WATERFORD – A Racine County community will soon be without a police department after months of investigations and staffing shortages.
By a 2-1 vote Monday night in a special meeting which lasted just minutes, the town board decided to contract with the Racine County Sheriff’s Department for law enforcement services within the Town of Waterford for an initial period of 5 years and beginning as soon as practical. Supervisor Tim Szeklinski opposed the proposal while Supervisor Dale Gauerke abstained.
The town’s police contract will terminate at the earliest of its expiration, or the resignation or termination of the last full-time Waterford police officer, but no later than six months from now.
Issues within the department go back several months; the department had been without a police chief since January of 2024. In October, then Waterford lieutenant and current Franklin Mayor John Nelson retired early amid an administrative investigation. Nelson and two other staffers had been suspended from the department in August.
At a special meeting of the board in November, Chairperson Teri Jendusa-Nicolai said the issues stemmed from incidents of “bad behavior”, including a call for a physical assault that went unanswered for eight minutes because an officer was sleeping, and a part-time officer leaving the command center during a critical incident near the end of July.
“The town has a decision to make” said Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling at the time. “I have a way of providing a better service to you, for a better price. And you as citizens need to decide if you want to take advantage of better services at a cost savings, or rebuild your agency, spend more money, and gamble.”
Per the vote Monday, the Town of Waterford will also seek a part-time police chief to run the Town’s water patrol, and will eliminate the police clerk positions as their duties will be fulfilled by the Sheriff’s Office.
The Racine County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request for comment at the time of this article’s publication.
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