(Beaver Dam) The Beaver Dam Police Department will be meeting with the county’s new district attorney. The governor named Andrea Will to the post following Kurt Klomberg’s resignation.
Will, who will serve the remainder of the unexpired term that ends in 2025, has been an assistant district attorney in the Waukesha County District Attorney’s Office since 2008. Beaver Dam Police Lieutenant Jeremiah Johnson says their agency will be meeting with Will in the coming weeks.
“Our chief and her talked…I don’t know who reached out to who but the chief of police made contact with her and they are going to have a meeting and she is going to get to learn the Beaver Dam Police Department a little bit,” says Johnson. “We’re going to give her a tour, we’re going to introduce her to people and we’re going to show her how we run things at our police department. We’re going to get to know her and how she is as a prosecutor and what her expectations are and what she wants to focus on and what her requirements are…it’s a great step in the right direction.”
Johnson says the relationship between law enforcement and a district attorney is a two-way street and a DA will regularly share updates on how their office prosecutes crime as well as changes to state law.
“And will send us memos of understanding of what we can and can’t do as a police officer and as a police department…to, essentially if there’s updates in laws…changes in laws,” says Johnson. “One of the bigger ones recently, I believe we had a memo of understanding with the duty to intervene and the duty to react if there’s a situation where a police officer is being dangerous and hurting a suspect and it’s inappropriate and it’s against the law. That’s the kind of stuff that we work with the district attorney.”
Johnson recently shared his thoughts on what makes a good district attorney.
“It’s good to feel that your district attorney has got your back…if something big happens and you are taking it seriously as a police officer, [the district attorney] shares the same attitude with it,” says Johnson.
Johnson says a good DA should also protect defendants’ rights and stand up for the accused if police mishandled an investigation. The lieutenant adds that a district attorney has a higher responsibility as an elected official to keep those inalienable rights in mind.
