After A Decade Leading FDL PD, Lamb Announces He Will Retire In May

After leading the City of Fond du Lac Police Department for almost a decade, Chief William Lamb has announced he is retiring from the Department. The announcement was Friday in a press release and made by City Manager Joe Moore who said:

“Please join me in congratulating and honoring Chief Bill Lamb. He will be retiring as the Chief of Police, effective May 2021 after serving 33 years in law enforcement, over 20 of those years as a Chief of Police. During Chief Lamb’s tenure, the City of Fond du Lac Police Department has:

Attained and set a gold standard in Law Enforcement Accreditation;

Enhanced the training and preparedness of officers regarding use of force, tactical operations capabilities, and active shooter response; and

Effectively targeted and shut down a number of criminal organizations and individuals engaged in illegal gun, drug trafficking, and related gang activity.

Chief Lamb’s exemplary public service has brought great credit upon himself, the City of Fond du Lac Police Department and the law enforcement profession.”

The announcement comes less than two weeks before residents in the city of Fond du Lac head to the polls to cast their votes in the Public Safety Referendum. The referendum, if passed, would add safety personnel to both the Fire and Police Departments.

The retirement announcement also comes at a time when the FDL Police Department is facing a number of key losses within their ranks, along with an on-going investigation involving officers, including veteran Detective Bill Ledger who has been on paid administrative leave since August of 2020. The Department announced earlier Friday morning the hiring of 4 more officers, bringing the number of officers hired in the past year to nine

Lamb is a 33-year veteran of the law enforcement profession, more than 20 years as Chief. On June 30, 2011, Lamb was sworn in as the Chief of Police for the City of Fond du Lac during one of the most challenging times in the history of the department. It was in the process of healing and recovering from the loss of Officer Craig Birkholz who was killed in the line of duty in March 2011.

Chief Lamb was born and raised in Fond du Lac and attended UW-Fond du Lac from 1986 through 1988. He then transferred to UW-Oshkosh and later to Marian University where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Administration of Justice. Lamb graduated in the 209th session of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

He began his career in 1988 with the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department, joining the North Fond du Lac Police Department in 1991 where he worked until June 2011. He served as North Fond du Lac’s Chief of Police for ten of those years.

His law enforcement career included work as a patrol officer, investigator, narcotics task force officer, patrol commander, deputy chief of police, operations commander and police chief. He also held a number of specialized assignments and responsibilities including the positions of field training officer and unified tactics instructor. In addition to his duties as North Fond du Lac’s Police Chief, he served two terms as the interim village administrator in North Fond du Lac.

Lamb is a past-president of the Wisconsin Chapter of the FBI National Academy Association as well as the Fond du Lac County Law Enforcement Executive’s Association. He currently serves as an executive board member of the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association.

In 2020, under Lamb’s leadership, Fond du Lac PD earned accreditation through the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Accreditation Group. This was a voluntary process and is recognized “as the gold standard of professional excellence in Wisconsin law enforcement,” Fond du Lac Police Chief William Lamb said in a press release. The department was the 38th in the state to attain the status, out of more than 560 law enforcement agencies.

Locally, Chief Lamb served on the YMCA Board of Directors and was a member of the Knights of Columbus and Fond du Lac Noon Rotary. He also served as a board member of the Fond du Lac County Chapter of the American Red Cross and the ASTOP Sexual Abuse Center. The University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac selected Chief Lamb to receive its 2012 Distinguished Alumni Award.

The City of Fond du Lac Police and Fire Commission will hold a special meeting next week to formally receive Chief Lamb’s retirement notice. Under Wisconsin State Law, the hiring of a police chief is under the sole direction of the Police and Fire Commission.

You can read the full release from Chief William Lamb here: