The Kewaunee County Sheriff's Department has four members in its administration. Each of these four individuals have specific roles and play a vital part of the smooth operation of the department.

 

Command Structure in Brief


The Kewaunee County Sheriff's Department is under the command of Sheriff Matt Joski. The position of Sheriff is an elected position with a four year term. The Sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer for the entire county and has the responsibility of ensuring the day to day operations of the Sheriff's Department run smoothly and is a liaison between the County and the department.


Under the Sheriff is the Chief Deputy, held by Jason Veeser. The position of Chief Deputy is the highest non-elected position in the Sheriff's Department. The Chief Deputy receives orders from the Sheriff and is responsible for ensuring the directives set by the Sheriff are met by communicating with the lieutenants.


Next in command are the division lieutenants, held by Lt. Chris VanErem and Lt. Eric Zellner. Lt. VanErem directly oversees the Jail and Emergency Dispatch division and also serves the role of the Kewaunee County Jail Administrator. Lt. Zellner directly oversees the Patrol and Investigative division and commands law enforcement operations. These two positions receive directives from the Chief Deputy.
The two lieutenants listed above delegate authority to the four sergeants who directly supervise the deputies. Sgt. Erin Tuttle and Sgt. Patricia Schmidt supervise the operations in the Jail and Emergency Dispatch Division, while Sgt. Lawrence Ostermeier and Sgt. * supervise the operation in the Patrol Division.


Emergency Communications and Jail Division


Fifteen uniformed Deputies make up the Jail & Emergency Dispatch Division. These deputies have two responsibilities in this division. On rotating days, they must serve as Jail Officers in the County Jail and Emergency Dispatchers in the communication center. Each area is described below.


Deputies serving in the capacity as a Kewaunee County Jail Officer are directly responsible for the safety and security of the Kewaunee County Jail and the care and custody of all prisoners housed within. These deputies, on a daily basis, book in arrestees, perform prisoner transports to and from different county jails, and many other jail functions such as serving meals and escorting prisoners to and from court. Deputies interact with minimum and maximum security inmates and enforce county, state and federal law in the jail. Jail Officers also assist Emergency Dispatch as needed.


Deputies serving in the capacity as a Kewaunee County Emergency Dispatcher handle all emergency and non-emergency communications in the county. These types of communications, either in person or by telephone include: non-emergency calls for service, emergency 911 calls for help, dispatching of patrol squads, fire, and EMS units to calls of service, and communication between other sheriff and police departments across the state and country. Emergency Dispatchers are also responsible for: activating emergency sirens across the county in response to severe weather or nuclear emergency, monitoring jail security devices, assists with jail operations as necessary, and other communication functions essential to the operation of the Emergency Communications Center of Kewaunee County.


In addition to the Emergency Communications Center at the Sheriff's Department, a back-up facility is located at the Emergency Management facility in Luxemburg. This facility is utilized in case the Emergency Communications Center in Kewaunee needs to be evacuated or this center fails in effect of a disaster. All communications can be transferred instantly to the back-up facility in an emergency with no loss of service to our citizens we serve.


This division is under the direct command of Lt. Chris VanErem.


Patrol Division


The Patrol Division is the most visible division of the Sheriff's Department. Fourteen uniformed Patrol Deputies directly serve our county's 20,000 plus citizens, responding to their calls for service, and patrolling the county's 345 square miles of county, state, and town roadways. Kewaunee County is divided into two zones; north patrol and south patrol. At times, a shift sergeant squad manned by either Sgt. Lawrence Ostermeier or Sgt. *, is responsible for on duty supervisor duties as well assisting the other road officers with high risk calls or accidents.


All deputies are responsible for prevention and detection of crime, and response to citizen's requests for service and help. They provide complaint and motor vehicle accident investigations, make arrests for violations of Wisconsin State Law and traffic summonses. Sheriff's Deputies, in their patrol duties, are also responsible for the preservation of public peace, protection of life and property, and the arrest and prosecution of violators of the varied laws of the state, county, and local municipalities.


Patrol Deputies also provide services and assistance to the five Fire Departments, three Rescue Squads, Kewaunee and Algoma City Police Departments, and the Luxemburg Village Police Department. All Kewaunee patrol squads carry automatic defibrillators to give life saving help to persons suffering from a heart attack.


The patrol fleet squads are replaced every four years and at the time of replacement, squads will have in excess of 100,000 miles. Each squad is kept at the Deputy's home. Each Deputy is responsible for all maintenance and upkeep of the squad. "Take home squads" are also implemented in Kewaunee County for several other key reasons such as quick response to county emergencies and visual deterrence on and off duty in the communities the Deputy's live in. Each squad also has in car laptop computers.


This division is under the direct command of Lt. Eric Zellner.


The Kewaunee County Sheriff's Department has two full time members on our support staff, Tara Lacrosse and Angela Mueller. They provide a wide variety of services to all members of the department and Kewaunee County citizens such as records management, deputy report dictation, & civil process. Without the hard work and dedication of these two members, many services would not be possible.

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