Welcome from Chief of Police Ken Manthey
My name is Ken Manthey and I am the Chief of Police for the Portage Police Department. I would like to welcome you to the Web page for the Portage Police Department.
On January 1st, 2012, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Department took over dispatching duties for us. When you call 608-742-2171, it will go directly to the dispatch center of the Sheriff’s Department and they will dispatch one of our officers. Fortunately, we were able to hire two Community Service Officers (former Dispatchers Jerilyn Jerome & Kevin Todryk) to assist us with the tasks that the dispatchers had performed (not connected directly with dispatching). The CSO’s have many other functions which include ordinance enforcement for quality of life issues such as junk vehicles, tall grass, unshoveled sidewalks, etc. and assisting with the majority of our special events.
Our goal is to serve the community in many various ways in fulfilling our mission statement: “Protecting Our Community and Its Quality of Life by Delivering Exceptional Law Enforcement Services”
ABOUT OUR STAFF:
- Administrative Lt. Keith Klafke is in charge of our VIPS program. (Volunteers In Police Services) He makes sure our volunteers are properly trained and equipped. The volunteers assist us with traffic control for serious events such as flooding as well as parades and other special events such as Trick or Treating. Administrative Lt. Keith Klafke & Officer Sarah Rueth oversee our Citizens’ Police Academy. We run the academy every year from January through March. It is a ten week program & it gives citizens a snapshot of what is required of being a police officer. (To be a citizen volunteer, you have to be a graduate of our academy or have former law enforcement/military experience.)
- Officer Teresa Johnson/CSO Jerilyn Jerome works with our senior citizens through Triad/S.A.L.T. (Seniors And Law Enforcement working Together). See Triad link for information.
- Lieutenant Richard Hoege works with our local domestic abuse prevention group and is a member of the Columbia County Highway Safety Committee.
- Detective Lieutenant Dan Garrigan is in charge of our Detective Division/Criminal Investigations. Working under his supervision are Det. Bob Bagnall and Det. Jason Stenberg.
- Det. Lieutenant Dan Garrigan is our liaison for our Regional Sex Offender Notification Team and he helps to set up meetings and the notification of neighbors Police Department and the media when a sex offender is released in our area. Detective Lieutenant Garrigan is the Portage PD Liaison representatives for Columbia County Crimestoppers, Inc.
- Administrative Lt. Keith Klafke & Sgt. Brian Fehd are in charge of our Neighborhood Watch groups.
- Officer Teresa Johnson is in charge of Project Lifesaver. We had a defibrillator fundraiser in 2002. Since that time, we have had many lives saved thanks to these defibrillators being placed in our squads (two in 2004, two in 2011, one in 2012, one in 2013, three in 2014 and one in 2015.)
- We also have five part-time crossing guards and one substitute.
The Portage Police Department strives to be as open and approachable as possible. We always have a supervisor (Lieutenant or Sergeant) on duty 24 hours a day. Citizens are encouraged to call us 24 hours a day at (608) 742-2171 if they have a problem or they see a crime being committed. (If they have a special concern, they can ask to talk to the supervisor on duty.) If someone wants to talk to me or any of my staff during normal business hours, we can be reached by phone at 608-742-2174 or you can email me at: ken.manthey@portagewi.gov