Village of Cross Plains public-safety leaders told the village board on May 20 that calls for service have risen sharply since 2019 and outlined plans for training, mutual-aid exercises and a review of EMS governance.

The police department reported that calls for service rose from about 1,600 in February 2019 to 4,200 last year, and described staffing and training steps intended to respond to that increase. "Zach has finished the academy, and he started field training yesterday," a police department representative said. "That'll go on for several weeks and for several months, where we will train him how to police in Cross Plains."

The report placed staffing and response demands at the center of public-safety planning. The police representative said the department is fully staffed now but that any new position the village adds would be a police officer. The representative also said the department is handling several ongoing violent cases and sees a pattern of property-crime incidents connected to regional travel corridors.

Board members and staff discussed regional EMS governance and a potential consolidation or contracting arrangement with nearby communities. Finance discussions are under way, and committee members are preparing a report for the village board. "It's not that easy to take over an EMS service," the police department representative said. "There are still a lot of unanswered questions...a finance committee is looking at it from the angle of funding." The transcript records references to Fitchburg, Darlington and other municipalities as examples of regional arrangements being studied.

Officials also discussed the rising projected cost of a new village hall and whether to combine public-safety functions—police, fire and EMS—on a single campus. Those facility discussions remain at an exploratory stage pending funding analysis.

Emergency-management and first-responder cooperation and training were emphasized. The village confirmed plans for a tabletop exercise on Sept. 18 that will simulate an F1 tornado striking the Scenic Valley area; representatives said invited participants will include village staff, fire and EMS. "We'll do a mock after-action report...and I'll bring it to the board," the police department representative said. The village also described active-threat training emphasizing integrated police/fire/EMS "warm zone" response and peer-support mental-health programming for first responders.

Mutual aid and multi-jurisdiction cooperation were described as routine supports during large incidents. Officials cited the village's response to the Mount Horeb shooting as an example of forming ad hoc teams with other agencies and said county and neighboring-city resources would be available in a major incident.

Equipment and readiness items were noted: the village has ordered helmets and ballistic plates to be shared with fire and EMS, and is expanding peer-support and mental-health training for responders. A single equipment sizing issue was mentioned: one helmet will require a special order.

Public-event safety also surfaced in the discussion. Officials said a recent large community event drew several hundred to nearly 1,000 people and raised concerns about vehicle-pedestrian conflicts. Board members discussed temporarily closing or converting event streets to one-way for large events and agreed to seek the village administrator's view and, if warranted, place the item on a future agenda.

No vote on EMS governance or a facility change was recorded at the meeting; finance and committee-level review were described as ongoing. A procedural motion recorded early in the meeting carried by voice vote, but the transcript does not specify the motion text.

The board said it will receive after-action documents and committee reports as staff and partners complete the planned exercises and fiscal analyses.