Lieutenant Ryan Zitlow started his career with the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office as a Correctional Deputy in April of 2006. In August of 2007, he was promoted to Patrol Deputy where he experienced working on 3rd shift and 2nd shift. Lieutenant Zitlow worked as a Patrol Deputy until his promotion to Sergeant in July of 2014 and then promoted to Lieutenant in April 2024 

Lieutenant Zitlow is an active member on several special teams with the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office. He has been a member of the SWAT team since 2009, where he served as a sniper from 2010-2019, and is now an Assistant SWAT Commander. In addition, he has been a certified Field Training Officer since 2012, which he is currently assigned as the Field Training Coordinator. Sergeant Zitlow is the K-9 Coordinator supervising currently one K9 Deputy and his K9 partner. Sergeant Zitlow is in charge of the Radars/Lasers handling any maintenance issues with them and making sure yearly certifications are completed. Lieutenant Zitlow is a member of the Crash Investigation Team where he completed trainings in 2014 and 2015 becoming a certified Crash Reconstructionist. In 2015, he was also certified as a Crash Data Retrieval Specialist and is currently the Assistant Crash Team Coordinator. Lieutenant Zitlow also is a certified Wisconsin LESB Handgun/Rifle Instructor since 2016 and a certified Wisconsin LESB EVOC Instructor since 2018. Sergeant Zitlow continues to be an active member of the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office Water Patrol and Rescue Team. Lieutenant Zitlow is also a trainer in the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office VirTra, which is a simulation and tactical firearms training tool.  Sergeant Zitlow has also been a member of the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office Child Abduction Response Team since 2018.Sergeant Zitlow is also a member of the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Reserve.

After graduating from L.P. Goodrich High School in Fond du Lac, Lieutenant Zitlow graduated from Fox Valley Technical College with an Associate’s Degree in Police Science and then continued his education where he received a bachelor’s degree in Administration of Justice from Marian University in Fond du Lac. Lieutenant Zitlow is a graduate of Leadership Fond du Lac Class of 2017.  Lieutenant Zitlow served on the board for the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Benevolent Association, Member at Large (2015-2018) and past President (2019).