Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office
| Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office | |
|---|---|
Patch of the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office | |
Badge of the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office | |
| Common name | Milwaukee County Sheriff |
| Abbreviation | MCSO |
| Motto | "We Are Held To A Higher Standard...And We Ought To Be Proud" |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 1835 |
| Employees | 550 |
| Annual budget | 50 million |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction | United States |
| Size | 1190 mi |
| Population | 950,000 |
| Legal jurisdiction | Milwaukee County, Wisconsin |
| General nature | |
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | 821 W State Street Milwaukee, Wisconsin United States |
| Deputies | 288 |
| Civilian employees | 240 |
| Sheriff responsible |
|
| Agency executive |
|
| Bureaus | 4
|
| Facilities | |
| Stations | 5 |
| Boats | 2 |
| Drones | 4 |
| K9s | 12 |
| Website | |
| county.milwaukee.gov | |
The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office is the principal law enforcement agency that serves Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. It provides law enforcement services for the county's freeways and outlying lettered County Trunk Highways, the Milwaukee County Courthouse, the Milwaukee County Criminal Justice Facility and House of Corrections, the county-owned Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, and the Milwaukee County Parks system, including all of the Milwaukee County lakefront. Unique among Wisconsin counties, Milwaukee County is fully incorporated (i.e.: all of the county's land is part of an incorporated municipality - of which there are 19). Hence there are no unincorporated sections requiring basic policing service from the Sheriff's Office.
At one time it was the largest sheriff's department in the state of Wisconsin, with about 750 deputy sheriffs. By 2015 the agency had reduced the number of sworn personnel to approximately 300. The reduction of sworn members was due to the county shifting jailing responsibilities to specific correction officers rather than sworn deputies.
The current sheriff (who is elected by the public as a partisan office) is Denita R. Ball, who was sworn on October 24, 2022. Ball was elected as a Democrat and is the force's first female leader.