North Fond du Lac police chief Darren Pautsch says he wanted to be a police officer as long as he can remember. Pautsch will be retiring after the first of the year after more than 12 years as police chief and more than 30 years in law enforcement. “You talk to my family and they’ll tell you from the time I was a little boy it was what I said I was going to do,” Pautsch told AM 1170’s Between the Lines program. Pautsch says becoming a chief was never a goal of his when he started out as a patrol officer in the town of Ripon, and then in the village of North Fond du Lac. “Started in NFDL as a part-time patrol officer and ended up getting opportunity after opportunity to take that next step and try something different,” Pautsch said. “The timing in my career and my life it was such that I was able to step into that new role and take on those new duties and move forward , and that’s how I ended up being the chief.” Since George Floyd was killed by a cop in Minneapolis law enforcement agencies across the country have struggled to recruit the next generation of police officers. And amid the national reckoning on policing, communities are questioning who should become a police officer today. “There are no doubt people wearing the uniform that shouldn’t be. There are also people who maybe aren’t bad actors or bad people but make bad choices and bad decisions in the spur of the moment,” Pautsch said. “I’ve always felt like it’s our job as law enforcement to police our own and do our part to either rid our ranks of those people or at least hold people accountable.” But Pautsch says by and large he firmly believes the vast majority of police officers are trying to do the right thing for the right reasons. He says Fond du Lac area law enforcement is blessed to have a great relationship with the community.
