Menomonee Falls police chief reports full authorized staffing, lower serious crime but more charges sent to DA

Police Chief Mark Waters presented the Police Department's 2025 annual (fourth-quarter) report to the Village Board, saying the department reached its full authorized sworn strength at Dec. 31.

"So we reached fully full staff at December 31," Waters said, reporting 65.1 budgeted sworn officers and 56.1 available for duty after accounting for training and military leave. He said four new officers were hired in the fourth quarter, including one lateral transfer, and that several officers were in field training or the academy.

Waters told the board calls for service rose to 32,806 year to date. He said Group A offenses'—the department's more serious crimes such as drug offenses, theft and assaults'were down about 9% year to date and that the fourth quarter saw an approximately 15% reduction in those offenses. At the same time, Waters reported an increase in the number of criminal charges sent to the Waukesha County district attorney'a year-to-date increase he described as 19%.

The chief reviewed operational items: three replacement patrol squads on order, ongoing firearms and pursuit training, three pursuits recorded in Q4 (two traffic-related and one assisting another agency) and a single fatal traffic crash for the year. He also described use-of-force and restraint incidents and said the department conducted directed patrols and traffic enforcement tied to citizen complaints and observed crash locations.

Waters outlined initiatives under consideration, including a state grant to trial a data-integration vendor for two years at no cost to the village, early-stage evaluation of drone capabilities, and an automated alarm-processing project. He also said the region's Public Safety Training Center will begin construction late in 2026 with completion projected in 2027, while another training facility'the Department of Remodeling and Renovation'is scheduled to start construction in 2027 with a late-2028 finish.

He announced a labor update: "the Menomonee Falls Police Association and the village have reached a tentative agreement," reached that day in mediation, subject to final ratification.

Trustees asked questions about taser training and drone deployment. Waters said academy trainees experience taser application during training and described taser effects as short-lived: "you lose all control and you drop to the ground for at least 5 to 7 seconds." On drones he said the department is in the infancy of evaluating whether drones would be station-deployed, car-borne or used as first-responder tools.

The presentation included an explanation of adult family home calls: Waters said the village has 14 adult family homes and recounted working with one location that generated concentrated calls early in the year, then dropped after targeted outreach.

The report closed with an expression of thanks and an invitation for questions; trustees complimented the presentation and Waters left the meeting after Q&A.

The board took no separate vote on the report itself; Waters's labor announcement and the grant and training timelines are expected to move through the village's standard approval and implementation processes.