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Keeping county residents safe

Waupaca County sheriff delivers annual report

By Robert Cloud


Waupaca County Sheriff Timothy Wilz

Waupaca County deputies patrol 765 square miles with 7,085 miles of state, county and municipal roads, 240 lakes and 79 rivers and streams.

The county is patrolled 24 hours per day, 365 days per year by 21 deputies.

Six sergeants, a lieutenant and a captain command the patrol division.

Sheriff Timothy Wilz delivered his annual report to the Waupaca County Board at its June 15 meeting.

He explained the work and staff of each division in the sheriff’s office.

The 911 Center has 13 communications officers when fully staffed, two sergeants and a captain.

Wilz said the communications officers monitor 12 radio channels, the 911 land lines and cell lines.

In addition to the sheriff’s office, the call center serves eight law enforcement agencies, 14 fire departments, five ambulance services, seven emergency responder units, state patrol, the DNR, the county highway department and utilities.

In 2020, the 911 Center received a total of 38,997 calls. Of those, 2,571 were hang-up calls and 916 were misdials.

“They don’t just answer and hang up,” Wilz said about how communications officers respond to hang-up calls. “They have to call these people back, leave a message, advise the officers and the officers, 90% of the time, are responding because we don’t know what’s going on there.”

Wilz said the 911 Call Center also handled 564,870 radio transmissions and 113,316 non-emergency phone calls.

Reserve deputies

A key component of the county’s Patrol Division are the part-time reserve deputies.

They perform such tasks as policing campgrounds, the Iola Car Show and Waupaca’s Strawberry Fest.

“We at one time had over 40 (reserve deputies). We were robust. Now, we don’t even have 30,” Wilz said, adding that less than half the reserve deputies are certified.

Wilz noted that his department must sometimes turn down requests for officers at special events because “we don’t have them.”

He attributed Waupaca County’s reserve officer shortage to fewer people wanting to join law enforcement at this time and to graduates of Fox Valley Technical College police training joining larger metropolitan forces for better pay.

Wilz said patrol officers issued 1,836 traffic citations, 271 ordinance violations and 8,881 written warnings in 2020.

Deputies responded to 407 crashes last year, five of which involved fatalities.

Among the top factors in vehicle crashes were drugs/alcohol (70), teen drivers (73), drivers over 65 (53) and speed (126).

Deputies also performed school patrols 2,718 times in 2020, driving through parking lots, monitoring school events.

“We make sure our kids are safe and our teachers are safe,” Wilz said.

Officers made 161 drunken driving arrests in 2020, compared to 143 in 2019 and 202 in 2018.

Water Patrol participated in two search and rescue operations, assisted 44 people and 28 vessels, issued 209 citations and 265 warnings, including 20 citations for boating while intoxicated.

The Waupaca County Sheriff’s Office has three K-9 units (Coda, Nova and Dom) who were deployed 189 times last year.

K-9 units were involved in 144 vehicle sniffs, 75 drug arrests, two school sniffs, 10 public presentations, two building searches and one arrest.

Detectives

The Detective Division employs six detective sergeants, two narcotics deputies, a property manager/evidence technician and one captain.

Detectives receive specialized training in interview techniques, evidence collection, death investigations, sexual assault, crimes against children, crime scene management, arson and photography.

Wilz noted that 1.4 pounds of marijuana that county narcotics officers seized last year was a relatively small amount “because their main focus is the stuff that’s killing people – heroin, cocaine, meth.”

Officers seized 31.42 grams (314 doses) of heroin, 25.53 grams of cocaine (255 doses) and 213.76 grams of methamphetamine (2,140 doses).

“These guys are doing a phenomenal job and the drug dealers, we’re out to get you,” Wilz said.

There are 38 corrections deputies, six corrections sergeants, one lieutenant and one captain working at the county jail.

In 2020, the jail booked a total of 1,587 people. Of those, 577 were by the sheriff’s office, 492 were safekeepers from other counties, 223 were by Waupaca police, 86 were by Clintonville police, 74 were by New London police, 36 were by Weyauwega police, 61 were for extended supervision violations and the rest were from Marion, Manawa, Iola and Fremont.

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