Police Chief Finalists: Brown Deer Lieutenant Loves Port's Sense of Community

Looking to replace Port Police Chief Richard Thomas when he retires next year, Brown Deer Lt. Jonathan Schmitz is the only one of who is not working for the Port Police Department, although he does live in Port Washington. 

The Police and Fire Commission has been looking for candidates since Thomas that he would retire at the end of the year. Members debated early on whether to allow applicants from outside the department, and eventually decided to advertise statewide, with only Schmitz making it to the final four as an external candidate.

Schmitz said it's a good sign to him of a strong department that three of the candidates are internal, but he said he thinks he can bring a fresh perspective to Port.

"I think I’ll be able to bring a lot of new and different ideas to the department," he said. "Sometimes when you work for a single department you get locked into thinking in that one way."

Something he would like to see Port do more of is specialized training for officers, so they could take on different roles in the community such school liaison, detective work, or assisting new businesses on crime prevention. Schmitz supervises training at the Brown Deer Police Department.

Schmitz received his own specialized training when from 2006-10 he worked as Brown Deer's evidence technician, collecting and processing evidence from crime scenes and supervising all major investigations.

He said this kind of specialization would build on the problem-oriented police work officers already do, in which officers take initiative with problems they see on the streets and generate solutions before the problems get worse. The issues include recognizing people with autism, putting "slow" signage by playgrounds or addressing domestic abuse.

"That passes on the idea that each of those officers is responsible in some way to the community and can have an impact on the community," Schmitz said. "Who better to figure out these issues than officers who are out there on the streets every day? They can be creative and find solutions to those problems so we’re not called back to on a routine basis."

Schmitz said he has had more than 10 years of experience supervising staff. He joined the Brown Deer Police Department in 1998, became a shift leader in 2000, and was promoted to sergeant in 2003. Schmitz became a lieutenant in 2010.

Schmitz first got interested in police work while driving back to UW-Madison, where he was studying sociology, from his home town of Brown Deer.

"On one of my trips back to college, we got stuck behind a drunk driver, and there was nothing me and my sister could do to stop it," he said. "Numerous times it came close to striking other vehicles, and it ended up swerving and crashing into a wall. We provided assistance and called 911, but I didn’t like the feeling of not being able to do anything. That’s where I got my ambition to go into police work."

He finished his bachelor of science in sociology at UW-Madison, put himself through the Police Academy at Waukesha County Technical College, and started working at the Brown Deer Police Department.

Schmitz said he would like to work in Port Washington because he values its sense of community. He has lived in Port for five years, and his kids attend Saukville Elementary.

"Brown Deer was kind of a bedroom community; there was kind of a lack of community," he said. "Here in Port I really have seen a close-knit community. The neighbors are great and supportive. I love that Port has summer activities to pull the community together and give residents something to be proud of."

Stories on the other candidates will come later this week.