KENOSHA COUNTY, Wis. — Kenosha County Sheriff David W. Zoerner is facing growing criticism from within his own department and the wider community after beginning an initiative to place “Sheriff David W. Zoerner” lettering on all county patrol squad cars. The move comes just over halfway into his term, with his next election scheduled for fall 2026.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
The lettering project is expected to cost taxpayers thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, but the exact price remains unknown. Deputies, community members, and local officials have questioned both the timing and purpose of the initiative, calling it an unnecessary expense that provides no legitimate benefit to law enforcement operations. Several deputies told Kenosha County Eye that if the sheriff truly wanted his name on the fleet, it should have been done when he first took office in January 2023—not more than two years into his term about a year before the next election.
Some have accused the sheriff of using the lettering as a campaign tool at taxpayer expense. Questions about the project’s costs and justification were sent to Zoerner by email and text message, but he declined to respond. Kenosha County Eye will be following up with a public records request to obtain the financial details.
Meanwhile, other problems with the county’s vehicle fleet are drawing attention. At the Kenosha County Detention Center, more than two dozen brand-new squad cars are sitting idle and have not yet been outfitted for patrol use. At the same time, deputies continue to drive older vehicles that are breaking down more frequently and require costly maintenance. Joint Services, which is jointly funded by city and county taxpayers, is responsible for outfitting squad cars, but according to deputies, the sheriff has refused to consider alternative options to speed up the process.
Unlike municipal police departments, Kenosha County deputies are issued take-home vehicles due to the size of the jurisdiction they cover. This makes the condition and availability of squad cars a critical issue for deputies and the public. Several deputies—despite warnings from the sheriff that they could lose their jobs for speaking to Kenosha County Eye—have continued to come forward with concerns about the lettering project, the aging fleet, and the lack of transparency from the sheriff’s office.
As the 2026 election approaches, critics argue the new squad car lettering amounts to taxpayer-funded campaign advertising, while urgent issues with the department’s vehicles remain unresolved.
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47 Responses
Waste of money
The optics don’t look good, that’s for sure.
It is like Trump signing the covid relief checks that went out. Trump also put a letter with his signature in all the boxes of food that were distributed to people during Covid.
What is with these people?
Seriously? How many hours per day do u spend talking about Trump
My sentiments exactly!
All of them
Why criticize the sheriff when he is modeling the behavior of the Pedo-in-Chief?
Biden left office in January, anus face.
Yet, likely you are ok with calling the Affordable Care Act Obamacare….
Joe is gone, Bud
serious case of TDS–get some help
https://youtu.be/PWSx0bBiNIs?si=FDfpgOSJ7GpkC3qu
Total waste of money, does ANY politician try to save us money??! Good grief
I’ll make a prediction. Sheriff Ralphy May is on his way out. He will not be elected again. He has lost my vote next time and am certain I’m not alone.
He always has been a RINO.
There aren’t any real conservatives left in SE WI. The parties have made actual conservatives un-electable.
The Sheriff is suffering from short man syndrome.
Short puffy man .
I’ll say it again and same goes for KPD! The way they spend and waste money on is out of control! The sheriff appears more focused on pleasing friends, granting them raises, promotions, and showboating in expensive vehicles while kissing the
asses of other politicians. His priorities are misplaced rather than supporting corrections staff and ensuring the jail system is properly maintained, much of the budget is spent on “new toys” and unnecessary overhead. Meanwhile, the people doing the actual grunt work are left overworked, understaffed, and underappreciated.
When budget cuts are considered, leadership consistently looks to the bottom instead of addressing waste at the top. To make matters worse, office staff often receive “title changes” or meaningless promotions that conveniently come with raises, not because of merit, but due to favoritism and personal connections. This creates a culture where loyalty to individuals outweighs professional standards, leaving frontline staff and the community shortchanged.
This is very shady business!
Look at how much police/sheriff overtime pay costs taxpayers, personalized decals are a drop in the bucket. These cops know how milk the clock. That’s where you’ll find millions being wasted.
Why doesn’t the County Executive chime in and curtail the Sheriff’s wasteful spending on the items that make him feel taller?
She will just jack up employee insurance again, to make up the cost. Then, more employees will leave, services will get even worse, more people will die from reckless driving related incidents from patrolled highways, people will complain about how bad county services like Brookside and road maintenance are, and everyone will ignore the bigger issue— mismanagement at the highest levels, and constant turnover at the mid-and lowest levels. RPKC will back Kerkman and Zoerner, and things will to suck for taxpayers— but, at least the mill rate won’t go up!
*unpatrolled highways. UNPATROLLED. Not patrolled. Autocorrect.
Only in Paddock lake.
They are definitely not patrolling the uncontrolled raceways that are Gren Bay Rd., State Hwy 195, or County S.
The county executive has less authority because the sheriff is elected, not appointed. The county board could do a budget reduction but it would not be specific.
Personalization of squads to the Sheriff’s name should be prohibited. Its a cost to put on and cost to remove. Sheriff’s come and go, the squads often remain. Didn’t know the county budget had surplus?? Inmates allegedly going without meds, but squads get ID’d? Priorities?
Until Scott Walker came along and put
“Open For Business” on all state border signs.
Then Evers took it off.
Trust me. We know who the governor is. And those from out of state don’t care.
Same with the sheriff. His deputies are the front line face of the department. If they are doing their jobs correctly nobody cares who the sheriff is.
And those that do care, know who he is.
Vanity. Pure Political Vanity
As so often happens with these Napoleons ,
the power went to his head.
In Evers’ defense it’s not uncommon for the governor’s name to appear on a welcome sign and Wisconsin’s are at the state borders with an interchangeable name plank. I do recall when Blago’s name was all over the Illinois toll roads!!
Evers does not deserve to be defended. Are you from Kenosha? Are you not aware that his unfounded statements triggered the destruction of our city? Are you aware that he expressly ordered the sheriff not to take action against Antifa and other group members who set fire to our town? That man does not even deserve due process. Do not defend him.
Make no mistake about it. This isn’t just a waste of tax payer dollars, it’s tax payer advertisement for the upcoming election. What an arrogant bastard!
Thanks for reporting on this, Kevin. What a bad look for Zoerner for this to occur while inmates aren’t receiving their proper medications and just a year before an election. Check your ego at the door and do what’s best for the community, Zoerner.
Never did like that guy. Followed me around at the 4th of july parade in twin lakes trying to get a vote.
Hopefully people who’ve been paying attention to how badly he’s doing the job we’ll see his name on the back of squads as a constant reminder who not to vote for?
Dave isn’t a bad guy nor is he a particularly horrible sheriff but I don’t like what he’s becoming. He ran to protest what he felt was abusive behavior by his predecessor but now he seems to have issues of his own. A dose of humility is in order. Abraham Lincoln pointed out that those who hold the power bear the responsibility. Instead of elevating himself he should be lifting up his officers and making sure that they are connecting with the community. A Lake County sheriff spent time in his own jail to see what his staff and prisoners go through. The sheriff can ditch his trooper hat, lighten up his uniform and spend time listening to his people and the people. By humbling himself a little more he would likely be elevated more.
Agreed. Well said!
Dave’s a decent guy trying to tiptoe through the minefield of politics, bless his heart. Not everyone’s cut out for the high-wire act of balance and nuance, but hey, sometimes it takes a full term just to find the rope. I’m betting Dave will get his footing and snag another term; he’s a Republican I can actually support. Go figure
A body only a lifetime of stuffing donuts, and drinking beer in your face gets you.
If you want to see any Sheriff vehicles around SE Wisconsin, check Sunday evenings.
You see them parked all over “checking for speeders.” Otherwise, they don’t do jack shit around Salem.
Ego. Ego. Ego.
How about the vehicles the Sheriff and Chief Deputy are driving? Previous Sheriff’s and Chief Deputies drove Ford Explorers, which were then handed down the chain of command. Not the current 2 in charge. A Tahoe and a GMC pickup for them…….
Is it a white Tahoe?
Seems Dave is becoming what he campaigned against in his two earlier failed campaigns. Not a good look for Dave.
What waste here. The taxpayers will have to pay to remove his name from every vehicle.
This is not at all uncommon in law enforcement. There are plenty of agencies around the country that have the Sheriff or Chief of Police names on them. HOWEVER this definitely is yet another one if the man’s needless spending projects that Zoerner is making. The take-home/assigned squads, initiated by Beth, is a huge benefit to the county in both financial savings (vehicles last longer, more accountability for damage to them, etc) and faster response times but adding the during Sheriff’s name has nothing to do with how effective a deputy will be. Sheriff Zoerner and Chief Deputy Miller were both signed brand new Ford Explorer squads when they took office yet both decided they wanted something fancier. A few months later, Zoerner went out and bought a nearly fully loaded Chevy Tahoe and Miller got a nicely equipped GMC Sierra pickup! WHY??
To make things worse, Miller complained that there weren’t enough emergency lights and he wanted more installed on his pickup. Why? Well because he responds to so many emergencies, duh! I may be wrong but I don’t think he’s responded to even one since getting that truck. Zoerner also purchased a very nice Suburban that sat in the basement for over a year before finally agreeing to assign it to the TRT leader.
So my point is, Zoerner really is a nice guy that likes really nice shiny objects! He definitely forgot what it’s like to be a deputy! He definitely has no idea what it’s like being a jailer! He’s definitely not a good lead by example Sheriff. His staff, the ENTIRE staff is grossly under paid, insurance benefits are nearly non-existent (not his doing but he certainly has a say in it) and moral is heard back to the David Beth levels and it’s all because he would rather look flashy with his Rolex and pretty squad than stand up for his employees and do what’s right guy them! Zoerner and Miller both should be ashamed of what they are doing and where they are taking the department. Stop the needless spending, prioritize your staff and staffing levels, cut the number of admin personnel, which by the way is EXTREMELY top heavy yet again, and get back to basics. Going from Department to Office was overdue but damn, you’ve both got some learning to do if you’re going to make it successful!
Insurance benefits almost non-existant? These are state jobs and I work for the state.You cannot tell me that their insurance benefits are almost non existent nevause that is simply not true at all. And the pay? Seriously? And, state jobs has one of the top retirement plans in the country. AND, pay raises and benefits come from higher government than the sheriff!
Deputies are county employees, not state.
Kenosha County has TANKED benefits for their employees, and when Clara explained benefit changes to the county board at budget time, she GROSSLY misrepresented the amount of the increase employees had to pay— for significantly worse benefits. Most employees don’t even truly see a “raise” because of the massive costs of our health insurance. I get that that’s the case in the private sector for many as well, but the public sector has traditionally been lower pay (it’s still lower than most neighboring counties, in addition to the private sector) but the benefits were what drew people in. Not any more- and it’s gotten significantly worse under Sam. She’s stuck it to the employees to keep the mill rate low, not realizing that as employees leave, taxpayers services will be impacted.