For several years, the No. 1 call to Shawano County dispatchers has been reports of reckless drivers.
Last month, that changed to welfare checks, Sheriff George Lenzner told the Shawano County Public Safety Committee on April 3.
Welfare checks include calls for suicide, people not showing up for work, Alzheimer’s and dementia cases or other mental health issues.
“They’re really time consuming for our officers to check,” he said. “The majority of them are just simple things — the person’s fine.”
He said calls about people with Alzheimer’s or dementia come in more often than the public realizes. In many cases, all is OK, but in others, a call to the Department of Human Services or a visit to the local hospital is required.
Emergency medical detentions occur almost daily.
“That’s hours to get them cleared at the hospital,” Lenzner said. “We have to wait for someone from Human Services to come down or call, and then finding a bed for them nowadays is the toughest thing, because there’s more of these people with these issues. There’s less places to house them.”
He said every county deals with these situations, but the farther north you go in the state, the worse it is because of fewer available nearby resources.
“We’re not as bad off as other counties, but the state needs to make that better,” he said.
It was also noted that more and more young residents are affected by mental health issues. And, with fewer counselors available to help, it takes longer to relieve a deputy from the call.
Lenzner also reported on the hundreds of calls the deputies and dispatchers handled the night of April 2, when six to 12 inches of snow fell across the area.
“They worked their butts off last night,” he said of the staff. “They did a great job.”
Also, in the first quarter of 2024, deputies have issued 288 citations for operating without a driver’s license.
“That’s still a huge problem that there’s that many people driving around Shawano County without a license,” he said. “That’s something the state needs to work on. You give them a fine; they don’t pay it. They (officials) just suspend their license more and more, and there’s really no consequences to them.”
Speeding generates a lot of calls from residents, complaining of those driving past their homes at high rates of speed.
Deputies issued 287 speeding tickets so far this year.
“They’re out there issuing them, but we can’t get everybody,” Lenzner said.
Another 152 citations were issued for failure to buckle up.
“We still have a lot of people that aren’t wearing seat belts,” he said.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
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