Dodge County DA Applauds Proposal To Add More Prosecutors

(Beaver Dam) Dodge County would be among 40 counties statewide that would get a new prosecutor, if a proposal by State Representative Mark Born is approved. The Beaver Dam Republican is working with State Representative John Nygren of Marinette on the plan to fund 54 new assistant district attorney positions. Born says it is part of a larger conversation on the criminal justice system that is meant to “ensure prosecutors have the tools and resources they need to properly charge and prosecute the cases referred to their offices.” He says the additional positions will held reduce backlogs and put more dangerous criminals behind bars.  Born notes that in Dodge County, crimes associated with drugs and addiction have led to more casework and the additional assistant district attorney position would go a long way to help.

Dodge County District Attorney Kurt Klomberg says the additional staff will make a positive impact on public safety. The proposal was drafted as an amendment to a Senate bill authored by Representative Joe Sanfelippo of New Berlin and Senator Leah Vukmir of Brookfield using data from the non-partisan Legislative Audit Bureau’s District Attorney Office Workload Analysis. It adds positions in counties whose staffing as a percentage of workload were below the statewide average, the same counties that requested new positions in the last budget. The Assembly is voting on the amendment today and if approved it will be sent to the Senate where they would have an opportunity to consider the measure next month.