Kenosha County sheriff reports improved staffing, calls summary from Country Thunder festival

Sheriff Zirner, Kenosha County sheriff, told the county committee the department’s recruiting effort is “in full swing” and that the corrections division is currently fully staffed while several officers and corrections staff remain in training and at the academy.

The sheriff said the department is preparing for retirements, with a captain promotional test scheduled, and that it is coordinating with human resources on promotions. He also described emergency-management monitoring during recent high-water concerns along the Fox River and credited recent county mitigation — including the county’s purchase of several houses in the Fox River floodplain — with preventing losses during summer flooding.

On public-safety operations, Zirner summarized the department’s response to Country Thunder and concurrent events. He said Country Thunder generated 473 calls for service, “the majority” of which were 911 hang-ups; the department made about 20 in-custody arrests, with 27 related criminal charges, and issued 197 tickets connected to the festival. He said the busiest traffic surges for ingress and egress took about 45 minutes to an hour. “It was very smooth,” Zirner said of the overall event.

Zirner said Country Thunder worked cooperatively with the sheriff’s office and that neighboring agencies provided mutual aid, naming Kenosha Police Department, the state patrol, Parkside and Pleasant Prairie as assisting agencies. He said festival organizers will adjust lighting and some traffic controls next year.

The sheriff also noted the department hosted several interns over the summer and reported positive feedback; one intern plans to apply to be a deputy sheriff. He said the office maintains a succession plan for festival command and that command captains and supervisors routinely staff the event to avoid past problems when private security handled festivals.

Committee members asked follow-up questions about recruitment age limits and retirements; Zirner said he expects some retirements but did not provide a total number beyond several imminent departures. On municipal billing and workload tracking, Zirner said the department changed call-sign tracking late last year and now has sample reports that can be distributed to supervisors showing calls-for-service by municipality.

Ending: The sheriff’s briefing closed with praise from a committee member for the department’s management of the festival and an exchange about continuing to refine data reporting to municipalities.