Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett reflected on his first four years in office and his run for reelection on Nov. 3 in an interview with The Daily Cardinal.
During his term as the first African American sheriff in Dane County, Barrett worked through budget cuts, started new social service programs and oversaw Madison reaching its lowest crime rates in the last five years. He also clashed with the Dane County board over 4% budget cuts last November, which ultimately froze 20 unfilled positions rather than eliminating them.
Barrett described tensions with the board as one of the biggest challenges of his tenure.
In an interview with the Cardinal, Barrett discussed accomplishments, ongoing issues and what he hopes to accomplish if given a second term.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
What do you feel has been your biggest achievement as sheriff so far?
I think our biggest achievement was implementing our medication-assisted treatment program in April of 2022 in our jail. This is the first time in the history of our sheriff's office we've implemented this evidence based approach to substance use disorder by continuing medications for those who are experiencing substance addiction.
Another accomplishment was creating our mental health team. We have deputies that are within the communities that specialize in mental health issues and both short and long-term crises. I think that's just been a great accomplishment we've done together as a sheriff's office under my leadership.
Is there anything you were unable to accomplish this term but could make possible in a second term?
One of the major things I was not able to accomplish is continuing to hire qualified individuals who represent the communities we serve here in Dane County.
Over the past five years, we have experienced a large amount of retirements, and we're a little bit behind. We were able to continue the success we had in 2023 and 2024. Now we're looking to set a goal of 50 hires this year, and we are on track to do that.
Why did you decide to run for re-election?
I believe we've accomplished a lot of things with me leading the sheriff's office, and there were some things we weren't able to accomplish. I think the foundation we've built together as a team under my leadership will be a great booster into the next four years if the people choose to reelect me as their sheriff.
I'm just focused on running a great campaign, being the best sheriff I can and continuing to serve the great people of Dane County with character, competence, compassion, courage and communication.
I can tell you this, I am prepared for anything, and I think the body of work that has been accomplished over the past five years kind of speaks for itself.
What are some changes you would like to see and that you would implement if given a second term?
On the legislative level there needs to be some assistance from the state of Wisconsin to prevent our county board from defunding us. We saw that attempt last year, which was met with a ton of pushback, and it led them to only freezing those 20 positions. But there's current legislation out there that will add sheriff's offices to the list of police departments that cannot be defunded from their previous fund or their previous staffing levels of the previous year.
For some reason, in 2023 the legislation did not add county sheriff's offices to the bill. I'm hoping an amendment is signed so we can have the same protections as the police departments we’re assisting on a day to day basis.
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced as sheriff and how did you overcome it?
The biggest challenge as sheriff is working with the Dane County board and providing them with data and information to support every decision we've made. In many situations, if not the majority of them, that data, research and statistics never get taken into consideration.
We focus on distributing good data, and in many cases, they will look at those decisions and choose not to follow the recommendations of the sheriff's office. There's no one who knows our jail better than me as the sheriff and our Dane County Sheriff's Office staff.
I just hope the Dane County Board trusts us to make decisions for the greater good. There are where the Dane County Board has chosen not to follow the recommendations or the decisions of the Dane County Sheriff's Office, and it has proven to go exactly how we expected it to go.
At the end of the day, the only people who were hurt are the same people who elected us to protect them.
What is something that happened this term that you do not want to happen again?
Around two years ago, the Dane County Board made the decision to end the contract with our federal residents in transit. Those who have been sentenced to federal prison would typically be housed in our jail while they were going through their court processes. The federal courthouse is literally a block and a half from the Dane County Sheriff's Office, so it was a great partnership. It was a source of revenue for us, and we don't have any other forms of revenue as a sheriff's office here.
The Dane County Board, who controls the contracts, decided to end that contract, even though it was bringing in an average of about $1.5 million in revenue. We're currently in a budget deficit of $31.5 million. Well, now they're looking to bring that contract back.
We told them repeatedly that we're going to need that money. It’s something beneficial to the criminal justice system and for those going through it. The transportation isn't as far compared to coming from 30 to 45 minutes away from other sheriff's offices.
Now the Board is in the process of discussions with the U.S. Marshals office in regards to how that would work to bring it back. Again, that is one of those exact examples of where we said, “Hey, this is the data. This is what we do. This is how it's beneficial. Not just for us right now, but for the future,” and they chose to do otherwise. Here we are trying to undo some of the decisions that were made.
Is there anything you would do differently with the federal residents in transit program?
At this point, it's been two years. The federal system is kind of adjusted and has other contracts with other sheriff's offices now, so it's really up to the Dane County Board to negotiate that contract and try to bring it back. I'm not sure how that's going to go with the current situation and how things have been over the past two years. It’s Dane County that is facing a $30 million plus budget deficit, right?
There is a statistic from the Madison Police Department saying Madison is seeing some of the lowest crime rates in the past five years. How do you take that, and what do you think is the reason behind it?
I would say it starts with the leadership of the Madison Police Department, starting with their previous chief, Sean Barnes, and their current Chief John Patterson, but also through the dedication of the brave women and men of the Madison Police Department who go out and serve the community with character and competence every day.
Then it extends to the partnerships that we have with the surrounding agencies. Us working with them and being a readily available partner to help in any situation. We make sure that we're implementing appropriate criminal justice reforms that help lower crime.
I think all of us working together as one in unison is the reason why we're seeing a collective reduction in the crime rates, not just in Madison, but in Dane County as a whole.
