History of Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office

Fond du Lac County was organized on March 11th 1839 by an act of the Territorial Legislature. Prior to that it was considered a part of Brown County, and relied on Brown County for all their law enforcement and judicial related issues. Fond du Lac County was given judicial status in 1844 and elected its first Sheriff, F. F. Davis in 1848. A court house had been built in 1846 with the first floor of the building used as a jail. That building fell into disrepair and in 1869 Fond du Lac County erected a County Jail with separate living quarters for the Sheriff on Linden St. near Western Ave. for a cost of $42,000.00. That building was used until 1954 when the safety building was erected. In 2005 the Sheriff's Office and Jail underwent a major renovation which included the remodeling of offices, addition of a training room, an addition to the Jail which included the updating of the security system and maximized the capacity of the jail. The jail capacity increased from 149 beds to over 300 beds.

County traffic enforcement was handled by the Sheriff’s Office as early as 1925. In 1940 the Fond du Lac County Traffic Police was created as a separate Department from the Sheriff’s Office. The County Traffic Police and the Sheriff merged in 1981 and became the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office.

The Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office is responsible for an area of 724 square miles which includes 21 townships and 949 miles of roadway, serving 100,108 citizens.  The Sheriff’s Office works closely with 10 other law enforcement agencies, Wisconsin State Patrol and Department of Corrections. Currently we have 146 full and part time employees, which includes 56 Jail Certified/Sworn Officers, 76 Patrol Certified/Sworn Officers and 14 Sworn Support Staff & Cooks.

The Sheriff’s Office is responsible for a 300+ bed jail complex and provides services in Crime Scene and Accident Investigation, State and Local Law Enforcement, Community Services, Police School Liaison, S.W.A.T. and Civil Process.

Historical Information courtesy of Fond du Lac County Historical Society and Fond du Lac Reporter.