Statewide policing trends show low numbers of applicants, higher crime; local chiefs weigh in

Editor’s note: The following story will be published in two parts. Recently a report produced and shared broadly for publication by the statewide nonprofit news agency, The Badger Project, pointed to trends in policing, noting that law enforcement agencies across the state were experiencing “historic lows” when seeking applicants to serve in law enforcement jobs, while simultaneously experiencing increases in crime. Fort Atkinson Online has interviewed both Fort Atkinson Police Chief Adrian Bump, who has served in law enforcement since 1998, and is an eight-year veteran serving as chief with the force, and Whitewater Police Chief Dan Meyer, who has served with the force since 2010, and was installed as its chief in August. Part 1, featuring our interview with Bump, follows. 

By Kim McDarison 

A recent news story shared broadly and written by The Badger Project’s managing editor Peter Cameron reports statewide trends showing a decrease in applicants in Wisconsin for law enforcement jobs. At the same time, the report notes trends across the state of increasing crime rates. 

A link to The Badger Project’s story is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/the-badger-project-number-of-police-in-wisconsin-at-historic-lows-continues-to-drop/. 

In separate interviews, Fort Atkinson Police Chief Adrian Bump and Whitewater Police Chief Dan Meyer talked about policing trends in their respective communities and compared them with those reported statewide. 

Following are comments from Bump. Comments from Meyer will be published in a separate story. 

Building, maintaining a force 

Responding to questions about the recently reported statewide trends, Bump said his force was recently increased in size by two sworn officers. The positions were made possible as part of an EMS referendum approved by the city of Fort Atkinson’s voters in April. 

With the addition of the two new positions, his force has 22 sworn officers. While he described 22 sworn officers as a “good force,” he would like to see it grow to 24 sworn officers, he said, adding that budget constraints make that a “big ask.”  

Other changes within the department — including two retirements and a third one pending — have facilitated a need to hire more officers, he noted, adding that Sept. 12 marked an application deadline for two positions and two officers will be coming online in January. 

As a comparison, Whitewater Police Chief Dan Meyer said in a recent interview he has 24 sworn officers, which, he noted, is the same number of sworn officers the department had when he joined as a patrol officer in 2010. 

Bump agreed Fort Atkinson was seeing trends similar to those described statewide. The department has been receiving fewer applications when searching for new officers, he said. 

“In the 90s, it would not have been unusual to have 200 to 400 applicants for a single position. That started tapering down in about 2000, and in the last two or three years, we are seeing between 7 to 20 applicants for a single position,” he said. 

On Thursday, he said, “We have a position open and we’ve been advertising for 30 days now. We have had nine applications returned so far and from that group, seven will proceed to the next step. Normally, at this stage, we would have right around 12.” 

Comparing the numbers of applicants with those received recently in Whitewater — which Meyer earlier told Fort Atkinson Online was about 25 — he said: “They have a college with a criminal justice program, so it makes sense that they can attract bigger numbers of applicants because those potential applicants are already in the community and going to school in that career field. It’s true in bigger cities, too, where they have more applicants.”  

Still, Bump said: “We have been lucky with the people we’ve been hiring. We have great people. One out of 12 is a good fit for us and meets our minimum qualifications, so that’s good.” 

Looking at causes for the decrease in applicants, Bump cited recently formed perceptions about law enforcement, often influenced by depictions advanced by the media. 

“Social media and other media outlets haven’t been doing us any favors in the last 24 months. There have been a lot of accusations towards law enforcement,” he said, adding that, in his view, many have been “unfair and not accurate.” 

He said unfair representation in the media is occurring more frequently at the state and national level. 

“They are not helping to paint an actual, real-life picture of what law enforcement is and what we do in our communities. There is too much focus on 1% of the issues and not enough on the 99% of our successes,” he said. 

Also, he said, some hiring trends affecting law enforcement are representative of changes in the overall workforce. 

Young people are not excited about working nights, weekends and holidays, he said.  

Additionally, the structure of public employment is not as glamorous as it used to be, he said adding:  “Pay is an obstacle. They can get better pay in the private sector.”  

In Fort Atkinson, the starting salary range for a patrol officer is $29.11 to $37.87 an hour. 

But, he said, the traditional tradeoff of receiving better benefits in the public sector is still in place. 

As listed on a recent flier advertising patrol officer positions, new officers in Fort Atkinson will receive benefits such as the Wisconsin retirement fund, health insurance, life insurance, sick leave, dental, vision, 10 paid holidays, a clothing allowance, longevity pay, deferred compensation and vacation. 

“Since I’ve been here — I came eight years ago — the focus has been to invest in our people and help them grow in their career,” Bump said. 

To that end, the department looks to promote from within.  

“We had two supervisors retire and another one is retiring in six months. They were all replaced internally. We focus on training and development because those were their future goals. My goal is for the next chief to come from within the department. (The agency’s) last two chiefs were hired from outside. I would like to turn that around by developing our talent,” he said. 

A community connection 

In Fort Atkinson, Bump said, the department has public support. He described the city as a place were community members take pride in all of the community’s institutions and work to encourage and support them. 

“We are way different than most communities. Around here, we have a very strong connection with our community. There is a teamwork atmosphere. Not every community has that. This is a unique community that really focusses on all aspects of the community, including law enforcement,” he said. 

Applicants down, crime up

Also noted by The Badger Project as a statewide trend, while applicants for police jobs are going down, crime is going up. 

Bump said statistics in Fort Atkinson are in keeping with that finding. 

Crime in the city is going up. Numbers are going up “right across the board,” he said. 

The biggest changes are in drug- and alcohol-related crime, he added.

Bump said he wasn’t sure why the city was experiencing increases in those particular crimes. 

Perhaps people are still dealing with changes brought about by the pandemic, he said.  

Often, he noted, the perpetrators are young. 

“I’m not sure if it’s just the stressful times, but we really struggle in our community,” he said.  

Looking at the different categories of crime, he said, crimes such as burglary and theft are not increasing as much as crimes of impaired driving, disorderly conduct and assaults. 

“It has a lot to do with people and the maturity level of people out and about in the community, in our establishments. Four percent of the people 96% of the time are the ones causing issues. They are in their 20s and 30s, and a lot of the time these things happen in the evening hours in and around our downtown district,” he said, adding, “It’s getting to the point were we don’t have the manpower we need.”  

Bump said the department is looking at strategies to address the crime increases with the manpower it has. 

“We are looking to increase our officers on the road through overtime, and we will have two new officers in January. We are going to have two officers doing foot patrol, which is new for us, we’ve never done that in the past, or at least not that anybody can remember,” he said. 

The foot patrols will be taking place Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in the downtown area, he said. The department is also looking at adding a bike patrol. 

Community policing 

In Fort Atkinson, Bump said: “Our policing model is 100% focused on community policing, and we have 100% buy-in by all of our officers. I think that’s why we have such positive relations with our community.”  

He described the Fort Atkinson community as “active,” and “very proactive. 

“And we are very proactive in how we police the community. I think if you are a small to medium community, you have to have a community police department.”  

Also important is the way the department faces new challenges in terms of new expectations placed on law enforcement personnel, he said. 

“It’s not like it was 20 years ago. There is more required in the way we interact and the way we address concerns and issues,” he noted.  

Some additional duties and issues addressed today by officers would not have been considered part of the traditional role of law enforcement, he stated.  

“I’ve been (in policing) since 1998. When I joined, if you would have told me I’d be training in intervention crises, dementia response and autism response … I would not have associated these skills with a career in law enforcement,” but today, he said, “all of our officers are trained in those things. And we were one of the first departments in the state to be dementia friendly, and probably the only one in the state that is 100% certified in crises intervention.”  

Shifting jobs to civilian personnel 

While The Badger Project reported that some departments across the state were utilizing some civilian personnel to help cover some tasks, Bump said, to date, his department has not used civilians to do the work that is traditionally performed by sworn officers. 

“We just brought in a code enforcement specialist and nuisance abatement (employee) to address issues in the community. We used to have CSOs (community service officers), and they would transition to code enforcements. A lot of times CSOs are seasonal. They are college students who work in the summer and we need people year-round,” Bump said. 

A code enforcement person became valuable to the department because a number of residents were not mowing their lawns and shoveling their snow, Bump said.

The department has a full roster of dispatchers, including five full-time and six part-time employees, along with one records clerk and a code enforcement specialist. 

The department also has a co-response person assigned through Jefferson County Human Services. It is a partnership position, and while the individual carries a badge, he said the employee is not on the city’s payroll. The person is paid by the county human services department. 

“She is a resource for us with calls involving metal health crises,” Bump added.  

An earlier story about the co-response person is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/fort-police-to-partner-with-county-human-services-to-address-mental-health/. 

Training, financing 

Said Bump: “One of the reasons Fort is such a good police department and liked so well is because we invest in training and development from day one, and all the way through (an officer’s) career. It’s cheaper to train officers and have them be awesome at their job than it is to have the civil liability of potential mistakes — so not being prepared is more expensive.” 

Looking at finances, he said, when it comes to funding, “The department is not receiving less, but is making decisions about how to maintain the same level of service with a budget that does not increase. So we have the same budget, but our costs go up. So the job is one of keeping the budget from increasing from year to year. 

“We also want our employees to make good money so they can afford to live and are happy in their work, but to give them more money, we have to have more money.”

The department is looking at ways to reduce costs through such options as using less paper and streamlining activities in accordance with best practices, he said.  

Even with today’s challenges, Bump said of himself and his force “We like our jobs. It can be frustrating at times. Most everyone in this field has to have a passion for it to be good at it. There has to be some intrinsic motivation because it is at times dangerous, at times exciting, at times boring, you have to be able to take away more than pay and benefits to do this type of job.” 

A link to Part 2 of this story, featuring comments made by Whitewater Police Chief Dan Meyer, is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/part-2-statewide-policing-trends-show-low-number-of-applicants-higher-crime-whitewater-chief-weighs-in/.