Tim Ryan, tryan@shawanoleader.com
Shawano police officer Adam Bieber recalls sitting in math class in his high school sophomore year when the class was having a candid discussion with the teacher.
Bieber told her, “it must be great to be a teacher. You get summers off,” he said. “I grew up on a dairy farm, working all the time. No vacations.”
The teacher told him if he wanted to be a teacher, he could do it, which Bieber said got his mind rolling.
“I could go out and do whatever I wanted to do,” he said.
What he wanted to do didn’t turn out to be teaching.
“I always had a heart for serving others, protecting others,” he said.
It was a trip to Texas where his uncle was a border patrol agent that got Bieber interested in law enforcement. That’s where he’s been for 14 years; 10 of those years with the Shawano Police Department.
Now he is looking to move up to sheriff and is challenging incumbent Randy Wright in Tuesday’s primary.
Bieber said he will bring a change in attitude to the department.
“I think I have a different mindset about working with people,” he said. “I don’t get too upset if things don’t go my way.”
Bieber, who has coached youth baseball and wrestling, said a high priority for him is intervening in the lives of children early on, before they get into trouble.
“We shouldn’t be focusing on the end result,” he said. “We should try to be a positive role model for them and a positive impact on their lives.”
Bieber said he would like to rearrange the Sheriff’s Department’s patrol staff to get more officers into the schools, working with juveniles. He also wants to focus more on efforts to get drugs off the streets and educate youth about their dangers.
Bieber believes this can be accomplished with a more efficient use of tax dollars. He said the people he has talked to while campaigning are primarily concerned that the county is using their money wisely.
“When I go door to door, they’re not telling me, ‘Hey, make me safe,’” he said. “They’re concerned about their dollar and what we’re doing with it.”
Bieber said keeping the public safe should be law enforcement’s goal, but it’s not always possible.
“We’re not there to save people’s lives,” he said. “We’re going to try, but that’s not going to happen. Statistically, 99 percent of the time we’re going to be there to pick up your dead body, unfortunately.”
Bieber said the public has to take steps to protect itself.
“With freedom comes responsibility.” he said. “You have to take steps to protect yourself. We’ll be there to help, but it’s your responsibility for that.”
Bieber, whose personal Facebook page features links to conservative groups and icons like the Tea Party Patriots and Glenn Beck, said he would not bring a political philosophy to the job of sheriff.
“I’m a conservative; that’s the only political agenda I have in my mind,” he said.
Part of that mindset, he said, is the belief that the public is responsible for its own safety.
“I want to make sure people understand that,” he said. “That law enforcement cannot save you.”