Adam Bieber
Age: 36
Family: Wife Amy and three sons, Will, West and Wyatt
Education: Pensacola Christian College, Lakeland Christian College, and Northeastern Wisconsin Technical College. Bieber has an Associate Degree in Police Science.
Experience: Village of Coleman, Village of Lena, Marinette County Forestry Department, and Shawano Police Department. He has been serving since 2000, been a drug officer since 2003 and was a liaison officer from 2004-07.
Community Involvements: Head wrestling coach since 2003, president of the Shawano Wrestling Club, Shawano Youth Baseball coach. He runs strength and conditioning for youth wrestlers September through November and is involved in men’s softball league and Shawano Men’s football league.
Both you and Sheriff Wright are reportedly in support of additional county funding for the K-9 unit, which has been denied. While the current situation of having the unit funded by a private group is certainly not the best choice, it does appear to be working. Why disrupt the department’s budget to try and squeeze it in if there is other funding available?
The K-9 unit is our best tool for drug detection, search and rescue for the elderly or lost children and tracking suspects of burglaries; also clearing buildings so officers are not put at risk. I like the community involvement the SOS K-9 group brings to our community and would continue to use that program to raise funds. I will try to find ways to find money within our budget or ask the County Board to provide additional funding so our K-9 handlers can focus on drug enforcement efforts instead of fundraising efforts.
A lot has been made of your comments that law enforcement won’t be there in time to help and people need to protect themselves. While that may be a valid point, what does it mean in terms of budgeting for Sheriff’s Department resources? Does it mean we could save money by putting fewer deputies on the road because they won’t be there in time, anyway? Does it mean we should spend less money trying to protect people?
The average response for law enforcement is about 10 minutes. I will encourage people to be vigilant in protecting their property and lives of their loved ones. Putting fences up, motion lights, cameras, and having a dog all help prevent crime. Taking classes in self defense, CPR, Heimlich maneuver, and weapon training are all steps one can take. The Sheriff’s Department should partner with people, educating people on the facts of law enforcement’s response time and help provide training. We will always have law enforcement but that does not mean you should be less vigilant in protecting yourself, wearing your seat belt, driving defensively, self-defense training, weapon training, and learning what you can do to save yourself or the life of a neighbor after dialing 911.
Have you given any further consideration to the costs of your proposal to turn the Shawano Medical Center into a multi-agency Justice Center, and have you been in contact with other agencies regarding this idea? Have you looked at the costs of renovation and whether this is a viable option for the taxpayers?
The idea to use the Shawano Medical Center for a Justice Center is just an idea, and it has allowed us to start a conversation about saving money. Shawano County and the city of Shawano should make long term goals of combining services that will in the end be more efficient and yet provide better service. Government agencies like the Department of Social Services, Community Programs, DMV, police and sheriff’s department, DNR would benefit by being in the same building creating better communication and community awareness. This is not a new idea; many communities combine their agencies into one building to create better services for taxpayers.
Have you toured — or requested to tour — the Sheriff’s Department facilities to see whether additional evidence storage is needed or reviewed any of the consultants’ reports regarding the department’s needs? If you have not toured the facility, what is your objection to additional storage space based on?
It appears the County Board and the current Sheriff agree that additional evidence space is required. The disagreement is want versus need. The Sheriff has proposed a very expensive project. The board’s proposal is more modest. I’m hoping I can work with the board and come to an agreement that is satisfactory for everyone. As sheriff, I will also communicate with the Shawano Police Department to see what their needs might be and hopefully work together to share resources and eventually save money.
You have put a priority on having school liaisons and officers in the schools. Would you take patrol deputies off of the roads to accomplish that?
Our children’s safety and future should be a priority. I will work with our leadership and schools to find ways we can provide better protection for our children at school. Presence in and around the school is number one and doesn’t cost any extra.
It has been said that, given the minimal cost to the county of an MRAP vehicle, the saving of even one life would be worth it. What is your view?
The MRAP is excessive and impractical. It’s a tool that is very restrictive in how it can be used. Many departments across the nation are finding that MRAPs are expensive to maintain and are tricky to operate. Many departments are swaying from its intended use for officer safety and now use it to intimidate. I would not purchase or support the acquisition of an MRAP. There are more practical tools that can be purchased that are more versatile and will also save lives.
How will you proceed if there’s something you firmly believe the Sheriff’s Department needs, but the County Board is not willing to fund?
I will look for alternatives, and if there is no alternatives, we will move along and operate as best we can as budgets allow us. Just like in any household there are always wants or needs. We all make decisions within our own budget and learn to live or operate with what is at hand. It does not mean I will take the board’s decision as an attack against law enforcement.
You have mentioned that a number one goal is cooperation, shared resources and shared training with the Shawano Police Department. How does this assist the citizens of, for example, Aniwa or Maple Grove? What are your plans to improve the service to residents outside the jurisdiction of the city of Shawano?
Cooperation, sharing resources, and shared training between departments will ultimately save money and make our departments better and more efficient. There is no question that folks living outside of populated areas or far away from the safety of law enforcement presents a challenge. We will work to educate those who live out in rural areas of our response time and encourage them to take steps to ensure the welfare of their property and of their personal lives.
Interviews with Shawano Police Chief Mark Kohl and Capt. Jeff Heffernon, as previously reported in the Leader, have suggested there are practical and logistical considerations that have prevented multi-jurisdictional training with the Sheriff’s Department. Have you asked the Police Department why some of this training is not going on with the county? Also, are you asserting there is currently no cooperation between the departments?
There is little to no cooperation between the departments. Most communication is through email. Since the election, there seems to be a push to work together on drug cases, and the dive team has always trained together. I plan on working with the Shawano Police Department to remove barriers and policies that prohibit our training together. There has always been an “us versus them” mentality, and we need to change that. The K9 units should work/train together; drug units should work/train together, investigations and information sharing can improve. It seems the current sheriff recently gave “all access” to one of our computer investigators, which is a step in the right direction, but we can do more.
In a Facebook posting in August you said the MRAP vehicle “does not stop people from using drugs … it does not stop anyone from transporting drugs in out of our county … it does not help our youth from bad influences … it does not make you safer while driving A to B on our roadways.” The dive team doesn’t do any of those things, either, so is the dive team unimportant?
The dive team is important and serves a specific purpose (mostly a recovery team). The dive team should not be compared to the MRAP. As stated before, there are more practical and effective tools that would provide safety for high-risk situations as opposed to the MRAP. My sheriff’s department will focus on our youth. We will focus on preventing drug use instead of just focusing on treating the devastating results of drug use. We will focus on sending our youth on the right path instead of focusing on what to do with them once they are in the system. Our priorities need to change from expensive buildings and military equipment to providing a brighter future for our youth.