Gunderson aims for efficient, effective Sheriff’s Department

• Tom Gunderson

Tom Gunderson

Talk about it

Besides being on-the-job with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, Tom Gunderson has gone back to school in the interest of furthering himself in his chosen profession.

Since 2007, the River Falls native has studied at UW-Platteville, finishing his Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice and, from last year on, working toward his Masters degree in criminal justice administration.

“When I went back to school, I broadened my view of law enforcement,” said Gunderson, now a patrol sergeant who’s a candidate for county sheriff in the Tuesday, Nov. 2, general election.

“With my training, and based on my experience with the department, I feel I can offer the citizens of this county a department that’s both efficient and effective,” added the 25-plus year veteran, first hired part-time in 1984, advancing to full-time a year later, and being the K-9 officer, a member of the tactical team, a firearms instructor and dispatcher/jailer at various times since then.

One area in which he wants to emphasize efficiency and effectiveness is the dispatch center and jail, he said. Staffing levels there need to be reevaluated, he believes.

“911 is the lifeline to every citizen, while every officer, EMS responder and fire fighter relies on it, too,” he said.

The center’s staffing should be such that it meets or exceeds the community’s needs, he said. Presently, three dispatcher/jailers are typically on duty and he praises all of these officers for the quality work they perform.

However, if a jail incident occurs, two of those personnel respond for safety reasons, which can leave one at dispatch, he said. An incoming 911 call requiring an outside matter—ranging from traffic accidents to medical emergencies--to be handled, closely followed by a second call, means the facility can become overloaded. The regular phone line is also answered there, he reminded.

Meantime, it’s a department responsibility to take care of people in jail and they should have the best care possible, he said. Evaluating where personnel are being used is a priority for him.

“We need to reduce the stress on those officers,” he said, contending they’re still working at 1990s staffing levels, though the population continues to increase, as does the demand for the department’s services.

As for the county’s jail being antiquated as it currently exists, Gunderson felt there are some alternatives. He acknowledged the facility is one of the older ones in Wisconsin and its relatively low capacity has forced prisoner housing elsewhere, including Dunn and Pepin counties, as well as Polk County sometimes.

“In the economic situation the country’s currently in, I can’t foresee building a facility anytime soon,” he said.

Thus, he would turn to other options, he said. Recognizing people have talked about home monitoring, he indicated a lot of things are affected when a person has to be in jail. The public’s safety is a sheriff’s first responsibility and, when someone is sentenced for a crime and poses a threat to the community, this program isn’t necessarily the answer. Yet, those who haven’t posed a threat nor been sentenced for violent crimes could be eligible for alternatives.

“We should keep our eyes open for other options and ways of dealing with them without putting them in jail,” he said.

People out on probation pose still another issue, the candidate said. Because the department doesn’t have control over when probation agents feel the need to put an individual in jail, the jail population can be increased quite a bit in that regard alone.

Gunderson identified the budget as one of the greatest difficulties the department faces in the sheriff’s next four-year term. It’s going to mean establishing close cooperation with the county board, he said, along with finding alternative ways of doing business. Under the current economic situation, there’s a need to find other ways of doing what’s already being done--alternatives to meet the threats and issues that are going to come up.

He said he’d favor splitting the dispatcher/jailer positions into two separate jobs “if it could be done correctly so both the dispatch center and the jail are staffed adequately.” He’d treat employees fairly and equally to keep up morale in the department. And he’d expand the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program into the junior high and high school levels, finding when youths get to those levels, there are even more pressures and influences on their lives.

“We need to address those students…their influences don’t stay the same,” he said as one of the original organizers of a DARE fundraiser, a horse ride that recently marked its 14th year.

The candidate said he’s a proponent of goal-setting, wishing to develop a focus and establishing goals so “everyone in the department and in the community know where the department is going.”

For more information about Gunderson’s candidacy, click on this link: www.Gundersonforsheriff.com

---------

Background:

Name: Tom Gunderson

Age: 46

Address: River Falls

Occupation: Patrol sergeant, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department

Family: Wife Liz; daughters, Megan, a sophomore at UW-Stout, and Molly, a senior at River Falls High School

Education: 1982 River Falls High School graduate; 1982-87, UW-River Falls, sociology; 2007-09, Bachelor of Science in criminal justice at UW-Platteville; 2009-present, Masters in criminal justice administration at UW-Platteville

Tags: pierce county elections, elections, politics