Acting Milwaukee County Sheriff introduces himself, talks about goals for his new role

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MILWAUKEE COUNTY (CBS 58) – Milwaukee County’s new top cop introduces himself less than a week after former Sheriff David Clarke resigned.

Richard Schmidt became acting sheriff one minute after former Sheriff Clarke resigned and says he started getting to work right away.

Schmidt says he started with the office in 1986 and owes his career to Sheriff Clarke.

Schmidt says in the first eight hours on the job, he gathered top command staff for a meeting about leadership and called the budget director to freeze every single account in the Sheriff’s Office to get the budget under control.

The projected deficit is $5 million. Schmidt says he has experience balancing budgets as he was able to balance the budget for the jail when he ran the jail.

 Schmidt also ordered jail administration to put in a request for a technical assistant from the National Institute of Corrections to come make recommendations. He says this does not mean the jail is operating ineffectively, he just wants an outside agency to check it out.

“Every single person watching I want them to have assurance every citizen in Milwaukee County that I take the jail extremely seriously. We want your friends, relatives, neighbors they need to be treated properly, appropriately, and safely and I've committed myself to that,
 says acting sheriff Schmidt.

Schmidt says he also plans to continue the office’s crackdown on DUI offenders. He also made a point to tell his command staff to love the people they serve and says while he is the Sheriff, he mandates excellence, high standards, accountability, and a sense of urgency within the department.



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