As I continue reporting on the activity of the Sheriff’s Department in 2025, I would like to share some data from the Patrol Division.

Probably the most visible division within the Kewaunee County Sheriff’s Department is our Patrol Division. It comprises the most recognizable duties we carry out throughout the year. There are twelve deputies assigned to the Patrol Division, which is supervised by Lt. Eric Zellner. The minimum staffing for Kewaunee County’s 322 square miles is two patrol deputies.

When you consider the distance from Tisch Mills on our southern border to Dyckesville on our northern border, you begin to understand the demands this places on our staff, both in terms of continual presence and response time.

If we look at the overall process—from the time a call or complaint is made to the Sheriff’s Department through its completion—the Patrol Division plays an important role. Aside from those calls determined to be civil in nature and not involving an active crime, the Patrol Division is dispatched to all of them, ranging from keeping the peace to traffic offenses and domestic incidents.

The category for these calls is “Complaints Assigned,” and in 2025 they accounted for 3,180, compared to 3,132 in 2024. In many cases, the complaints may be occurring within one of the local jurisdictions or even involve an adjacent county, but we are requested to provide assistance. These are categorized as “Assist Other Agencies” and accounted for 724 in 2025, versus 556 in 2024.

Of the complaints we respond to, not all result in arrest. Many times, a deputy is able to mediate the situation or resolve the complaint with a warning to the perpetrator. In some cases, however, the evidence provided requires that an arrest be made. In those instances, the total number of arrests in 2025 was 193, compared to 247 in 2024.

While this number may seem low, these calls tend to be very involved and require a great deal of the deputy’s time for follow-up and documentation.

The most commonly perceived duty of the patrol deputy is, of course, traffic enforcement, although it accounts for relatively little of the overall time spent during a given shift due to the demands of call response. In 2025, there were 974 citations and 1,580 warnings issued, compared to 1,691 citations and 2,013 warnings in 2024.

We like to approach traffic enforcement from an educational perspective and, when possible, try to achieve learning through warnings. Unfortunately, there are times when either the offense is so egregious or the individual has already been given the courtesy of a warning that a citation is unavoidable.

It is important for people to realize that deputies do not enjoy issuing citations any more than the person receiving one. Our ultimate goal is always public safety.

Some of the duties the Patrol Division carries out that may not be as commonly known are those related to civil process. By statute, the Sheriff’s Department is tasked with carrying out actions that are the result of our circuit court judge’s orders. These can range from eviction actions, to support of a writ, or involvement in child custody orders.

We are also responsible for notifying those involved in these actions through the service of papers or notices. These “Papers Served or Attempted” accounted for 403 calls in the past year, whereas last year the number was 339.

The two final categories are what I would consider customer service: “Citizen Assists” and “Property Checks.”

Citizen assists are, for the most part, unplanned events that result from unfortunate circumstances involving members of the public. These can range from stranded motorists to providing information regarding vehicle registration or licensing. Deputies handled 210 citizen assists in 2025, compared to 234 in 2024.

Property checks are a service we provide when requested by individuals in our community who may be away from their homes for an extended period of time. They may also involve additional attention given to a property that has recently been the victim of a criminal act, when the owner would like us to monitor activity in the area. In 2025, we conducted 3,483 such checks, compared to 2,351 the previous year.

A final category our Patrol Division responds to is “Welfare Checks.” These are calls in which a loved one or neighbor has not heard from or had contact with someone and requests our assistance in verifying their well-being or status. Fortunately, most of the time the outcome is simply that the person was away on vacation or too busy to respond.

Our department responded to 135 such requests in 2025, which is fairly consistent with previous years (127 in 2024).

I hope the takeaway from this article is that when you see a Sheriff’s Department squad, you have a better understanding of the many different duties these men and women engage in during a given shift. In all of these numbers, the most important element is the relationship we have with those whom we serve.

All the data and statistics mean nothing if we do not have the support of our community, and it is our goal to maintain a high level of professionalism for those we have sworn to protect and serve.