“Partnering with the community to confront crime and protect the innocent.”

In 2020 Lake Mills Police held their first Citizen Police Academy.  Students meet once a week for 10 weeks.  Each training session is approximately three hours long.  Topics include:  K9, Taser, Defense and Arrest Tactics, Pursuits and Traffic Stops, Drunk Driving and Drugged Driving, Criminal Investigations, Active Shooter Response, Taser and much more! Our goal is to educate citizens on what we do as police officers, why we do things the way we do them, and how technology is changing the landscape of police work.

In 2022, the Lake Mills Police entered into a formal agreement with the Lake Mills Area School District to fund a School Resource Officer (SRO).  The SRO serves the three schools in LMASD, as well as Lakeside Lutheran High School and St. Paul’s Lutheran School. The mission of the SRO Program is to improve school safety and the educational climate at the school. The SRO is a full-time law enforcement officer with sworn law enforcement authority, employed by the City and assigned to work with the District using community-oriented policing concepts. The SRO Program’s goals are: providing safe learning environments in our schools, providing valuable resources to school staff members, fostering positive relationships with youth, developing strategies to resolve problems affecting youth, and protecting all students so they can reach their fullest potential.

D.A.R.E. is a collaborative effort by DARE certified law enforcement officers, educators, students, parents and the community, to offer an educational program in the classroom to prevent or reduce drug abuse and violence among children and youth. The D.A.R.E. program offers preventative strategies to enhance those protective factors, especially bonding to the family, school and the community. Such bonds are proven to foster the development of resiliency in young people, who may be otherwise be at risk for substance abuse and/or other problem behaviors. Our SRO also serves as our D.A.R.E. officer and teaches the D.A.R.E. curriculum to about 500 students each year.

“If You See Something, Say Something™” is a national campaign that raises public awareness of the indicators of terrorism and terrorism-related crime, as well as the importance of reporting suspicious activity to state and local law enforcement. More information on how to report suspicious activity can be found on the Department of Homeland Security website.

Created by the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of School Safety (OSS), the SPEAK UP, SPEAK OUT Resource Center is a comprehensive, one-stop place to turn with important concerns, offering a Threat Reporting System, Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management, Critical Incident Response and General School Safety Guidance. Students, parents, school staff, or any community members can submit a school safety concern or threat via a website, mobile phone application, or toll-free number. Resource center staff work around-the-clock to respond to tips and to deploy a response locally by communicating directly with school administrators, law enforcement, and counselors. Nationwide, more than half of public middle and high schools now operate a tipline. More information on this program can be found on the Speak Up Speak Out website.

National Night Out enhances the relationship between neighbors and law enforcement while bringing back a true sense of community. Furthermore, it provides a great opportunity to bring police and neighbors together under positive circumstances. The Lake Mills Police Department teams up with the Lake Mills Fire Department and other organizations to host a Night Out Against Crime in late June each year. For the past several years, the event has been held on the grounds at Real Hope Community Church. 

A “Medication Drop Box” is located in the lobby of the police department. It serves as a safe and secure way to dispose of unwanted medications, which could unintentionally be consumed by children and others or be scavenged from the trash and sold illegally. Using the Medication Drop Box to dispose of unused or no longer needed medications can also reduce the amount of improperly disposed medicines that can contaminate our rivers, lakes streams, and our drinking water. Medicines collected from the Medication Drop Box are incinerated and disposed of in an environmentally safe method.