Manitowoc County Sheriff Dan Hartwig
The Wisconsin Badger State Sheriff’s Association recently held a conference in Madison. Part of that conference is the privilege to attend a legislative session at the state capitol to meet with local legislators and speak with them on issues important to them. Manitowoc County Sheriff Dan Hartwig attended the conference and told SeehaferNews.com that he brought up the issue of offering protective status for county jailers.
“Corrections officers at the state level, their all protective status…they get to retire at an earlier age.” Hartwig explained. “Currently, a lot of our corrections officers retire at 55 or 60 years old. You really don’t want some of your staff, at that age, where they have to interact with and potentially fight 17, 18, 19, 20 year old offenders.”
Hartwig also said that the lawmakers were sincerely interested in supporting the issue, with the Wisconsin Counties Association voicing their support, if it doesn’t cost the counties any extra money. That additional funding would come from the employee.
There isn’t any timetable put into place for when the state legislature would address protective status as of now. Only that there is ongoing dialogue about it.
