The electors on Washington Island approved the 2025 town budget by two thirds majority on Nov. 14, including an additional $136,260.19 for law enforcement. Most of that money is earmarked to hire a third full-time police officer.
Washington Island is one of three Door County municipalities that has its own police department.
A mixture of sheriff’s deputies, police officers and constables keep the peace within the county’s 19 municipalities, 482 square miles of land, and 1,888 square miles of water. They often rely on one another to get the job done, according to officials interviewed.
The Door County Sheriff’s Office is the primary law enforcement agency for 16 municipalities, while the City of Sturgeon Bay, the Town of Gibraltar and the Town of Washington each have their own police department.
The towns of Baileys Harbor, Brussels, Gardner and Nasewaupee have constables, but only the Baileys Harbor constable has Wisconsin Department of Justice certification and is able to provide a full police detail.
How each of these law enforcement entities function, how big or small their budgets are, and how they interact depends on each municipalities’ needs and limitations.
Sheriff
The Door County Sheriff’s Office, led by Sheriff Tammy Sternard, has a projected budget of $10.2 million for 2025. Negotiations between the County Board and the Sheriff’s Office collective bargaining agent are still underway.
There are five divisions within the Sheriff’s Office and it employs 79 people, including administrative assistants, clerks, part-time officers and a digital forensic investigator it shares with the Sturgeon Bay Police Department.
Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Pat McCarty has worked for the Sheriff’s Office for more than 20 years. According to McCarty, the Sheriff’s Office is fully-staffed “on paper,” but it has officers in various stages of training. McCarty and one other officer are retiring in early 2025, which will leave a hole, he said.
“In ten years of being chief deputy, we’ve never been fully staffed by trained personnel,” according to McCarty.
This is not a unique issue for Door County. Like many industries, staffing shortages have been plaguing law enforcement around the country. The Badger Project reported on the “cop crunch” in April 2024. According to data from the Wisconsin Department of Justice, the number of officers patrolling the state fell from 14,500 in 2008, to 13,000 at the end of 2023.
Municipal police
The Sturgeon Bay Police Department was established in 1883, with only two officers. Today, it employs 26 people, 21 of them sworn officers, with jurisdiction over the City of Sturgeon Bay and its population of 9,926. The department is in the process of hiring another officer, which will make them fully staffed upon hire, Chief Clint Henry explained.
The 2024 budget was $3.3 million for the department, and the budget for 2025 is $3.4 million.
While the Sturgeon Bay department has primary jurisdiction over the City of Sturgeon Bay, it works with the Sheriff’s Office to share resources, including on investigations. The two entities share a digital forensic lab as well.
When a critical incident occurs, however, Henry said, “everyone shows up and we worry about the billing later.”
The Town of Gibraltar, which includes the unincorporated communities of Fish Creek, Juddville, and Maple Grove, established its own police department about 30 years ago, according to Chief Ryan Roesch. Roesch has 28 years of law enforcement experience and has been in his current position since June 2019. He is the only officer in the department, providing law enforcement for the town’s population of 1,251.
The Gibraltar Police Department is funded by the Town of Gibraltar, and the department’s budget for 2025 is $170,045.
Fish Creek can be very busy in the summer, Roesch said, and the town decided to establish its own police department in part to ensure municipal ordinances were being enforced on a regular basis.
Hiring decisions, daily operations and the budget are all determined by the Gibraltar Town Board. There is also a police committee made up of three people. That committee is responsible for any disciplinary action of an officer. If Roesch needs assistance, the Sheriff’s Office provides officers or other resources, he said.
Roesch is a drone pilot and keeps a drone in his squad car, he said, and the Sheriff’s Office often calls him to assist in missing persons cases or search and rescue operations.
“There’s no hesitation from the Sheriff’s Office in back and forth,” Roesch added. “We’ve always worked well together.”
Washington Island has a population of 783 and has two full-time officers on its police department staff with jurisdiction over the Island’s 23.5 square miles. The department was established in 1989 with one officer.
Washington Island Police Chief Tyler McGrane has been requesting the town hire a third officer since 2023, but the electorate voted against the 2024 budget that included that expense. This year, in a proposal to the town, McGrane elaborated on the request for an additional officer, citing increased police call volume, more training requirements and the burden of current officers being on-duty or on-call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The Washington Island Police Department budget for 2024 was $309,660.31. Its budget for 2025 is $445,920.50, a difference of $136,260.19.
The Island has a unique policing situation because of its geographical isolation, according to Chief Deputy McCarty. For that reason, the Sheriff’s Office and the Town of Washington have an agreement. Approved by the county board in 2003, a resolution outlines the relationship between the Sheriff’s Office and the Washington Island Police Department
According to the resolution the Sheriff’s Office will provide a new vehicle to the Island every 7 years, as well as an annual sum “toward law enforcement purposes.” The Sheriff’s Office gave the Island about $107,000 in 2024 and will contribute the same amount in 2025 to subsidize a portion of the Island’s law enforcement budget, McCarty said.
If the Island officers are away, the Sheriff’s Office sends a deputy to cover the time they are gone, as well as sending up reinforcements during busier times and additional backup as necessary.
During McCarty’s tenure, he said there has never been a time when the Sheriff’s Office has been unwilling or unable to assist the Island police department.
During the town’s public hearing for the budget measure, Island resident Ray McDonald asked if the town board could request even more assistance, whether financial or manpower, from the sheriff instead of town property taxes funding a third officer position. Town board members did not have an answer.
The amount of monetary contribution from the county is determined by the annual budget process, according to Sean Donohue, corporation counsel for Door County. Donohue explained the relationship between the two entities in an email:
“The Town of Washington, due to its isolation from the mainland, has preferred to have police coverage to a greater extent with its own department. When a municipality elects to establish/maintain a police department, the police department becomes the primary law enforcement agency for the municipality, with the Sheriff’s Office being secondary. Nevertheless, the Sheriff’s Office has and will continue to assist the Town of Washington Police Department when necessary.”
Constable
Public officials that are charged with keeping the peace and handling minor matters of the law, constables have been around since the 1800s in Wisconsin. A constable has legal authority similar to a sheriff, but only within their own municipality.
Baileys Harbor, Brussels, Gardner and Nasewaupee each have an elected constable. Mark Merrill has been the constable in Baileys Harbor for 40 years. He was a road deputy with the Sheriff’s Office concurrently for 26 years and retired from that office in 2010.
Constables serve a two-year term, and Merrill will be up for re-election in April. He plans to run again, he said, and will likely run unopposed as he has every time before.
“I enjoy being allowed to serve the people. I’ve seen the very best of people and the very worst of people and everything in between,” Merrill said about his long-held role. “I’m seeing humanity as it passes in front of me.”
Constable duties include general law enforcement and enforcing town ordinances. There are 30 plus ordinances on the books in Baileys Harbor, Merrill said, regarding everything from parking rules and boat launch fees, to disorderly conduct and noise. Constables also enforce state statutes. They do not enforce county ordinances however.
Merrill has a marked squad car that he uses to go on patrol, he said, referring to always being available as incidents arise. There is also an appointed reserve deputy on staff who fills in when Merrill takes time off, or provides extra help during festivals, holidays, and other busy times, he said.
In order to run for the office of constable, a candidate must be 18 years old and a resident of the municipality and have no felony convictions. A candidate does not need any certification or training to be elected, though once one is elected, some yearly training is required.
Merrill is unique among the four constables in Door County in that he is a Department of Justice certified law enforcement officer, and therefore he provides full policing detail for the town, he said. Without that certification, Merrill said, “you’re basically animal control.”
Joey Wilke is Nasawaupee’s constable. He ran for the office after his good friend Aric Weber passed away unexpectedly this past June, he said. Weber had served as constable prior to Wilke. “I’m awkwardly honoring my friend,” Wilke said.
“Mostly it is being a Good Samaritan,” he added when asked what his duties are, and agreed they primarily consist of rounding up loose dogs or helping someone with dead animals on their property.
Nasewaupee’s 2025 budget for its constable is $1,500.
The Baileys Harbor Town Board sets the budget and Merrill receives an annual salary. The budget for its public safety in 2025 is $312,170, including fire department and other emergency service providers. A breakdown of that budget was unavailable at the time of publication.
Though the board sets his budget, Merrill said he is basically his own boss. He has protocol and procedures he must follow, he said, and if he does something wrong he answers to the Wisconsin Department of Justice and the electorate.
When Merrill writes citations for ordinance violations, they go through the town clerk’s office and get filed in the county circuit court. The Baileys Harbor town attorney, rather than the district attorney, prosecutes those if they go to court.
The Sheriff’s Office patrols in Baileys Harbor and provides assistance when needed, Merrill said. He also does some firearm training with the Sheriff’s Office.
When it comes to sharing resources and cooperation among law enforcement entities and other first responders, Door County is “way ahead of the curve,” according to Sturgeon Bay Chief Henry.
“People don’t realize what a lot of area there is to cover in Door County,” Chief Roesch said, “and in summertime all responders are pretty stretched to their limits.”
That shared experience is one reason he said he believes there is a good working relationship between public safety personnel in Door County.