Welcome everybody to midday magazine for this February 7th, 2024.
Have your host James J. Mailoff here and welcoming to the studio.
We have our great friends from Wisconsin's Raps Community Media.
I want to send a shout out to Joe and the gang over there.
Appreciate you guys so much.
We got to talk by the way more.
We got to talk later.
And it's a good thing.
It's a good thing.
And we have with us our good friend, Sheriff Sean Becker, representing our Wood County Sheriff's Department.
Sean, thank you so much for being here.
Oh, it's a pleasure.
Good to have you in studio, good to have you with us and in a little bit.
We're looking forward to bringing in a friend.
We have Lieutenant Susan Wagner with us.
Yeah.
And her therapy dog, Lola, she's outside right now making sure that she doesn't do something
inside that we would not like appreciate that.
We certainly appreciate that and really, really appreciate Lieutenant Wagner being with us so much
for the time.
And so we'll go ahead and we'll go right to her.
But then we got some notes from you.
I'm sure we want to get to.
Yeah, definitely.
Um, Lieutenant Wagner wants you to go ahead and be able to get situated first.
I'm sorry.
I don't want to put you on the spot right away as soon as you walk in the door.
I feel bad.
I don't mean to do that.
But thank you so much for being here.
Thank you for having us appreciate the time.
Um, first, I'm curious.
Are you in a particular department?
Do you have anything to do with the canine unit?
Or is this just a no, no, I am currently in the jail working as a lieutenant and, um,
it was now I am part of the canine, okay, at the department.
I imagine that that takes a bit of an adjustment going from there to there.
It's a quite a bit of different things that you got to learn and do in that.
Correct.
Yes.
So now I'm going to be going to be the ins training with Lola and for you or the dog.
I know.
So, um, yeah, it's a learning process for both of us.
Is this something you ever thought you would do in your career?
I have been hoping to be able to have a therapy job, a dog in the jail.
Um, I just figured that we would wait until we had the new jail or space and room.
And now with the new jail kind of on the horizon, this seems like a good time to do this.
Well, it's, it's a funny story, um, how this happened.
Um, Marshal Police Department, their police chief, Jody Garouin contacted me and there's
a breeder up in Marathon County that offered them a dog and they had just gotten a therapy
dog already.
And he said, you know, which was really nice.
Jody thought of us and gave it, gave us a call and I said, you know what?
Let me, uh, let me kick it around.
It does fit, you know, in our legacy grant that we got that we're looking towards how
we can expand our, our Kenan unit into, uh, you know, the mental health field, um,
because it's so needed.
And, um, so we kicked it around, you know, we started looking at where it would be the
best fit for the Sheriff's Department of Atherapy Dog, you know, on patrol, you know, maybe
with security services, you know, that's kind of the first thing that we thought of because,
you know, the exposure to the public would be, you know, quite a bit, you know, as people
coming in and out of the courthouse, we get the opportunity to, uh, see the therapy dog.
And then the jail and, um, you know, it was just by chance, Susanna, I were talking in
my office and, hey, we've got the opportunity, um, the spirit, who wants to give us the dog.
It's a pure, red, black lab.
And she jumped on it.
She's like, this is something that, you know, I've wanted to do for, you know, five plus
years.
Um, it really fits with our mental health initiatives in the jail, um, Susanna, Susanna does an awesome
job with our, our jail programming and a lot of the programs that, that we do like with
three bridges, like, uh, with Mid-State, she oversees those programs.
So it was like, oh, this makes 100% sense, you know, but under two conditions, one, she
had to get permission from her husband, Bill, yeah, yeah, and support.
And then also with our jail cap into the Ashback, you know, I mean, he needs and our leadership
needs to be on board within the facility as well.
And, uh, both of them gave a, a thumbs up and, and here we are.
Right now.
Yeah, we're really lucky and, and, and especially with the, um, legacy foundation, you know, with
a grant to our Kenan, you know, this just perfectly fits our initiative, you know, and
expanding what we want to do with the mental health initiatives that we've been, been
part of for so long.
The, um, I, we, I think as a society, I've already agreed on this, but it gets a little
bit, uh, gray in some areas when it comes to how certain individuals feel, but the
purpose of, of, uh, this is all to rehabilitate.
Yeah.
Uh, you, you do something wrong, you do your time, you come out and you're better and you
add to society.
This is the point of all of this, um, part of it, big part of it.
Yes, yes, big part of it.
When it comes to, while you are incarcerated, uh, and, and making you, hopefully, a better
person so that when you pop out, you are putting back into society.
How do we get a person to that place?
Uh, these are the things that we're learning and we're figuring out.
One of the things we have figured out in the science shows us, the numbers show this,
the therapy animals make a big impact, um, on the prison population.
Now this does this for retirement homes.
It does it for, um, you know, uh, special needs communities, like animals do this
all over the place as, as Lola's telling us, Lola's agreeing with me right now.
I got that right.
It's, uh, so I think that that needs to be put out there right away at, uh, the, the
point of this.
And I also want to get into what a therapy animal is.
Um, I, I think for a lot of people, they see headlines, they see, uh, you know,
a person tried to bring their therapy armadillo onto a plane with them.
And that's all that they see about these subject.
So let's, you know, talking about what therapy animals are and, and not only legally,
but what they are emotionally, if we can just a little bit it, and again,
not to put you in the spot, Susan, but X, I know you're a little new to the
industry, but it's something that you seem familiar with and you seem so good with
Lola. You guys seem like a really good together and everything.
So what is, uh, technically, what is a therapy animal?
Out there, the animal is going to provide emotional support for people who are
in distress, you know, a crisis situation.
Um, you know, it's, she's going to be allowed to, you know, be in the jail,
have the inmates see her focus on her.
They talk about their dogs.
They talk about, you know, what they have at home and it makes them in a better
place.
And for a few minutes, they can focus on something other than their immediate
troubles.
Yeah. Um, what should people know about therapy animals or, or, or, or in, in
this scenario, or whether it's in a jail in this situation or just in life in
general, you're, you're walking around, you see a therapy animal.
Most of the time therapy animals, you know, they want to be pet and they need
that interaction from everybody.
So they get used to the, you know, strangers.
So that interaction keeps progressing while they're in the training process.
Um, you know, they're just meant to be out there and, you know, love done.
Uh, I think for a lot of people, they, they either mix the worlds or get confused
a little bit by like by seeing eye dogs and a lot of the time with seeing eye
dog, you're not supposed to go and pet them.
You're not supposed to kind of distract them or are these things.
Therapy animals a little bit different.
Correct.
So those would be more service dogs, right.
And then Lola is going to be the therapy part of it.
And just get understanding these differences, I think only, you know, helps
going forward and certainly helps the animal and the person using the animal.
Uh, let's talk a little about Lola.
I've waited long enough.
I think I've been a good boy.
I think I've been good.
Uh, tell us a little bit about Lola if you don't mind.
So Lola is 11 weeks.
She's a black lab adore and she is, um, obviously in the puppy stage.
So she choose a lot.
Um, she is learning to be potty trained, but she has a great personality.
She loves to meet people and she's just pretty much happy and.
She's either running around full speed or sleeping right now.
Lola seems like the perfect type of animal for this job.
Um, what makes an animal a good therapy animal?
So, um, before we, we did not pick her out, the breeder picked her out for us.
And, um, because they raised these dogs for therapy.
So, um, she just said the way, you know, just, you could hold her.
She was loving, um, you know,
would play like a puppy, but then would also, um, head, you know,
would be relaxed and yeah.
When it comes to, uh, the impact Lola can have on, on the people that are incarcerated,
people that are in the jail that, um, and at, and I don't, uh,
will incarcerated people, certainly sure.
But, uh, even the rest of the staff there, uh, what kind of impact can she have?
What kind of positive can she bring?
Um, well, there be dogs have been proven to lower blood pressure, improve morale.
Um, everyone is happy to see her when I bring her in in the mornings and, um,
just throughout their day when they're having a stressful situation.
Um, sometimes we have, you know, incidents that take place that are really
a stressful and Lola just provide them a spot to just come in and
destress and forget about that and then move on with their day.
Yeah, yeah.
Um, I think that, uh, you don't have to stretch to find a reason of where,
what, and impact these animals can make.
Um, just the other night, my dad had a long night, heard himself,
I'm up all night with him, really stressful.
I got to be here five in the morning.
I, I'm not going to get any sleep and I'm all stressed out.
I'm rushing around and everything and I walk past and I see my fur brother, Sam.
And he's just sitting there laying down and like two in the morning, looks up at me
and just didn't look enough at me, stopped everything.
I just stopped, I pet him and I immediately felt better.
Like everything's cool, everything's all right.
Like animals do this for us all the time.
We've, we've kind of normalized what they do,
but it doesn't make it any less impactful or any less, uh, meaningful.
And it wouldn't be any different from your living room to the jail where these
animals can make this impact.
Correct.
And in just having Lola in a, you know, in a facility where you normally
would not see a dog and then just to see how she brightens up everybody's day.
Um, yesterday, um, I took her out by, we have court every day and, um, you
know, they get stressed before they go to court.
So I just brought her out and just kind of let them focus on her and let her, you
know, they got to pet her and meet her and there's this idea with some of society
and some people out there that once you are convicted of a crime that, uh, that's,
that's where the real punishment begins.
And that's where you really need to do, you know, this and this and this and all
where, um, that there's this idea from some people in society of, of this,
I sort of being too nice or too soft on crime or something like that that has
never made any sense to me.
I don't believe that is a real thing.
I don't think that truly exists.
I think that exists in some people's minds that don't understand and don't do
their homework on these subjects.
Um, a person is immediately paying for their crime.
The moment they are arrested and it begins there and it keeps continuing.
And it is on that person to learn and grow from that.
Now while they're in prison being able to do those things, uh, you got time on
your hands, you know, and order to keep that mindset, that mental health up is
important.
Animals can do that.
Now, um, it's, it's, it's, it all adds up to the overall goal here.
If you don't think that that's a kosher, if you don't like something like that,
I bet you like having a good society.
I bet you like having a better society.
This is one of the steps it takes to get to that.
This goes all the way back to our first conversation, sir, where you and I were
talking about ending that revolving door of how do we stop the, the person
keeps committing crimes?
Well, we know that it's not just, well, we got to tack on it.
And you know what, J walking 20 years for J walking, that'll do it.
Like, no, well, we've seen in society that doesn't work.
Oh, we'll try the three strike thing.
Oh, that doesn't work.
Okay.
Well, what can we do?
How do we make this work?
And you and your team along with many others around the country,
realize mental health is a big part of this huge.
All the sudden asking why people are doing these things.
This is part of that, those, that process, right?
Having therapy animals, having some of these things going on in the prison.
No, exactly.
Um, I don't know what else to say.
No, I, I completely agree with you, James.
Um, and like I said, the initiative that we've been doing the last years and
reference to mental health, not only with, you know, within the jail, but
out in the community as much as we can as far as training our, our deputies and
law enforcement officers and corrections officers, you know,
it's seguating and we had a CIT train yesterday, an advanced one, uh,
that was revolving around, um, addiction.
And we had talked about that before I went to the class last year and I told the
coordinators, I'm like, this needs to be, you know, brought up again for, you
know, our corrections officers and deputies.
So not only you can, you can see, you know, what drug trends are, you know, in
the area, right?
Now you can see what the effects are because the psychologist comes in, a
doctor comes in and it's seen what, you know, what does meth do to your brain?
What does cocaine, alcohol and then, uh, to bring it all together, you,
you bring in people in recovery and they come in and they talk to, you
know, the law enforcement officers.
So they, they share their story, you know, and it's a tough story that they're
going through and they're still going through it, but they're all at different
stages of their life through their recovery and people, um, you know, our
law enforcement officers seem to understand that, um, betraying them.
I'm very proud of the, the initiative that, that we've been doing, you know,
we're very fortunate that again, the legacy stepped up and, and, uh, awarded us
a grant for, you know, having done Christians and being our mental health
officers are, are dupy that, that's his job.
And, and that's going to be something before I retire, it's going to be expanded
upon because the need is there in the community, you know, and it's just
something that I'm very proud of, um, our department with the
niches that we've taken through, um, the mental health side of things because
it's, it's all connected addiction, mental health, it's, it's all connected.
And, and the people that are incarcerated, it's a, a very, very high, uh,
percentage of them are struggling from either addiction or mental health
issues or illnesses or combination are most likely both.
And, uh, and I've always said when people are, are in custody, it's our job to
provide some opportunities for them to realize they need help and, and we have
help available. And then it really fits so well, I'm really, really happy
that Susanna, um, she's doing an awesome job at her department.
She's been with us since, I can't probably say, but I'm going to, like, really
two thousands and, uh, you know, she's one of our, our leaders in the jail
and she's doing an outstanding job.
Some of you that, um, we all look up to, uh, it's not easy being a
corrections officer if you compare around, you know, other counties and, and, uh,
predicament that they're in with trying to find staff.
Now, we're looking for staff, but not to the level of you see other, other
sheriff's departments or the prison system and a lot of that's because of,
and she kind of hit on it or hinted on it.
The morale, uh, the morale within an organization is huge.
If you have poor morale, you're, you're losing a lot of people.
Uh, they just don't want to come to work. Um, and I, I think that our morale,
morale never be perfect at any organization that you work at.
You know, I'm sorry, but that's this reality, but it can be good.
And, and where I look at it, you know, as in the position that I have,
when people aren't leaving as much as in comparison to other, you know,
counties and the prison system, it says a lot about our team that we have a
pretty good morale and that's a big part of the, you know, of Lola.
I mean, once we, you know, made the notification to the sheriff's department,
all of our staff, hey, we're going to get a therapy dog.
The positive feedback that we were getting from our staff, especially in the
jail was just overwhelming to say, Hey, we made a, we, our team made a great
decision together to move forward with this and that means a lot.
The, um, the impact on the clientele, the, the, you know, the
prisoners in the jail, it's certainly noteworthy and something we've touched on.
But I don't want it to get lost in the shuffle, either of the impact Lola can
have on the staff and in Sheriff Beck or touching on that.
You've touched on that a little bit, Susan. Um, that, that's something that goes
a little bit farther than I think we can really put in the words.
And, and when we talk about the people that are some of the bravest people in
our society, individuals like yourselves that are taking on these jobs that are
doing the jobs and not everybody will do, uh, I, I want you guys happy.
I want you guys feeling pretty good.
I want you guys into, in pretty good spirits.
I would think everybody in, in this community would, um, when it, when it comes
to that, uh, you, you mentioned something I think really noteworthy, sir.
Uh, when you mentioned the morale, both of you have the morale in the jail,
the morale at the, at the department and these things.
If I said here at WFHR, I'm morale was good.
That's, you know, pretty understandable.
I think most people would understand it would, would, would not only agree with
that or would say, Hey, yeah, that makes sense.
Of course, it should be.
You guys are, you know, entertainment, all that.
You tell me that the, your department, your people are in a good spirits,
have good morale.
That's really saying something like that is really impressive.
That is not only encouraging and good to hear for all of us as citizens that
have your back and that appreciate what you guys do.
But just in general, just, okay, that's, that's very cool to hear.
I don't want to, I want to skate past that.
That's really interesting.
No, appreciate bringing it up.
When it comes to other things that Lola can do in the community,
do in the community, I think that that's another noteworthy part of this too.
We're always talking about, it's, whether it should be on your shoulders or not,
I think is a whole other discussion.
I don't think it should be, but it is on your guys' shoulders often times to
build this bridge between community and law enforcement to, to strengthen those ties.
Dogs are great.
Dogs do help do that.
I mean, they're great.
They're a great icebreaker.
They're a great way, especially with kids.
And I think that that impact she can bring is also noteworthy.
Yes.
I think it's going to be very important to get Lola out into the community at events
and be able to meet the public because, yes, she is the department's dog,
but she's also the community and part of it.
Yeah.
We wanted to get out there and, you know, meet people is Lola ready for it?
Is she ready for the big time?
Is she ready?
She thinks, she thinks, yes, it's definitely,
right now.
Work it up.
So right now, she's going to start obedience classes the end of this month.
We're going to keep her in obedience classes until she's a year to become
certified as a therapy dog.
They do not do the actual certification process until they are a year old.
Interesting.
I didn't know that.
So then after she becomes a year, we'll still be working with her up until that
time and then hopefully get her certified right away.
Right now, she's, you know, we limit her access to everybody, you know, in the
jail and out in public, I'm always with her.
And right now, that's the way it'll be until she becomes certified.
So as far as you and Lola goes, how has that bonding been going?
How are you guys doing?
Oh, well, I love dogs.
Lola has four other brothers at home.
Nice.
And three of them are 95 pounds plus.
So she's pretty tiny, but they all lover and play with her and she's getting
along very well, very good to hear.
Getting in very, very good to hear.
That's and that's a great part of this too, because Susanna has, you know,
other animals at home.
So Lola can be acclimated not only with people, but other animals as well.
And that's that's important because as Susanna and Lola get out in the
community, there's going to be a lot of that interaction coming up, whether
she likes it or not.
How does, how does this tie into or does it tie into the canine unit?
Yeah, she's part of the canine unit.
Obviously a different role, different kind of dog.
This is a, you know, a therapy dog.
It's not a typical law enforcement dog that, you know, it can go out on
deployments for, whether it's either a drug investigation or, or, you know,
any type of those things that we talked about in the past.
So it's different, but she's still part of the can, you know, it would
be interesting to see her on a, on a call just because it is a very
different animal, a very different dog, an scenario, I'm sure.
Yeah, Ash gosh, PD has a dog, a therapy dog that's assigned to patrol.
So any of those, you know, calls the service that revolve around mental
health, you know, or a high stress call that is now at a point where it's
calmed down where there can be interaction with, you know, victims,
whether it's a child or, or somebody of a sexual assault or something like
that, that's a good role to, to bring a dog in where you have, you know,
people's feelings and emotions at such a different level where they,
they need to calm down and talk to us.
So that's a, that's a great role for a therapy dog.
And in this, that you teed me up perfectly, sir, where I wanted to kind of
wrap up the conversation, at least as far as talking canines and talking
therapy animals and that when it comes to therapy, I, I imagine in order to
be an officer to be in the position that you guys are, you guys took plenty
of a psychology classes and therapy club.
No, no, that's, that's right, because it's not supposed to be on your plate.
So if we're going to put those kind of things on your plate and we're going
to put you guys in those situations, well, we wouldn't send you out there
without a vest, we wouldn't send you out there without, without your badge,
without all of your equipment.
This is part of the equipment now.
This is one of the things it helps with that.
It's the least we can do as a society is giving you guys all the tools you
need and something like this is a big part of your arsenal, big part of your
toolkit. Definitely.
Yeah, it, like I said, in the beginning of the show, this, this really fit,
you know, those mental health initiatives that that we've been doing, you
know, throughout the years and especially, we're so grateful to the legacy and
the foundation that has been at such a huge supporter of us and
inner cannon units.
So this is a perfect opportunity to, you know, use the money that we're,
we're awarded towards, you know, therapy dog.
Yeah. We're going to take a quick time out.
We'll be back with more with County Sheriff's Department and our friends at
Wisconsin Rapids Community Media right here on Midday Magazine at WFHR.
Welcome back everyone to Midday Magazine for this February 7th, 2024.
Have your host James J. Mail off here.
We're joined by our friends with Wisconsin Rapids Community Media.
And of course, I would County Sheriff's Department chair Sean Becker with us.
Sean, I know you've got some other things we want to touch on today.
Where do you want to start?
Start with Gary.
Gary Platt passed away a good friend of mine.
I want to thank you and everybody here for the opportunity of getting him to
come on to the radio show.
You know, he made his 500th game at Lambel and the organization at Green Bay
was phenomenal.
Mark Murphy came out and greeted him, the upgraded his seat.
So he was comfortable and had a had a had a great time.
I just, you know, wish we had more time with him.
He, you know, we knew he was struggling, you know, the last several months.
You know, you could tell the cancer was getting to him.
But, you know, he still had a upbeat attitude and wanted to be around people.
And, you know, he made his personal goal of that game.
And then, you know, the people at Review Hospital treated him so well.
There was an opportunity where, and it's for me, he had a little party.
And they were okay with that, you know, they invited a lot of his closer friends,
you know, that he knew from tip up.
And we all made it there and had an opportunity just to listen to him talk.
And the stories that that man had, it was fun to listen to and a lot of history
there, not only just about packer games, what about life, life in general.
And it's very unfortunate.
It's sad, but, you know, those situations aren't up to us.
Like I said, I wish he was here with us today, but he isn't spirit.
Yeah.
He's looking down right now.
He's not in pain anymore.
And, you know, it's just a part of life that's hard.
But really appreciate you bringing Gary to on the air with us
and having the time with him felt humbled to be able to talk with him
about in just in general in life and the kind of person he was and everything.
Certainly sending our thoughts, our feelings, our hearts out to all of his loved ones,
his friends, like yourself, people that cared about him.
I saw that news and it broke my heart and at the same, at the same time,
I was humbled and thankful that we got the chance to talk with Gary.
That was really great to be able to have that moment.
Yeah, full bottom of my heart.
Thank you, James, for the opportunity of getting him to come.
I didn't think he would.
Yeah.
It was kind of a last minute deal.
And I'm like, hey, what are you doing?
And then he agreed to come and just talk about his life and that was fun.
And you know, Gary always made Julian, I feel comfortable when I would go to tip up
and just sit down and have a beverage and he's like, you know,
you're not here to talk about work.
You're here just to be you and relax.
And that was like the first thing that I knew him from other events.
And then he started to hang out there periodically.
And I'll never forget that.
It's like, okay, because you know, sometimes when you're in situations,
people like to do shop talk and whatnot.
And he'd always be very protective of me and tell me, okay, knock it off.
You know, and I didn't mind if people brought work.
I mean, it's, hey, it's part of the job.
I get that.
But he's always, you know, protective of us of, let them enjoy himself
and, you know, and be a normal person, whether whatever that means.
I don't think people understand that.
I don't think a lot of people even think about that when it comes to that position
or a lot of positions like it and everything.
You're able to go somewhere and just be Sean.
Yeah.
And that has to mean, I didn't mean the world to you, I'm sure.
He did.
And that's exactly what he said, James.
He just wants to be, be Sean, you know, you're not to call him, be sure.
If you call me Sean and, you know, I'd love to have a conversation with anybody
about anything, you know, and works fine.
But, you know, he was very, very protective about that and really led down to just an awesome
close friendship.
It's a good guy.
Yeah.
I'm going to be missed.
He is.
He is.
But, you know, at tip up, they've got the ball that Mark Murphy gave him that was personalized
to Gary on display and they're going to keep adding to some things that that some people
who come there.
They can, they can take a look at it.
Shout out to them at tip up that good, good on them.
That's great.
It's down to great people.
Yeah.
Oh, we had some other news we were going to get.
Yeah, Polar Plunge went last last weekend over at Anchor Bay.
They did it a little different this year and now that I've gone through it, I liked
it where they had you run in and run out and like the anxiety of it never changes.
It's like, this is going to be cold.
Yeah.
I've done it for, I don't know, how many years, well over 10 and so it's different just
because of the, the weather being so mild out there.
So our team did awesome, Terry Johnson raised the most money, one of our deputies, but we
had a team of 10 people and I put the goal out of like, hey, if you raised $7,500, I'll
plunge.
Yeah.
Well, they did.
Nice.
Nice.
Which is great.
We raised about $11,000 and again, big shout out to Terry, recruited a friend, Joel Rabitski,
I swarm in for an hour and gave him a uniform.
He raised over $2,000 to and said, he said next year, if he plunge less, he wants to
wear an orange uniform with us and we can do a skit like, well, I'll tell you what, we'll
talk about that and maybe put a dollar amount on that as well.
So if we raise the money, we'll do that, but overall, you know, it's just a team did awesome,
very proud of him.
It's nice to see, you know, new people get involved with a lot of our corrections officers
have been taking the plunge last couple of years and I'm really proud of them for stepping
up because a lot of the patrol people, except for a couple of Brandon Christensen and Terry
Johnson, otherwise, you know, a lot of our seals took part of it.
So it's great to see fresh faces do this and continue on.
It's just such a great partnership with Special Olympics and I know you've had coal on here
quite a bit and he crushed it.
He raised over $16,000.
Nice.
That was a record for him.
Well done, young man.
Nice.
Yeah.
Hopefully he'll keep plunging.
Yeah.
You know, he's done it now 10 years.
Wow.
Yeah.
So just, yeah, I can imagine he's probably raised close to, you know, over $150,000 through
all that time for him.
That's what I was thinking.
The amount of years you mentioned, how many years you've done this and now you say something
like that and the first thing I thought of was, well, dang, how much money you've raised
over those time, how much awareness you've probably raised over those years.
That's impressive.
Yeah.
I don't know.
The word impressive doesn't seem to cover it, but that's all I got.
It is.
That's impressive.
It just shows a lot about our community, you know, getting behind some really awesome
causes and this has been there for, you know, there for several years and it's nice to
see the venue back out at Anchor Bay.
The folks there just did a phenomenal job having the event, you know, the McElps and
Warders just did a great job getting volunteers, staff and because, you know, it was really crowded
and they had the parking, you know, worked out.
They worked with us with our rescue unit, you know, beer and fire department.
They had everything, you know, working together where the event just went off without a hitch
and it was a nice southbound was there.
So once the jumping got done, they put on a great concert, great local band.
Great.
Yeah, I can't say anything but positive things about the community event and how many people
work together to make it happen.
So again, another polar plunge in the books, I'm really proud of Ashley Hansen.
She oversees the this region for the special emphasis on known her for quite a while.
So there's just so many, you know, great people and positions to make this happen.
I wish I got to talk to her more than once a year because actually it's awesome.
She's fantastic.
Was this the the warmest one you've been a part of?
Yeah, but the water was still cold.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think it's still Wisconsin.
Yeah, you know, honestly, James, I think it probably probably was.
I didn't need to sit in the hot tub very long.
I walked in, touched the end and then ran out and yeah, it went real well.
The money and the awareness raised for Special Olympics is first and foremost and so impactful,
so important.
We know the great work that it does.
We see it all the time and a big shout out to everybody, a part of it for those reasons,
certainly.
We were just talking earlier with Susan and about community involvement in that, and
that part of this really is a key part of it too.
Yeah.
No, it's that interaction.
Anytime you can get the opportunity to have that positive interaction with law enforcement,
it's those are the best opportunities to have, you know, just because, you know, unfortunately,
there's situations in the community that we get involved in that can be viewed as negative.
I mean, we have to do our job.
Yeah.
The community policing that's been out there forever is just so important for any law
enforcement to take part in, whether it's the polar plunge or any other, you know, event
that, a community event that's out there, and that's why, you know, you love to talk
about Arcana and, you know, because that's a big thing, a bigger quest that we get, you
know, whether it's at schools or you name it any type of public event, you know, the
bluegrass folks.
And we were talking with them yesterday, we had an event over in Calder, at the Calder
Cafe, where we did a cough with a cop, sure, if Mike Lucas reached out, hey, you want
to do this again, where we combine and we have, you know, members from both of our departments
there.
And we advertise that.
We had a really good showing.
And then the folks, the representatives from bluegrass on the lakes were there.
And they wanted to, you know, get in connection with Sheriff Lucas because the fundraising,
they do for a system team, they want to see that expand outside of, of what county and
combine into porch county, you know, and get that working within, you know, porch county
as well.
And that was a great contact to have yesterday.
And that's those community events that are out there that are so important to be part
of.
Again, with the K9 unit, Susanna is going to have a great opportunity to get out there,
you know, as Lolo gets trained, gets a little bit bigger, you'll, you'll see her, you'll
quite a bit out in the community.
We talk about community involvement and you and I talked on this a number of times.
If I, I like to show the person behind the badge that you are not just a badge that you
are a human being and creating more of that in our society, more of that empathy and
those opportunities, we, we talked about building that bridge from, we'll all work, you
know, law enforcement to our community and that.
Something I don't think we've touched on a lot and, and something that I didn't think
about until you and I started talking was the end of this of the recruitment part of
that, that some of these interactions in, in the community, some of these interactions
with a different events and everything, they're also an opportunity to recruit to, to,
to, to, to, whether it's young people who are not sure where they're going to go with
their careers or a person who has never made me thought about this, but hey, I'm of age,
I'm in shape.
Yeah.
Maybe I should be in the law enforcement.
We are, we are in need of good people.
Yeah.
And that's just in general right now.
I'm not even just talking about law enforcement, I just mean a general in society.
Right.
A little alone in this field, the, the, the, the, the, the importance of this is only
going to get more and more as we go along here.
And you mentioned earlier that you got some positions open.
So, you know, when it comes to that part of this, I think it's a key part of it too, an
important part.
Hey, we, we're always looking for good people in this industry.
Yeah.
No, I, we've talked about that before on how, you know, the interest in law enforcement
is trying to down so much, you know, and comparing to when I started my career in, in 1995, you
know, competing against hundreds of people just to work, you know, here in Central Wisconsin
and having to lead to get, leave the area to get some experience somewhere.
And, and that's what people were in the smaller agencies or more rural areas we're, we're
looking at.
And that's the way it was now.
It's completely different.
I mean, I feel that the numbers are trending now.
I was going to ask.
Yeah.
And, the enrollment at the Academy at Midstate Technical College, the last few academies
have been full, where they're, they're averaging around 24 students.
And what you're seeing now, most of the students are not sworn.
They're not sponsored by a law enforcement agency, but now you're seeing more agency sponsoring
people.
You know, we, we've done it before with Terry Johnson, who I brought up.
He came out from our jails, one of our sergeants, a leader back there and, and during his spot.
And we put him through the academy.
He's very rare.
I think we've only done that a couple of times in our career.
Sarah McCormick, years ago, also, she was working in jail and worked her way to the road,
but that was over 20 some years ago.
But if you talked to other law enforcement agencies, especially around here, you know, Mike
Lucas said that, he goes, you know, we're sponsoring somebody in the academy, you know,
right now.
You know, they have a job coming out, back in the day, it wasn't like that.
But I still look at the numbers.
I think the general interest is coming back, you know, towards law enforcement.
It's an, it's an awesome career.
Of course, I'm somewhat biased because I've been doing it so long, but, but I could, I
could speak from the heart that this is something that, you know, I truly enjoy.
I love it.
You know, not just this position, but just, um, just being a law enforcement officer working
for the team that we have is, is huge.
And I think if, you know, people see that more and more, you're going to see that trend
up, you know, continue to move out.
We'll get back to what it was in the mid 90s.
You know, I don't know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But we're starting a new recruitment process for our, um, Debbie Sheriff eligibility list.
We're going to be opening that up relatively soon here.
Our civil service commission is going to put that together, um, probably in about a month.
So we'll be accepting applications.
We did have one opening that we filled with, uh, Ted Ashbeck, uh, junior, um, familiar
name.
And that is the jail captain in overseas or jail.
So it's a pretty probably moment.
I love to get them both on the radio show that we got to talk about, you know, their
careers together.
Uh, now they're going to be at the same department.
Ted's got a few years left and he's doing a phenomenal job with, um, you know, running
our current jail and then, you know, overseeing this huge project on the new jail.
Yeah.
He's just doing a phenomenal job.
And I'm, I'm really happy that he's going to, you know, stick out at least another three,
three plus years and get the opportunity to work with his son.
Um, Scott Sager, one of our lieutenants will be retiring probably sometime this year.
Hmm.
So I'll have another opening that we'll, uh, we'll address soon.
But otherwise, um, we've been doing really well.
And Susanna helps oversee our hiring process for corrections.
And she does a phenomenal job, you know, keeping, um, you know, up the date with applicants.
And, um, you know, we've been adding staff because of the new facility.
She's done a really nice job of, uh, filling those positions.
It's certainly, um, it's, it's, you know, well, it's not apples and oranges, but it's
two different types of apples comparing and everything.
But, uh, for the interview, I thought in, in this topic, um, about a month or two ago,
I reached out to some people that I know, uh, in the Chicago police department and some people
over in that area and just talking about recruiting and talking about how that's going
and everything.
And they've seen a jump, not a huge jump, but they've seen a jump in these things.
And I bring up Chicago because, you know, most people is watching news, no one
understand, you know, what's going on and what has been going on.
I will note that Chicago is not a war zone.
Uh, you can go to Chicago and have a good time and be safe.
Uh, I, I, I, I, I, I don't want anybody thinking that you can't go to that beautiful city,
but it is no worthy.
And I think most people understand the, the violence and some of the things that go on,
but they're seeing an increase in recruiting.
And I asked, well, what, where is the numbers?
What are the age range and it's young people and it's, it's, it's so many people
that over the last five to 10 years have seen some of the stuff that's gone on.
And, and we're seeing this not just in law enforcement and politics and a lot of other things.
And young people aren't waiting anymore for us to retire, or move out of the way,
or for us to, you know, for them to hit a certain age to be able to make an impact on their
community. They're doing this now. Um, the, the young person that's growing up and,
and grew up and thinking, well, I don't, I don't like bad cops.
Well, they become a good one, right?
You know, instead of just complaining instead of going online and posting a bunch of,
uh, comments or something like that, you know, pick up the badge and get to work.
And that's what so many of them are doing.
And then we see here in our own community and some of these things that you touched on.
We're seeing more and more of that.
So, yeah, numbers may not be where they used to be or anything, but maybe the quality
and the type of person we are getting is only going to make our, our society safer and,
and more inviting more of what it should have been, what, what we've always been wanting
it to be. Yeah. No, I agree.
I, I really like the way the numbers are going, um, you know, I always bring up
Kurt Hoyer and his role over a mid-state.
I think that helps, you know, quite a bit.
And, uh, no, we're, you know, I'm excited to see the future.
And we're lucky.
We don't have like lots of openings, um, our departments fairly young, you know,
at that middle age of, you know, I think probably the average age of our deputies
around mid-30s, you know, so you're not going to see a, a huge amount of
retirements coming this way.
I mean, I'll probably, I'd just say it, probably the next one in about six years.
Or, you know, Doug Christiansen and I are pretty close to agents.
So Sarah McCormick, but, um, we're lucky.
We have an agency that you don't see the, the door or that revolving door.
That, that's actually kind of funny that you think we're going to let you retire.
That's pretty funny. That's pretty good.
A little more time to talk with me for about six more years.
A little bit longer. Uh, you mentioned the aspects.
And I wanted to touch on that again, because that is pretty cool.
How often does that happen? Where you know, you know, you know, speaking of recruiting
and a lot of that, there isn't a whole ton of, um, of that you see in this industry.
And, and, and this community and everything to see that is pretty cool.
It was, you know, and, and I go back to a conversation Ted and I had in the squad
room, probably like five years ago, when, when Teddy, his son was going to white
water. He's a assumption grad and, you know, great football player and, and went
down to, um, white water.
And I don't think initially his thought or plan was to, you know, go into law enforcement
and, uh, and Ted senior didn't want him to, you know, and, and I, and he's like, oh,
if he does, I'm not going to pay for school and whatever.
And I'm like, I go, oh, you know, and, and we didn't argue.
But I'm like, well, if you're the one of my daughters wanting to, to be part of this
profession, I'll be a resource and let you make that decision on your own.
You know, but, you know, that's how parents are.
And then I think, you know, I don't know, he'll have to explain at what point where he
thought, you know, I, I want to, I want to get, be part of this team.
I want to be part of the law enforcement profession and probably a half way through
his college career or somewhere in that point.
It's like, hey, I want to, uh, I want to be a cop, you know, and we hired him as a part
time deputy and we knew he, he's a good one and we didn't have any, um, and he
opened his at the time, but Porge County hired him and he had been working for
Porge about eight, nine months.
And then we had unexpected opening and he was number one on our list.
And, uh, we gave to him and he took it.
Sheriff Lucas wasn't relics happy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, we could, uh, you know, hey, it is what it is.
And he sees poached from you too.
He's a, uh, and then he has, but, um, no, we're lucky.
And he's got some experience.
He's very smart, um, you know, like a set of years,
four year degree over at Whitewater and I'm proud to see him come back and get the
opportunity to work at the Wood County Sheriff's Department, you know, with his dad,
not for his dad, with his dad and just, uh, when we swarm and we don't have a big
ceremony, like some other agencies do and, you know, maybe someday we should.
But, um, when we swore Teddy and, um, you know, his dad was there.
Mom, Pamela works for human services and, uh, his, uh, sister works up in the
court's office.
It was just a cool department moment where you can really see that, you know, and Ted
senior game is bad, you know, that passed along.
So it was, uh, really, special moments that I was really proud to be part of.
Hmm.
Uh, so we've got just a couple of minutes left, uh, anything you wanted to touch on
before we wrap up.
Oh, congrats, uh, Sheenabal, um, she, uh, just finished her, uh, certified, uh,
license, uh, uh, professional counselor.
Cool.
She works on her contract with, uh, a rivers you, behavioral health, the
spires, behavioral health, um, and does our, uh, it make, um, mental health, you
know, counseling.
So she, uh, worked really hard, um, working full time, having a, uh, a child and, um,
going through to get that so, correct.
She, pretty impressive.
Well, I have to have her on the radio, but I'm really proud to have her part of the
team.
We had Rebecca Ashback, uh, one of our jail nurses leaves.
She's going over to Winnebago mental health.
So, um, understood that, but, uh, we'll miss her.
Um, she's a, a great fit and hated to see her go and maybe she'll get some experience
over there and come back, you know, that's kind of, uh, what we had bought up, um, what
else do we, uh, we had a hit and run last Friday and, uh, that was on a range of
road where, uh, a seven year old, uh, uh, male subject, uh, ran into another truck that
was being loaded up onto a vehicle, uh, or it's on a trailer.
And, uh, some people were, were hurt, but not seriously, thankfully, but, um, decided
to take off.
And really, um, bothers me, um, Charlie Hooestegger, um, Captain, you know, let me know on Friday
when it, when it happened and then had a plan on what we're going to do to get that information
out to the public and we did, uh, quite, quite rapidly on, uh, social media and, and we
got tips.
Um, so we, again, want to thank the community for, for helping us with that.
Those are tough investigations sometimes.
And, you know, um, the, the driver, um, you know, it, it's, it's upsetting.
I mean, yeah, because he, he left the scene and, okay, all right, you're, you're shaking
up, like, get it, but then do the right thing and call, you know, what he did, he, he called
a salvage yard to get parts for his vehicle because they're left at the scene.
Yeah.
That's criminal thinking.
Yep.
Yeah.
And maybe this individual isn't a criminal, but now what you're thinking after the
fact and we had another one similar to that, you know, west of Wisconsin, rapids that,
it's the same thing.
It's just like, you know, do the right thing.
You get home and, and, and I, and I get it.
I think we all get it as long as the first boss.
There's your, yeah, you should stay at the scene.
There's a reason why you took off, all right.
We'll figure that out later, but, you know, these are people's lives that you put in
jeopardy and you did the wrong thing.
Yeah.
You're only compounding it, making it worse by doing that.
You're, you're doubling down in the wrong direction.
You're, you're only making the situation worse and, uh, the, the, the, some, so many
people out there don't, don't think that they're criminals, uh, but then they do criminal
things that turns you into a criminal, like that most criminals don't think of themselves
as criminals.
They just are.
You're exactly right.
Uh, once you, you open up, you, you pick up that phone and you call, you know, a salvage
yard to get, yeah, to get parts, all right.
You stepped down exactly what you just said, yeah, probably a good person.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But now you, you started to think like a criminal and, and look at the, you know, people's
lives.
And every jail in America has good people in it.
Yeah.
Like everyone, like anybody can fall into this and everybody can be this person, be the
right type of person, stick, stay there, stay there, you know, do it.
And it's going to be a lot easier and a lot better and a lot less on you than it would
be otherwise.
Um, sir, thank you again so much for the time.
I'm always good to talk with you, Sean.
And people have follow questions.
They want to talk with you about other things.
How can they reach you?
Give me a call to share us from any time.
Appreciate the time from you.
Thanks so much for, uh, to Lieutenant Susan Wagner for joining us, of course.
We really appreciate the time from Susan and a gigantic thank you to Lola, big, big
thank you to Lola.
We really appreciate her being here, uh, thanks to Joe and the gang over at Wisconsin
Rappers Community Media.
Appreciate you guys as well.
We'll look forward to talking next month for the card.
Thanks.
We'll be back at you.
We'll have more of Midday Magazine for you tomorrow right here on WFHR locally grown radio.
