After four days on the job, Shawano County’s new sheriff hasn’t had time to decorate the walls of his office, but he expects most of the space will be taken up with family photos.
“I like seeing my family,” Adam Bieber said.
There will be photos from coaching youth wrestling; something he was headed out to do at the end of his workday Thursday after sitting down with a Leader reporter for an interview.
“It feels good to finally get in here and meet the guys I’ll be working with every day,” Bieber said. “It’s been busy, and that’s what I’ve been looking for. It seems challenging, and it’s interesting to me, and that’s what I like.”
Bieber, formerly a Shawano police officer, defeated Sheriff Randy Wright in the August primary and again in the November election when Wright ran as a write-in.
Bieber said he has met with several deputies who have asked him what his vision is for the department.
“Quite frankly, I don’t know,” Bieber said. “Right now, I like the way the sheriff’s department is set up. I had no plans during the campaign or anything to make drastic changes or fire anybody or do anything crazy. I have high respect for the sheriff’s department and how they operate.”
Bieber said there had been rumors of what he had planned during the campaign.
“People have started rumors of what I’m going to do when I come in here, and I’m glad they’re coming in to ask me what my vision is,” he said.
Bieber said he sent an email to department staff outlining his expectations of them and said those expectations were short and simple.
“Treat people how you’d like to be treated, and an honest day’s work type mentality,” he said.
Bieber said he has always had a positive image of the sheriff’s department and how it was run.
“I disagreed with a few things,” he said. “But I have a high respect for how they operate. They do a great job over here. They know their thing.”
Bieber has already implemented one change, however. New uniforms that will be adopted over the next year.
“If we’re going to move forward, it seems like public perception of law enforcement, of the sheriff’s department is not 100 percent positive,” Bieber said. “I would just want to move forward with my deputies. One way to do that, that togetherness, is to have new uniforms. It can help with morale; it can help with moving forward and putting things in the past.”
The new design trades the brown shirts for tan and allows for less expensive black pants. It also prominently displays an American flag patch on the chest, with county patches on the shoulders.
“Our uniform will be unique,” Bieber said. “I don’t know if there’s another department in state that has the tan over black with the black epaulettes. So we will be very unique and that’s what I’m looking for. I think Shawano County is unique and I want us to be unique. I want us to look professional.”
Bieber said he also likes the flag being displayed.
“I think it looks sharp; it’s unique,” he said.
Deputies get an annual allowance for uniform purchases and will have until April 2016 to transition to the new design, Bieber said.
Bieber is also giving up the sheriff’s personal squad car, as he promised in his campaign.
That squad will go to another deputy currently driving an older model, and Capt. Tom Tuma will keep his squad a little longer rather than trading it in this year.
“That’s saving us from buying two new cars,” Bieber said, cutting about $24,000 from the county budget.
“I’m not sure what we’ll do with the extra money,” Bieber said, but he plans to talk with the finance department and see if there’s a way to shift those savings to the department’s K-9 program.
Other things on Bieber’s plate include an ordinance that would allow for a fine for possession of small amounts of marijuana rather than a criminal charge.
“There’s people that walk around with a dime bag or a joint. We take that seriously, but I don’t want to make criminals out of people if that’s their lifestyle choice and they choose to do that,” Bieber said. “I really want to go after the people that are growing it illegally, the distributors of it.”
The idea has been floated in the past and was met with some opposition from department staff.
“I know some detectives and officers might be against that,” Bieber said, adding that he personally disagrees with marijuana use and doesn’t condone it.
Bieber said the city of Shawano already has an ordinance violation for small amounts of marijuana that has been working well.
“We want to keep the use of marijuana in the shadows,” he said. “We don’t want people doing it out in the open. Do it in your own house; don’t be bringing it out and don’t be pushing it on anybody. We don’t condone drug use, but we don’t want to tie up the court system either.”
One area Bieber said he would like to crack down on, however, is welfare fraud.
“That’s something I really want to focus on,” he said.
One of the most contentious issues in the sheriff’s campaign was evidence storage needs.
As of Thursday, Bieber had not looked at the department’s evidence storage room.
“I don’t need to look at it,” Bieber said.
“I’ve talked to (County Board Chairman) Jerry Erdmann and some of the other committee members,” he said. “There’s no emergency. There’s no need to build anything right now. Everything is working fine.”
Bieber said the issue is how to save money on how the county stores evidence for the long term, rather than renting space for such things as vehicles that need to be held for possible trial.
“That’s why you’d want to build a building,” he said. “Right now we’re renting space.”
In the meantime, he said, he doesn’t see a problem.
“Nobody’s being released from jail because of evidence storage issues or because evidence is disappearing,” he said.
The contentious campaign for sheriff was marked by an incident at the Republican Party picnic that included a dispute between Bieber and three of the department’s detectives.
That incident is under investigation by the county’s administrative committee. He said he has been briefed on that investigation but could not discuss it.
Bieber said he is willing to put the incident behind him.
“I’m just coming here doing my job and I’ll work with anybody,” he said. “On their end, I don’t know.”
Bieber said he has already made amends with one of the detectives involved.
“The other two guys, I haven’t talked to,” he said. “I’m going about my business and they’re going about their business. As long as they do their job, I’m going to do my job. I don’t hold any grudges. I don’t wish them ill. I wish them the best. I’ll work with them.”
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