News & Events

Editor’s Note: The following information was provided by the Whitewater Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Council.

The Whitewater Area Chamber of Commerce ambassadors congratulated Steve Johnson from Winchester True Value on the sale of his store and his retirement recently.

The Winchester True Value operation has been a staple in Whitewater for 152 years. 46 years ago Steve Johnson began working at the store and shortly after his graduation from UW-Whitewater he took over the operation and has made it the successful store it is today. Winchester True Value is one of the longest standing and valued members of the Whitewater Area Chamber of Commerce who have been involved in the community in many ways.

Steve, as a biking enthusiast, has also been a member of the Whitewater Tourism Council helping shape the outdoor recreation messaging sent to visitors. The community will certainly miss having him at the helm of the store and we wish him well on his retirement. We are happy to know that he is remaining in Whitewater and continuing his work with the Tourism Council, in between his many upcoming biking adventures!

The Chamber is also excited to welcome the new owners of our favorite hardware store, Niemann Foods, Inc. We are sure that they will keep the hometown feel of the store and embrace the Whitewater community as is the tradition at Winchester. We are excited to see what changes and additions they will bring to the store and happy to be able to continue the long-standing relationship with the Chamber! For more information about the Whitewater Area Chamber of Commerce and our members contact Executive Director Kellie Carper at (262) 473-4005.

Editor’s Note: The following information was provided by the League of Women Voters.

The League of Women Voters Whitewater Area is a proud supporter of the National Voter Registration Day and will provide Voter Registration Education in Whitewater, Fort Atkinson, and Delavan, WI in order to celebrate this nonpartisan civic holiday.

Founded in 2012, National Voter Registration Day is designed to create an annual moment when the entire nation focuses on registering Americans to exercise their most basic right – the right to vote.

According to U.S. Census data from 2020, as many as 1 in 4 eligible Americans are not registered to vote. Every year, millions of Americans find themselves unable to vote because they miss a registration deadline, don’t update their registration, or aren’t sure how to register. National Voter Registration Day wants to make sure everyone has the opportunity to vote.

Please tap into our collective expertise with all your voting concerns on this special day.

You can find us at the following locations and times on
Tuesday, September 20th.

10am to 2pm: MATC, 827 Banker Road, Fort Atkinson

12 noon to 2pm: Irvin L Young Memorial Library, 431 W Center St,
Whitewater

3pm to 7pm: Aram Public Library, 404 E Walworth Ave, Delavan

3pm to 7pm: Outside City Market at the Whitewater Depot

4pm to 6pm: Dwight Foster Public Library, 209 Merchants Ave, Fort Atkinson

It’s time once again for #flashbackfriday with the Whitewater Historical Society.

Here is another photo from the Robert Ortmann collection. Robert was a student at UWW (then Wisconsin State University-Whitewater) from 1967-1971. This view is from 1968 and features the “Centennial Candle” marking the 100th anniversary of the UWW in that year. This is the first photo of this the museum has seen–who remembers it?

Join us next week for more from the Whitewater Historical Society.

(5038P, Whitewater Historical Society)

By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com

The Badger Project, which uses the tagline “Nonpartisan, nonprofit, investigative journalism in Wisconsin,” published an article by Peter Cameron on August 29 with the headline, “Total number of police in Wisconsin, already at historic lows, continues to drop.” Following are some excerpts from that article, below which the Banner will provide a local perspective.

“The number of law enforcement officers in the state ticked down again in 2022, setting a new record for the lowest statewide total since the Wisconsin Department of Justice started tracking the numbers in 2008.

To relieve some of the burden on law enforcement agencies, and attempt to de-escalate encounters between police and civilians, some cities and counties across the state are experimenting with sending non-police employees to answer some 911 calls.

Wisconsin has fewer than 13,400 law enforcement officers at the moment, according to the state’s Department of Justice. That’s down from 2021, when the state counted more than 13,500. The record high is nearly 14,400 in 2008. These totals exclude officers who work exclusively in correctional facilities.

Although the decreases are small, they are occurring while the state’s population is on the rise. In the last decade, Wisconsin grew to nearly 5.9 million residents from about 5.7 million, according to the U.S. Census — an increase of about 4%.

Exacerbating the law enforcement shortage is Wisconsin’s unemployment rate, which sits at a near-record low of 2.9 percent, below even the national rate of 3.5 percent, which itself matches the lowest level in 50 years.

And while some crime, including burglary and theft, is down statewide, the tumultuous pandemic years have brought a rise in violent crime such as homicide and assault, according to data from the state DOJ. Wisconsin mirrors a rise in most violent crimes across the country.

Milwaukee has taken the brunt. In 2020, the city set a record for its highest number of homicides in one year: 190. Last year, it broke that new record by reaching 197.  And with 160 homicides recorded by the end of August, the city is on pace to break that record again this year. 

The “cop crunch” has been a concern for years, as demographics and priorities of younger generations shift. But it has become more acute recently as industries across the board struggle to find workers in the post-pandemic economy.

Jim Palmer, executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, the largest law enforcement union in the state, said he believes that a number of factors have contributed to the crunch.

“Budgetary constraints that impede an agency’s ability to maintain staffing levels, the well-publicized, broad-brush criticisms that surround the profession in the wake of law enforcement controversies, regardless of where they occur in the country, and the changing work preferences of a younger generation that can make more money doing a job that is less dangerous, less scrutinized, and less reliant on working conditions such as shift work and forced overtime,” he said in an email.

In a report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum from June of 2020, Wisconsin finished dead last of all 50 states in the percentage of state funding for law enforcement. To balance that, the state’s municipal governments appear to devote a higher proportion of their budgets to police than the national average, the report said.

Many law enforcement agencies do have the budget authorization to hire, but simply cannot land enough qualified recruits……Law enforcement openings used to attract many applicants. Not anymore. “When I broke into this business in 1983, there were well over 100 applicants” for openings, [Marinette County Sheriff Jerry] Sauve said. Now, “we’re getting 6, 8” applicants.

….Some cities and law enforcement agencies in the state are using civilian employees to ease the burden on police.

The city of Madison, home to what experts call one of the more progressive police departments in the state and country, launched an initiative in September 2021 that dispatches an EMT and a crisis counselor to some 911 calls that don’t require a police presence.

As of August 2022, the Community Alternative Response Emergency Services (CARES) program has answered more than 800 calls that police normally would have, said Madison Fire Department Assistant Chief Che Stedman, who oversees the program.”

Whitewater’s Department staffing is in “pretty good shape”

Dan Meyer, who assumed the role of police chief last month after serving as interim chief since December, 2021, when asked about the department’s current staffing situation, responded as follows: “Currently we are actually in pretty good shape:

Sworn officers: 23/24 – We are down 1 of our 24 sworn officer position with the vacancy of Aaron Raap’s position. That is being filled through the cascading of internal promotional processes currently, and I anticipate it will end with posting a patrol officer position at some point this fall. Our two most recent hires are currently at the law enforcement academy and won’t be on the road until spring 2023.

CSO: 2/2 – Just last week we hired our second CSO [Community Service Officer] so we are now fully staffed. (Both are part-time positions.)

Clerical: 2.5/2.5

Dispatch: 6/7 – We are down one dispatcher of our seven slotted positions.”

Whitewater Police Department is also augmenting its response capabilities with a crisis counselor

As was noted above, some cities, including Madison, are seeking to ease the burden on police by utilizing civilian employees. Last year, as was reported in this Banner article, Walworth County began placing a fulltime Community Crisis Liaison (CCL) in the Whitewater Police Department as part of a pilot program to support the police with behavioral health related calls. Although, as opposed to Madison’s program, this social worker does not respond without an officer to initial calls, they make follow-up contacts in a number of situations. Chief Meyer stated, “the CCL position has improved our communication with Walworth County Health and Human Services, which has significantly increased the provision of mental health and crisis resources in our community.”

Editor’s note: The Banner appreciates being granted permission to quote from the article from The Badger Project.