Fixing the relationship with DA’s Office
By Trey Foerster
Two candidates are vying for the position of Waupaca County Sheriff in the Tuesday, Aug. 9, primary election. The winner of that contest will most likely win the position in the Nov. 8 election.
You can read the first part of this series here.
You can read the second part of this series here.
Fixing relationships with the District Attorney’s Office
Both Cameron Durrant and Timothy Wilz stated in the June 16 debate that relationships with the Waupaca County District Attorney’s Office would have to be fixed.
Cameron Durrant
The following are the series of questions asked of Durrant.
How do damaged relationships with community partners such as DA office and Waupaca PD negatively affect public safety?
Is the Sheriff undercutting the DA’s ability to prosecute crimes? How is that affecting public safety? What would you do differently?
Is there a breakdown of professional communication between the Sheriff and defense attorneys? If so, why?
Why would the Chief Deputy under Sheriff’s Direction sign out complaints? Is that traditional SOP if not why has that changed?
Is it the role of the sheriff to decide which laws to enforce or is that up to the Waupaca County district attorney and Wisconsin attorney general? Explain your position.
In the June 16 debate, you identified leadership as a top priority. What do you mean by that and how will you fix it?
“The DA has filed approximately 80 motions to dismiss to the Waupaca County Clerk of Courts in the last couple of weeks. In those motions the DA states ‘Sheriff Wilz testified that he shared information with District Attorney Isherwood that was not true.’ He testified, ‘I guess I can say what I want to Isherwood, DA Isherwood.’ It further states in the motions ‘the DA’s Office tried to assure report were truthful and accurate in a number of ways. Affidavits were submitted to reviewing officers but Sheriff Wilz would not allow officers to sign. A variety of different introductory paragraphs that would assure that the investigating deputy’s reports were not changed were submitted to the Sheriff’s Office but those complaints went unsigned. Finally, on May 2, 2022 Sheriff Wilz informed the DA by email that they would be signing complaints with the agreed language, albeit under protest. All complaints would be signed by Chief Deputy Carl Artz.’
“This clearly shows the current breakdown of collaboration between the Sheriff and DA. I would immediately meet with the District Attorney and build a foundation of trust moving forward by understanding the expectations of that office with our department. I would be open to making changes to our office that is recommended by the District Attorney in regard to the police report issue. The process how police reports are accessed within the reporting system would change to only allow the authoring person to make any changes to the report. I would also require supplemental reports by authoring persons to document why any changes were made to any reports.
“Public safety is currently in jeopardy if the current motions to dismiss are granted and defendants have charges dropped because of the Sheriff’s lack of collaboration with the DA to fix the departments issue with reports. All departments, including Waupaca PD, are hesitant to work with the Sheriff’s Department because the department continues to operate as if nothing is wrong and the current motions, that have not been adjudicated, puts again the department’s report process into question. Not to mention every case that involves officers who have been made a Brady cop now have their credibility in question when it comes time to testify in court.”
Timothy Wilz
Incumbent Sheriff Timothy Wilz declined to answer the questions.
“I will have to respectfully decline to answer your 35 questions. My operation of the Sheriff’s Office and my campaign are consuming my time. No disrespect to you or your paper,” he noted in an email.
The questions were as follows:
Both you and Durrant stated in the June 16 debate that a 30-day goal would be to fix relationships with judges and the courts. Is there a breakdown of collaboration between the DA Office and the Sheriff? If so, why. How would you fix this?
How do damaged relationships with community partners such as DA office and Waupaca PD negatively affect public safety? What are you doing to fix these relationships?
Is the Sheriff undercutting the DA’s ability to prosecute crimes? If so, how is that affecting public safety? What would you do differently?
Is there a breakdown of professional communication between the Sheriff and defense attorneys? If so, why? What would you do differently?
Why does the Chief Deputy under Sheriff’s Direction sign out complaints? Is that traditional SOP, if not why has that changed?
Is it the role of the sheriff to decide which laws to enforce or is that up to the Waupaca County district attorney and Wisconsin attorney general? Explain your position.
Next Week: Candidate questions pertaining to Waupaca County Circuit Court.