Letter to the Editor | Statement on recent Kewaskum police issue | By Richard Knoebel

June 11, 2026 – Kewaskum, Wi – I have been involved in the Village of Kewaskum since February 1, 1973, when I was hired as a police officer. I remained an officer until August 1988 when I was promoted to Chief of Police.  I held that position until I retired in January 2012, when I ran for the Village Board and was elected in April of 2012.  I’ve served on the board until the present.

 I am proud of my service and always wanted to do the best for Kewaskum residents.  I do not believe we handled the recent hiring incident correctly.

  I take responsibility for not being more forceful in the way it should have been handled.  I think we took all the responsible things to investigate the incident, but the charges were not what I would have liked to see.

When I saw on the internet, on Good Friday, that charges had been sent to the Police and Fire Commission I was surprised.

I feel that a vote in open session should have been held before charges were forwarded to the Commission so all Board members could have had a chance to make their positions known.

Many closed sessions were held about this matter, and, by law, those discussions cannot be revealed. 

Once the charges were sent to the Commission, I did not feel it was proper for me to comment on the incident as to try to sway anyone in their decision. 

I had complete faith in the Police and Fire Commission to reach an agreement as to the proper outcome for this matter. Now that the outcome of the matter has been ruled on, I felt now was the time for me to respond. 

I would like to personally thank the Police and Fire Commission for the diligence in their deliberations and the time and effort they used.  It was not an easy situation for them, and we all need to thank them for their dedication to their duties.  They proved why Police and Fire commissions need to be apolitical.  

This incident has caused a divide in Kewaskum’s residents, and it is my hope that we can come together and work towards the future and help to heal these feelings and keep Kewaskum a great place to live. 

Richard L. Knoebel

Village of Kewaskum Trustee

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