City Of Fond du Lac PD Officers Support Referendum April 6

Ahead of the vote on the April ballot, City of Fond du Lac Police Officers have publicly announced their support for the Public Safety Referendum. Following an internal vote of its membership, the local police association representing Fond du Lac’s officers announced its support for the spring referendum to add six additional officers and six additional firefighter/paramedics to cover the city’s growing public safety needs.

According to the president of the Fond du Lac Professional Police Association (FDLPPA), Charles Beckford, the officers overwhelmingly support the measure, which city voters will decide on April 6. “Fond du Lac’s police officers take pride in serving our community, but our staffing has not kept pace with the volume and severity of the calls that we receive,” said Beckford. “The additional officers would not only help us reduce our response times, it would also enable us to move to a more proactive policing approach during peak call volume. This would be good for both public safety and officer safety.”

In a report to the Fond du Lac Common Council last August, Police Chief Bill Lamb explained how violent crimes have increased 45% and domestic and aggravated assaults rose by as much as 70%. Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the city last March, police have responded to increased calls of drug overdoses, suicides, and other mental illness calls for service, resulting in significant overtime costs. The FDLPPA is an affiliate of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, the state’s largest law enforcement group.