Wausau Police Chief Matt Barnes is sworn in by City Clerk Kaitlyn Bernarde. MWC photo by Mike Leischner
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Matthew Barnes was officially sworn in as Wausau’s new Chief of Police on Thursday.
The 23-year veteran of the Wausau PD told the crowd of supporters and fellow Officers that he never planned for a career in policing, but thanks to a ride-along on a random weekend decades ago he feels he’s found his calling, and now it’s his turn to lead the department. To him, that means keeping a constant dialog with the community including the younger generation. “My attitude towards that is we need to know what [they,] our future leaders, want out of their police and what do our marginalized communities need out of us. Sometimes the answers might not be so kind to us; they might not appreciate something that we are doing. We need to be willing to listen to those individuals and still produce quality investigations while doing everything we can to make this a safe place to live.
“We are a really well-functioning Police Department, but there are some areas where we need to improve,” added Barnes.
He wants to maintain police diversity through the department’s “30 by 30” initiative, which calls for 30% of officers to be women by 2030. “We’re not there yet. So we need to establish recruiting practices to make sure that our workplace is someplace where female officers can thrive.”
Challenges in the community that he plans to focus on include outreach to the homeless or unhoused population and drug overdose prevention. He says the key to that is to “reduce demand” for drugs, adding those issues cannot be solved by simply making arrests. “Our focus is to participate and provide leadership when it comes to prevention, and making sure we have the resources here for rehabilitation.”
Barnes challenged all the officers to build a “trust bank” with the community during every shift. He says that means doing something to earn the public’s trust with every stop, call, or other interaction with the community. Because he knows there will be times when they will need to make a withdrawal.
The ceremony included remarks from Mayor Katie Rosenberg and Fire and Police Commission members William Harris and Michael Loy. Investigations Captain Ben Graham, who also applied for the Chief position, served as Master of Ceremonies for the event. Commissioner Loy acknowledged that during his remarks, adding that Graham will remain an asset to the Department.
During his remarks Barnes called out Graham, Lieutenant Melinda Pauls, and others in the department’s leadership; saying the job would not be nearly as appealing without them. He also credited his little brother Johnny, whom he was paired with through the Big Brothers, Big Sisters ‘Bigs in Blue’ program. “I think I get way more out of that relationship than he gets. It is very fulfilling to watch a young man like him be so successful in the things that they are doing.
“When you get to be a little part of that, it’s very fulfilling,” added Barnes.
Johnny provided Barnes with a letter of recommendation for the job and was on hand for Thursday’s event with his parents. Other family members in attendance for Barnes included his wife and two of his three children.
He takes over from former Chief Ben Bliven, who resigned earlier this month for a job in the private sector.
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