Kewaunee County Sheriff Matt Joski was reminded last week of the importance of schools having liaison officers on duty. It was just over a week ago when Kewaunee School District received a threatening phone call that ended up sending kids home early for the weekend. Kewaunee High School Liaison Officer Scott Szydel was able to alert the county’s other two school districts and its private schools about the threat as well as communicate with the Kewaunee County Sheriff’s Department. Joski says school liaison officers serve important roles even when there is no immediate threat.
Earlier this week, Kewaunee Police Chief James Kleiman said in an email that they are still looking into the origin of the phone call that sent local schools into lockdown on January 21st. He did point out that a similar call was received at another school in a different state at approximately the same time. The Kewaunee County Sheriff’s Department has two deputies, Nia Dubois and Dana Schopf, assigned to Luxemburg-Casco School District. The Algoma and Kewaunee School Districts contract their school liaison officers with their local police departments. In Door County, the Sturgeon Bay Police Department has their officer at Sturgeon Bay School District. The Door County Sheriff’s Department has deputies placed at Gibraltar, Sevastopol, and Southern Door. You can learn more about the importance of school liaison officers below.
FROM SHERIFF MATT JOSKI
As I continue in providing information on the annual operations of the Sheriff’s Department, I feel this is a great time to focus on the amazing school liaison resources which we share with our school districts. If we look at the makeup of our community on any given week day, there is no greater concentration of people and activity than that of our schools. It is fitting that we allocate resources to these important members of our community; our students, in a setting which has such a great impact on their current and future lives.
As it pertains to the Kewaunee County Sheriff’s Department, we provide two School Liaison Deputies to the Luxemburg / Casco School District as part of a contract for services. These positions and their duties are quite unique and the skill set necessary to be successful is also unique. We are very fortunate to have the two Deputies we currently provide to the school who possess the very traits and qualities to make this a successful relationship. Deputy Nia DuBois is our School Liaison Deputy for the High School, and Deputy Dana Schopf is our Liaison Deputy for the Primary, Intermediate and Middle School. Both of these young ladies bring with them a great deal of energy and passion for working with our youth, and the relationships they have built over the years has been a great benefit to not only the students, but the staff as well.
Just as in any community, those school communities experience a great diversity in personalities, backgrounds and behaviors. The ability to have a law enforcement resource at hand when incidents arise has proven essential time and time again. Just this past week, we had an unfortunate event at the Kewaunee School District, which had the potential to impact our other local school districts. Having an established relationship in the schools and a history of working hand in hand to develop response plans and protocols, proved valuable in a seamless and effective response as we worked alongside the City of Kewaunee Police Department to investigate and mitigate the impact of the threat.
Another valuable aspect of this program is the ability for our Deputies to have daily interaction and engagement in a positive way to demonstrate that the men and women serving in law enforcement are in fact human beings who can serve as not just a resource for filing complaints or conducting investigations, but also as a trusted resource of advice and mentorship for the many challenges our young people face day in and day out.
These roles, while rewarding, are probably some of the most demanding in our department. The complaints they are called to investigate and the sensitivity that they must show require a great deal of empathy, compassion and patience. The ability to interact effectively with Students, staff and parents is key to maintaining the trust needed for such a program to be successful. Thank you Nia and Dana for all that you do in our schools to keep our students safe and assist the staff in creating the best learning environment possible.
