JUNEAU, Wis.— The Dodge County Court system is facing shortages of prosecutors and is currently without a district attorney.
The former DA is no longer in his position and multiple prosecutors started retiring around the same time.
Dale Schmidt is in his third term as sheriff for Dodge County. He said many people in Dodge County have concerns about the shifts in the courts, but he said they will be resolved.
“There will be a backlog; there will be things that slow down because of this, but what I want to emphasize to the community is that their safety will not be in jeopardy here,” Schmidt said.
Former Dodge County DA Kurt Klomberg resigned from his position in January. Schmidt said three assistant DAs have recently retired, leaving a shortage in the court system.
Schmidt said he knows rumors have been swirling that Dodge County has no prosecutors, but said that "just isn't accurate."
"We have one in there now until he retires on Feb. 1 and one is likely coming back in February," he said. "So we do have a prosecutor in there and we have a full support staff keeping the ship moving in the right direction."
Schmidt posted his January Sheriff's Note, which included a timeline of events explaining how the shortage came about.
It, in part, read:
The state has assigned retired prosecutors to Dodge County; they are assisting with caseloads while county officials deal with this shortage.
Schmidt said wants the community to know this will not impact how law enforcement works in the community.
“We have a short time here where it is going to be challenging. As far as law enforcement goes, none of this changes the work that we do. If there are individuals who do something wrong that need to be arrested, they will be arrested,” Schmidt said.
Gov. Tony Evers said he is aware of the shortage across the state and something will be done to help.
“We will be proposing making sure we have enough people defending people who are charged with crimes and those that prosecute them. There is a huge shortage there and people are overworked and it is ridiculous,” Evers said.
So while things wont be solved immediately in Dodge County, steps are being taken to fill positions to get the courts back on track.
Schmidt said the application process to fill the district attorney position has closed and the county is hoping Evers will assist in finding someone to fill the position quickly.