Jan. 6, 2025
VIROQUA, Wis. — The Vernon County Public Safety Committee oversees the Vernon County Sheriff’s Office and the Vernon County Emergency Management Department. The committee met on Tuesday, Jan. 6 at the Vernon County Sheriff’s Office for their regular monthly meeting.
During the Sheriff’s Department portion of the meeting Sheriff Torgerson gave a day to day report on his activities, as he does every month, followed by a discussion of how the Sheriff’s Office use of artificial intelligence technology and how it could use it in the future. While the Sheriff’s Office is adopting new tools to solve crimes and manage records, Sheriff Roy Torgerson urged a cautious approach to the rapid evolution of digital policing.
Torgerson emphasized that while innovation is inevitable, the legal and ethical implications of new technology require deliberate implementation rather than a rush to adopt the latest trends.
“It is so important with law enforcement, with new technology, that you proceed very carefully and very slowly, because, you know, that same technology that can really help us can really hurt us,” said Torgerson.
The department is already utilizing forms of AI within their Central Square records management system. This software assists investigators by visualizing complex relationships between suspects and associates.
“We have a feature in our new system called link analysis, where, if we’re investigating a crime, we’re looking at a certain person, we can click one button in that system and it shows like spider web of all the people that they’re connected to,” said Torgerson. “So that’s a form of AI where we’re getting that report.”
Automated license plate readers represent another technology currently in use that has yielded tangible results for public safety. Torgerson recounted a specific Silver Alert incident involving a woman with early onset dementia who had wandered away from her home.
“We got that hit right away,” said Torgerson. “We sent a La Crosse deputy. They found her right away. And we found a driver and went up, picked her up, and got her back home.”
Looking toward the future, Torgerson discussed potential applications for securing the county courthouse. With multiple entrances making traditional security difficult, the county is exploring AI-driven sensors that can detect weapons without requiring a physical checkpoint at every door.
“You can use, like your Walmart sensors, but they use AI,” said Torgerson. “It’s not just a metal detector, but if you’re carrying a firearm, it’s smart enough to detect that and it can alert like a security officer on a tablet.”
However, not all emerging technology is being embraced immediately. Torgerson expressed skepticism regarding “Draft One,” a feature from Axon that uses body camera audio to automatically write police reports. The sheriff is wary of the legal ramifications if an AI-generated report contains inaccuracies that are later scrutinized in court.
“It uses AI to help write the police report. The problem with it is that is AI and it has to be read and reviewed. Because how would you like to be on the witness stand at a trial? And the defense attorney says, Well, you said this in your report,” said Torgerson. “We are just going to sit back and see how that works for them and make sure there’s no court challenges.”
The sheriff also noted that the rise of AI presents a dual challenge. As law enforcement agencies adopt these tools, criminals are simultaneously using them to commit sophisticated fraud, such as voice replication scams involving financial institutions.
“The same technology we are going to use to be more efficient we are going to have to use to fight that same technology,” said Torgerson.
Emergency Management Updates
Emergency Management Director Brandon Larson provided the committee with updates regarding the department’s funding stability following recent legal rulings at the federal level.
Larson reported that a FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant, which had previously been canceled, was restored by a judge in December. Additionally, a lawsuit involving funding formulas was ruled in favor of the states, securing the Emergency Management Performance Grant funding for 2025. Larson said the grant is critical as it funds county EMS and tribal emergency operations.
Larson also discussed a resolution of support for a state-level Individual Assistance Program. Currently, when disasters strike, homeowners often fail to qualify for federal aid because the damage does not meet FEMA’s high financial thresholds. The proposed state program would help fill the gap between insurance coverage and federal disaster declarations.
“These are dealing with very specific things above and beyond what FEMA normally would have,” said Larson. “This would be to cover the spaces below what FEMA will fund.”
Tweaking the County Mass Notification System
Regarding the county’s mass notification system, Larson noted a recent adjustment to the Everbridge platform. To prevent residents from confusing emergency alerts with spam or calling the director’s personal office line, the system has been updated to display a dedicated number.
“We changed the phone number that it calls from,” said Larson. “It’s a phone number so it is not show up as a spam risk, but it’s going to be show up on caller ID as Everbridge Alerts.”
Residents receiving alerts will now see the number 608-637-5399.
Some committee members encouraged Larson to change the caller ID display to “Vernon County Alerts” to ensure residents recognize the source immediately.
Emergency Management Storage Building Moves Ahead
Larson also updated the committee on progress toward build a storage building to house all of the Emergancy Management equipment. The equipment was previously housed in the old county highway building that was sold and later torn down. Larson has been bouncing from committee for several years to get a replacement building to house critical pieces of equipment like hazmat trailers, air supply trailers used to recharge air packs and the counties mobile command center RV. Much of the equipment has to be in heated storage because it’s sensitive nature.
In previous meetings, Larson has pointed out that response times are sometimes impacted in critical incidents because personnel that respond to incidents are often volunteers from area fire departments and they sometimes have to go to multiple locations for equipment that is now stored in different buildings.
Numerous options for storage were previously considered, including renting various existing commercial spaces, or buying the old fire station from the city of Viroqua, before the county finally decided to build a new building on county property.
The project has moved from committee to committee with the source of funding and overall cost being a hurdle, along with getting plans for the structure approved by the state. The discussions have included the Public Safety Committee that oversees the department, the General Government Committee that oversees all county buildings and facilities and the Finance Committee that is tasked with funding the project.
Larson reported on Tuesday the project is moving forward. Requests for Proposals (RFPs) were sent out prior to Christmas. Highway Commissioner Phil Hewitt, who is also the buildings and facilities manager, is managing the bidding process. Bids are due by January 14, after which they will be reviewed by the General Government Committee.
Initially, the project was slated to be funded entirely through Ho-Chunk Nation grant funds. The $1.2 million the county receives every year for lands held in trust at the Kickapoo valley Reserve. During Finance Committee discussions in late 2025, board members initially said they did not want to borrow fund the project. However, as the county faced a difficult 2026 budget process with limited levy growth, the strategy shifted. Finance Committee members realized that using a large lump sum of Ho-Chunk cash for a building—a long-term asset with a 40-year lifespan—was inefficient when that cash was needed to plug holes in the operating budget. Money that is levied for borrowing is not included in the operation levy and therefore does not county against the levy cap.
Consequently, the committee moved the project into the 2026 Capital Improvement Plan, authorizing the county to borrow the funds instead. The final approved amount for the “Emergency Management Storage Building” in the 2026 capital outlay was $360,000
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