get that license and okay I'm good every day you're earning that
license every day you were proving you deserve to have that license um why do you think this is
happening more or or has happened more or or statistic are we just hearing about it now and it's
been this way good question you know I don't know what more you know we could do to I mean the
signage is out there highway time has been completed for many many years but it just seems like
we're we're getting that that complaint called in where somebody is going the wrong way
whether from there or not it's you know I I don't want to you know like to ask them yeah but
you know what what happened you know what what were you confused about what why did you do this
but it's not exclusive issue to wood county it's happening all over you know that's why the advice
the reminders I gave are probably the ones that take home I know the state tracks any complaints
that come in through um you know anywhere that there is a wrong way driver especially on a
divided highway and they've been tracking wood county but they're doing it all throughout the
state and it's not exclusive to Wisconsin either it's it's all it's everywhere yeah it really boils
down to that driver um pain attention you know and knowing where they are and what the surroundings
are Minnesota and Iowa have had a rash of this as well Illinois has seen it to your point I
actually until I've seen the interview with you on channel nine and shout out to them for the
good reporting um it got me to go down a rabbit hole of that and all of a sudden I was blown away
I was like oh this is going on and these other you know neighboring states as well and that
they're seeing higher numbers than usual yeah porters county had a fatality but it was a little
different where the roads were really bad I believe it was on saturday night and um driver lost control
split across the the median into our incoming traffic was struck and killed um but it's still
you know a couple this issue with the time of year it's always worth noting that all right we're
into that winter driving months what's the best common sense advice anybody can give you
and it doesn't have to be a cop telling you slow down yeah you know it takes some extra time when
when we have uh you know the weather coming in um headlights on and slow down you know I always
think of it as not so much as being a defensive driver but an observant driver you know paying
attention just just being being in the moment being paying attention to what you're doing right now
you're driving a vehicle like it's not the time to kind of just you know loosely pay attention
to things this is the time to be focusing if you had a a a chainsaw on your hand you wouldn't be
looking at your phone while you're using the chainsaw like it treat it that way it's it's important
and it's not just about you I think you hit a really good point there sir it's um it's important
to when you get behind the wheel realize it's not about you it's about you and everybody you're
sharing this with people right sticking with vehicles just for a second before we go to the
our first break um side of the road parking this is a big topic this uh anytime a year really but
it's always a big topic in the winter months uh when we can park on the side of the road when
we can't and this varies for uh differently for counties right yeah it does um I would always
tell everybody wherever you live take a look at what um the rules are for that municipality
or township or village um it's all online uh there are the rules are out there for a reason
mostly for plowing um for us out in the county if if somebody pulls over and they don't
notify us and leave their vehicle well that creates a big issue for us especially on a a
smaller township road or county road it's a it's a driving hazard for everybody else so let us know
and we understand that the people break down you know and even if you have help coming you should
be calling us and letting us know that's probably the more of the common call that the sheriff's
apartment get no it's got some rap it's pity you would probably get quite a bit more complaints
on driving not driving on parking because you know right now during the winter months hey you can't
be on the side of the street because we're you know plowing or or whatever that that reasoning might be
but the best recommendation I can give you is is anybody wherever you live take a look online what
those ordinances are and what the parking requirements are as well uh W.I. Rapids.org is the city's website
here in Wisconsin Rapids if you're curious about that you can find out more as well by going to
woodcountywi.gov woodcountywi.gov look into that it's not a it didn't take me a lot of
heavy lifting to be able to find the information to that so encourage people to go to again
W.I. Rapids.org or woodcountywi.gov take a quick time out we'll come back and we'll have more
conversation with our friend Sheriff Sean Becker Jordan is in with us and our friends at Wisconsin
Rapids Community Media here on WFHR where we are locally grown radio welcome back everybody to
midday magazine for this January 23rd 2024 have your host James and we're joined by our woodcounty
Sheriff's department we have Sheriff Sean Becker and his daughter Jordan who is a dispatcher with
woodcounty I'm sorry with O'Nighted County I get that right and of course our friends Joe and the
gang from Wisconsin Rapids Community Media we say a big thank you to them for being here sir I know
that you bring a ton to the table whenever we get together I want to let the floors all yours
what do you got for us well first let's talk about Gary Pott remember we had him in last month and
thank you so much for giving him the opportunity to be here you know that was what's special
so we we want to do in a police escort from his residence all the way to Lambelfield so the other
counties that that helped us out was a couple weeks ago when the Packers played the the Buccaneers
and we won't talk about the results because this is a this is a better moment anyway so yeah we got
him to the stadium a big shout out to Pulver PD Portage County with Packet County Brown County
all helped us get get him right to the stadium he's the first one in the parking lot got him
set up and tailgated went to the game and it was nice to see him in a huge shout out to the Packers
organization whether you're a Packer fan or not they did it right Mark Murphy came down during
the tailgate and had a personalized football that he presented to Gary you know and that was
that was huge and then they upgraded his tickets to a suite so they just they really treated him
right and and I got an opportunity to talk to the media there and and so you know why would you
help this personnel why would we do this I'm like why wouldn't you this is a how many people do
know that have gone to 500 Packer games in their lifetime I mean that's and they're from Wisconsin
Rapids how lucky are yeah yeah you know and he I think his first game was in 1961 and he was 12
years old and his dad took him yeah he's telling us about that yeah so it's just it was a great moment
yeah yeah we got him there and we had a great time and I'm really happy for him Gary hasn't been
feeling very well he's back in the hospital now so thoughts and prayers are with you buddy we're
thinking about you you know you're you're in a good place to get some help and hopefully he'll be
home soon yeah so he can be resting at home where he should be this whole city sending our
love and support to you Gary and encouragement and hope and you feel better and as as you know
and our audience knows I have a proud Chicagoan and everything it is very difficult for me to say
this but the Green Bay Packers is the best organization in sports it's the best run organization it's
the best organization in sports it just is and stories like that are part of the reason why that
is that is really cool I have to say I do not I made a rule smart man I made a rule many many years
ago that I would never lie to the audience and so I and now that every once in a while that
tests me that tests me on that one it really does right there really does but it's the truth it
really isn't in it's because of things like that it's it's in all honesty it's really actually
not that hard for me to say it because I it's fact it really is in my brain it's a fact the way
that they run that organization is well as they you can say what you want about the project on
the field and all these other time talking about the way they treat their fans right and the way
that they they run this not run the city but the way they treat the city the following vendors are
you know for decades have stepped outside of Lambo and and serve things or sell shirts or anything
they're the definition of how a sports franchise can be a positive for a community and really
and and make a can make a whole state better because of it and so it's it's not worthy too I think
that it's run by you know or the organization is owned by the city the people I think that that's
noteworthy as well so yeah not easy to do but it's it's factual to me in my brain it's
factual so I could do it but you you sound like I believe you yeah yeah it's it's tough it's tough
it's a tough one don't put me on a lie detector out that one don't be a big game this sunny the
bears could you know play spoiler should be an interesting one especially last year with Minnesota
playing spoiler I I think that's probably in a lot of Green Bay head so yeah and and look at and
in the rivalry I mean it doesn't matter records don't matter yeah you're well and and the bears
are right right there I mean you know they they almost made it in I don't even if they when they
won't but still it should be a good time should be interesting I'm thinking about maybe trying to
go we'll see right up right up they move the game to three o'clock games it's a little easier to
to get there and it's not super late coming home so we'll see I I know that you you I love to
just keep keep keep talking sports with your head but I have my my listen to some other people
that I had get off sports we got to get out of the game I know that we got to let some of this
stuff I wanted to talk about there yeah um we're hiring a new deputy an old being came up um and
we have a civil service commission that overseas are hiring process that have a lot of
local people um that some of you have met a couple of my mentors Dave Laudie,
Lee Garels, Bob Levin Dusky, Gus Mancuso and Mike Myers they're all part of the the commission
anyway they they established a list for us and we didn't think we'd have an opening for a while
then we just did have one up and um the funny part about it is who we're hiring is Ted Ashback Jr
um you might be familiar with his dad he's our jail captain um and it's uh interesting
starting to bring out because we had talked about in the beginning of the show with Jordan how
she kind of fell into being part of the team you know I remember years ago um when Ted Jr
was uh graduate high school at assumption high school and going down to UW white water to
continue his college career and uh I remember Ted said I'll never I'll never talk him in to get
in a law enforcement I just remember having the squadron the conversation the squadron I I can't
wait when we uh swear Teddy Jr and to kind of give uh Ted seniors some grief because I didn't
forget that conversation but uh no Ted Jr did a awesome job in college um came back to us with
the interest in law enforcement which is pretty cool to see we hired him as a part-time deputy we
have a great program at the sheriff's department we had forever and sponsored him through the academy
here at state technical college and then porch kind of hired him full time um so he has about 10
months of full-time uh experience over at porch county and we have a great work relationship with
you know porch county sheriff's department he brought up that teamwork approach and just doesn't
it's not here by yourself it extends throughout not only you know your neighbors but throughout the
whole state and beyond and um I let sheriff Lucas know that hey um Ted Jr is number one our list
and we're gonna follow the numbers it's number one and we're gonna you know give an offer and
you know I'm not trying to steal something from you but it's reality of the whole situation and
so okay and and and Ted uh did decide to to jump ship as we say and come work for our team
right but still part of the whole team and uh Mike and I can give each other grief back and forth
and you know maybe I'll try and steal another direction sponsor or whatnot but no just a cool moment
and I'm looking forward to swearing Teddy Jr in with his family and and given Ted senior some
congratulations to him and and the family uh that that's a very cool thing and also uh um
that maybe not on purpose brings up a great topic I think too that we are always looking for
more and more people in these fields yeah uh good people to be able to do these jobs be in the
in these fields um more people to uh for sheriff becker to poach more no but uh but seriously
we could really use more and more people in these fields uh whether it is dispatching or it is
something like this um could always use more yeah I have to say that you know another mentor
of mine Kurt Hoyer is overseeing the uh the law enforcement academy at minstate technical college
and since he's assumed that role for his mentor Clark Poggle pass is a great man I've seen numbers
start to to move upward you're seeing more people interested in law enforcement because we went
through a really rough time you know just trying to find people for dispatch corrections and you
know in law enforcement position so um it's it's really nice to see the numbers starting to go up
but there was a recent academy graduation a couple weeks ago and more than two-thirds of the class
had jobs hmm which is uh which is cool yeah it's really nice to see that one of uh one of the kids
I call my kid but Carson Juniman um played football at Lincoln High School and it's just a
cool story and maybe we'll get him on the show you know towards the end of his football season
senior year he showed a interest in law enforcement just had that conversation and he said okay this
is what I would do you know on your shoes do you want to you know go for a two-year social degree
or four-year you know of course I'm going to push you to BSP because that grad there or you know
mid-state because you know get the opportunity to teach out there and you have the the vocal
opportunity to get your your education and but I said you know you can go all over the state there's
a lot of other opportunities well in the end he he stuck with it he graduated MSTC and uh now is
a working full-time for the Green Lake County Sheriff's Department I um that's the wonderful
that's a really great to hear I when you were talking about that I was reminded of a student
that I had this at least a year or two ago but it wasn't that long ago and she was at second
city looking to get more comfortable with talking to people she she wanted to be in law enforcement
but she is a very difficult time talking to in interacting with people she doesn't anymore she's
fine she she she she killed it she actually wanted her to go into comedy and go leave law enforcement
because she's so funny but um she in talking to her about this and she's younger than you Jordan
at the time she's uh maybe 21 maybe 22 I think at the time and we were talking about it
and I think that and I don't know if I don't have the numbers to back this or anything like that
just talking to people that rough patch you're talking about I think not to say we needed it or
was a good thing but I think oftentimes we need the darkness to get to the light and that really
brought a lot of things to to the masses to people to society and okay you don't like this in society
you can bark all you want or are you gonna do something about it right and a lot of younger people
these days whether it is politics it is law enforcement or is anything they're not waiting for us
in our our generations to move out of the way they're just getting things done they're just taking
these jobs they're just going into these fields I want law enforcement to be better instead of just
barking about it I'm gonna try to help make law enforcement better by being a part of it and that's
where she was coming from it I think that some of those numbers is where that's coming from a lot of
people just wanted to be not only a part of this but be a part of the good no I think it's a great
point you know when you see some some rough times no matter what you want to blame it on in our
profession it happened you know we keep our personal feelings aside we move forward and I think
that you know we're going in a good direction I really feel that way just seeing the numbers
increase over at mid-state and and I know that that's happened at other academies as well so it
shows to me that the interesting becoming you know part of this profession at whatever level you
want to be part of it the opportunities are there and the interest is growing again congratulations
to it had junior to that family and everybody that's that's a great story that's great to hear a lot
next polar plunge yeah yeah no just as you know we started the show off talking a little bit about
it with what Jordan did and the money that she was part of raising it's that partnership that
law enforcement has with you know with special Olympics why did they decide to do the polar plunge
way back one I don't know I mean we could do something like a little warmer about baking cookies
so what about that what about that there is money for that please no but other other events have
come up like run with the cops those kinds of things but the polar plunge has been always that
that biggie and yeah it's coming up February 4th this year I maybe I'll jump maybe won I kind
of plan on it but I told the team we got Terry Johnson doing an awesome job right now fundraise
one of our deputies but I told the team you guys raised $7500 bucks otherwise I'm not jumping
yeah so well we'll see we got about a month so if you want to see me jump I suggest that you
take a look at our team online and and donate or get get a bunch of people to donate otherwise I'll
I might just have to sit this way I'll take it off yeah hey you know so hopefully we'll look at
that number of jump I don't know how many years and all it doesn't change it's still cold yeah
it's always for a good cause I was curious about how many years it's been that you've been doing
this that's an interesting guy you think of it let me know um high school when you started
it's been a one 11 years since I graduated oh okay all right oh I'm so glad you were here
like so we need to bring you in boy we did uh that that's an interesting note right there
I probably say 2009 was your first year in my shirt I jumped a year before you started
it was over at the Lions Club okay all right uh when I jumped with Kurt Hoyer Randy John's
and I think two other rapids officers and uh yeah it was 2009 or 2010 yeah the uh special
Olympics people are amazing uh getting to work with them a little bit some of the best people
have ever worked with uh I bring it up because I encourage people to work with them whenever they
have an opportunity or volunteer whenever they have an opportunity with special Olympics and
certainly with the polar plunge if you can be a part of this we encourage you to whether you
can jump or donate uh there are uh of many many ways not just this time of year but all year long
to be a part of special Olympics yeah totally great and a great venue too I know it's moved around
to other places you know within the community and and they're all great venues but they're back
now at anchor bay and the owner is there doing a phenomenal job of supporting the cause
and yeah it will be great great event yeah I couldn't agree with you more um
uh the lure so many other great places we've had this at I love anchor bay you can have a glass of
water out there to enjoy yourself like the view everything about it I really do think it's a
perfect venue for it it's a nice place to have it and uh shout out to them for hosting yeah we'll see
if we have ice yeah that part might be interesting that but yeah I don't know what kind of
modification I'll do but we'll see you gotta get someone to weather out there in our pregame we
were talking a little bit about this camera system that I was very curious about you might
would dive into that yeah it's called a flat camera system and last year we had somebody a sales
rep that represented the company do a presentation to you know a local law enforcement I didn't really
know much about it or are none of us really knew much about it and really it's a camera system
that you put cameras of you know throughout the community out in the public you know in in
busier areas you know busier intersections and then what the system does is information is put
into it um such as like I guess the best example I could tell you is like a stolen vehicle um maybe
it's from a night of county all right they put the information to the system um and then if
that vehicle that license plate or description dries by the camera law enforcement's notified so
um it's all over the country you know it's not I don't want people to think oh my gosh this
is just exclusive to what county it's not um it is uh enduring and talk about it on the
dispatch you know part of it but it's throughout the state throughout the the country uh we did you
know a recent situation locally we had an individual breaking the cars broad daylight you know
I'm on many different you know surveillance camera systems you know at assumption high school
in the kusa where this person would go in either break a window of car and steal things or
if the summer left the car unlocked unfortunately it would go in there and and take things and it
was going on for for weeks you know not just here in south wood county but all over if I got caught
on one of these camera systems and Steven's point um but that's just one example of you know
we would put the information in of what that vehicle is and then if it would drive by this camera
it would trigger it and then we'd get notified um I know a California had a situation
recently where there's a serial killer serial killer I've been having this all day man I hear
you um uh but I think well what he's doing is um you know doing homicides with homeless people
and it was getting national attention obviously and but this camera system is a one that help
them find the suspect so I mean there's a lot of value to these cameras um and I'm glad that
you know we budgeted for it um we're having five installed throughout with county uh
Pinsfield's gonna have a couple kusa I believe it's gonna be a three or four and then the
city of Wisconsin rap is gonna have up to five two so it'll it'll be a great um addition to
helping law enforcement um you know dealing with um situations that I brought up and
and other things too like an amber alert you know that information goes right into the fox
system a silver alert you know it's all it's reactive on the information you can put in there
but then it's very proactive and you know disseminating that information that they see it
we uh we continue to put more and more on our um our our your plates uh our share our all of our
police officers plates um and we're doing that we do those things but we don't uh add to uh pay
or add to a lot of other things or you know a more more manpower more people some of that stuff
having and having an assist like this something like this is it feels like almost the least we can
do in some ways but also vital to this process um none of us want to live in the wild wild west
I love watching westerns don't want to live in them uh these kind of things help with that
I'm curious though uh Jordan how this can help dispatchers as well as a dispatcher in
o'night accounting we do have the fox system in place and I have access to it
it's very helpful that if we have a stolen vehicle or a silver alert or anything like I can
plug that license plate in and I can see which cameras is triggered in the state like I think
we had one instance right when we started using the program where I typed a plate in and I saw
that it was in wasa and um I was able to call the agency that um had sent out the alert for this
vehicle and let them know because they didn't have flock at like hey your vehicles down in wasa
you might want to contact them so they're able to help at least point them in the right direction
but it's very helpful I think just on our end too you get the you can see the actual vehicle too
when it triggers the camera so then we can have a picture of the vehicle and send that out to
our officer so they can see it you can tell them to make a model vehicle but if you can send them
a picture and see their stickers on the back or what it looks like that's even better when it comes
down to searching for a specific vehicle yeah imagine yeah um this was uh something I don't know
about this system in particular but I know in the UK this was very big for uh it still is uh where
there's cameras in a lot more places nowadays and um there was a pushback at first of uh
evasion of privacy or some of these things and everything all these cameras are out in public
if you're doing something in public there is no privacy and it kind of defeats the the word
privacy I mean you know what it kind of does and and also there's something to be said for it
don't be a knucklehead I mean it don't be doing bad things you do have anything to worry about
like what do you care if a camera's rolling if you're not doing anything but just live in your life
I you know so these seem like only a positive not only for you guys before us as uh citizens
yeah oh yeah go like no I was say like it's it's not even just for crime like if your
grandparent or your parent walks away and they have dementia and they took the vehicle like it's
used to help find that too so it's used in so many ways so I mean for people that are angry with
they just think of it like what if your grandparent or parent walked away wouldn't you want
all the resources to try and help locate them safely yeah yeah we would want you guys to have all
the tools in your arsenal at your hands yeah and this is definitely another critical tool and
another cool thing about this is you guys are describing and talking about it that I think is
interesting especially with technology this is we're just figuring it out we're just now knowing
who knows what else can come from this I always find that part interesting when it comes to stuff
where we we started uh having the internet on our phones to make it more accessible for the driving
or this or this and there's the billion of other things that they have been able to bring to us
a technology like this we've only scratched the surface I think of what it's what it can do
that's really interesting yeah no you have the love technology and this is a situation you know
that everybody's going to benefit from it we have just about two or three minutes left sir
well anything you want to touch on there uh jail still going well big shot out to you know
our county board and everybody that's been part of the project it should be done in about 10
months yeah that's impressive now as a kid growing up in construction too it's always
impressive to be with things around time yeah especially when you throw a pandemic and all these
other things in there that I mean that alone is impressive a shout out to them in that work
for you and your team is this starting to like as we you have a timeline the 10-month situation
we talked about this before the training that goes on in there is there some training already
happening yeah that has been doing our same job with the leadership team back with our correction
staff just going back there just visualizing it because it's so different than what they're used
to working right now or what we're used to working right now it's exciting you know for me just
to talk about it and to see it come together you know because we've been talking about it for
years and even before you know we met we've been talking about it or everybody has for so long
where all will never happen all you know this and you know I just give a lot of people credit
in our community and county board for taking a look at this and before yeah so yeah 10 months
we'll go by fast but hey it used to be talking about it sorry yeah yeah no and I'm going to be
bringing it up if you don't because I'm I'm excited to part of it too I think I make it just
as excited for our community as I am for what this can mean for you guys and our officers our
police officers and that you you you had me at safety from the day one with this topic so that
I'm very excited about too and Ben very it's been a fun and exciting conversation Jordan thank you
so much for stopping by it was good to see you don't be a stranger and and more nothing but
well wishes to you and yours going forward thanks for everything you've done appreciate you
sheriff always good to see you sir hey James thanks for putting up my guest
thanks for coming Jordan I love you really appreciate I'm very proud of you
uh we always send a shout out as well to our friends at Wisconsin Reps Community Media doing
amazing work in this community do yourself a favor go to youtube subscribe to that page and
keep up the date and all the great work that they're doing over there appreciate you guys
we'll have more midday magazine for you tomorrow right here in 97 5 FM 13 20 AM WFHR we are locally
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