Mike Musolff will be ascending to the Shawano police chief position once the current leader, Bradley Rabideau, retires in February 2025.
The longtime lieutenant was named to the position Oct. 24 by the Shawano Police and Fire Commission after 18 years in his current position. He started his law enforcement career in 1995 with the Shawano County Jail before joining the Menominee County Sheriff’s Department in 1997. He transitioned to the Shawano Police Department in 2000, working as a patrol officer for six years before being promoted directly to lieutenant, as the department at that time did not have sergeant positions.
During that time, Musolff earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice administration and a master’s in management and public administration. He also had graduated as a certified public manager from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with completing the university’s command college and completing over 400 hours of courses with the Executive Development Institute.
Musolff said that it has always been a goal for him to be chief. He’ll be working with Rabideau on the transition over the next three months.
“I’m pretty excited about what’s to come,” Musolff said. “I think our department does an amazing job in a lot of areas, reaching out to the community and doing a lot of different events like that that show how much our officers and our staff here care about our community.”
Musolff said one of the questions he was asked during his interview with the commission was how he planned to expand that outreach if he became chief. That was a tough question for him because he sees so much happening now, from the summer park barbecues to National Night Out to the upcoming Shop With a Cop.
“I don’t see a lot of areas where we can add to what we’re doing right now,” Musolff said. “We’ll find ways to make things better, and if we do find things to add, we will.”
The fact that the department can do outreach at all is impressive, with Musolff noting that there’s usually a minimum of two officers on patrol at any given time, but often those officers are busy.
“With the levy the way it is, it’s hard to add staff,” Musolff said. “Clearly, we would love to have more officers, especially during our peak times in the evening, but it’s hard to do because you’re up against the levy.”
Times have changed since Musolff first put on the uniform nearly 30 years ago. He noted that there was a lot more respect by the people then for law enforcement, but he added that most of Shawano still carries the type of respect that tends to be more sporadic nationwide.
Musolff said his promotion will mean that others in the department will be moving up, too, as a sergeant or detective could take his spot as lieutenant. Then other officers will move up to higher ranks, he said.
One area that will be impacted by Musolff’s move up the echelon is the Shawano School District. Currently the school board president, he acknowledged he’s going to have to step away from that leadership role, but he’s not certain if he’ll have to resign from the board altogether if police department duties take priority.
“Honestly, it’s kind of hard to want to leave the board right after we get the referendum approved,” Musolff said. “It’d be nice to be there the next year to help see things through, but it’ll have to be at a different level because I won’t have the time.”
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
Musolff new police chief for Shawano
