MADISON, Wis. — On March 28, 2024, the Dane County Sheriff’s Department welcomed 17 new deputies.
Allison Tillema was one of the recruits who joined that new class of deputies.
“I really want to help people. I like being able to be in a community setting, feel like I am making an impact,” said Tillema. “I am also really interested and want to make an impact in the mental health aspect of the criminal justice system.”
Tillema interned with the Dane County Sheriff’s Department before deciding she wanted to embark on the intensive six-month training program.
“I really liked the experience and I got to meet a lot of super nice people,” said Tillema. “The culture is super welcoming, and I really wanted that for the next steps in my life.”
Tillema and the other recruits are in the process of going through six months of training in areas such as law, crisis intervention, firearms and use of community resources.
Spectrum News 1 caught up with Tillema during the second phase of training. That’s when cadets learn defensive and arrest tactics, also known as DAT.
“It is really fun to start to be hands-on and actually start to feel like we're learning and getting into the part of what our career is going to be,” said Tillema.
There are currently 14,910 certified law enforcement officers in the state of Wisconsin, according to the Department of Justice.
That number increased from 2023, when there were less than 13,000 officers.
Deputy Patrick Kelly is a training deputy for the Dane County Sheriff’s Department.
He is in charge of teaching DAT training. He said over the past year, the number of cadets has increased.
“I think it is a combination of more people wanting to do the job, as well as how we run our hiring process,” said Kelly. “We are consolidating more, so we have a bigger class.”
Kelly said DAT training plays an important role in an officer's day-to-day experience on the job.
“DAT works on using force or responding to what someone is doing to us safely and efficiently, so we can get the person under control,” said Kelly.
He said phase two of training is the exciting phase; phase three will mostly be in the classroom.
“They will finish up right at the beginning of August,” said Kelly.
Occasionally, he said cadets fail the academic portion of the training and do not move on to become deputies.
He said he feels confident Tillema will make it through the training and become a permanent part of the Dane County Sheriff’s Department.
“Allison has a great attitude; she is excited to learn and applies the instruction that we give her,” said Kelly. “She is open to feedback, and she is doing really well in the academy.”
Tillema said she is excited to learn more over the next few months.
“A lot more of the hands-on stuff, a lot more of the communication, learning how to diffuse situations,” said Tillema. “I think we will go through that more so they do not have to escalate.”