Here in Stoughton, Wisconsin, safety is a top priority, and the area’s low crime rate attracts people to build homes and start families. This overall safe community is fostered by the ongoing work of the Stoughton Police Department. Following the retirement of former police chief Daniel Jenks, Stoughton residents can expect to see a lot more of the newly appointed chief, Brandon Hill.
Chief Hill was born and raised in Stoughton and is proud to have graduated from Stoughton High School in 1996. After high school, Hill attended the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology with an emphasis in social work. As part of a program through the College of Natural Resources, Hill also completed his police academy training at Mid-State Tech to receive the necessary credentials to work in the field.
“I went to school with the idea I was going to be a game warden going to Stevens Point because it’s a natural resources-heavy school. There were some required classes that I didn’t do too well in at the beginning of my career and I was kind of lost for a little while. Through working with a counselor there, they said, ‘Have you thought of being a cop?’” Hill said.
Hill’s career began at Lake Kegonsa State Park for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources before his initial hiring by the Stoughton Police Department in 2000. Despite being a self-proclaimed “homebody,” Hill did not anticipate working for the city of Stoughton following graduation, although he is not regretful of the decision.
“I started out on night shift patrol like almost everybody does, and I did that for a couple of years,” Hill said. “I did nine years of patrol work, just a cop in a car, issuing speeding tickets, crashes, calls for service, that sort of stuff. Then I got promoted to Detective. I did 13 years as a detective. I got promoted to Lieutenant, three years as a lieutenant, and then here,”
Having served with the police force for the past 26 years and holding a number of different positions, Hill has been able to witness Stoughton from all angles and take in the community through a new lens.
“I definitely get to see a side of Stoughton that I had never seen before. Again, born and raised here, but didn’t realize exactly the makeup of the community and things like that. So it was kind of shocking at first. As a detective, you get to see all the different parts of society. It’s no different here than any other community, but there are good people and bad people everywhere, and there’s problems everywhere,” Hill said.
Working as second-in-command up until Jenks’ retirement announcement in January, Hill gained valuable experience in decision-making and management during his time as a lieutenant.
“[Jenks] worked with myself and Lieutenant O’Neill, getting us tons of training, involving us in high-level decision-making, things like that, to get us ready for this job. The chief [hiring] processes go out nationally, so the city had to post it outside. Having internal knowledge, I think, helped me greatly,” Hill said.
The city-led interview process considered candidates locally and nationwide, and both the verbal and presentation portions took place over a two-day span. On Feb. 6, Hill officially took over as the new chief of police.
“There wasn’t much of a response [to me taking over the position]. The way Chief Jenks ran the department was that he allowed a lot of input from myself, from Lieutenant O’Neill, from the command staff team. And therefore, everybody working here kind of knew how I thought… they didn’t think I was gonna come in and make any radical changes because I was second in command,” Hill said. “My family was excited and nervous. They understand it’s a new job with a whole bunch of new responsibilities, which will change the time structure of my day or week, but they’re excited for it, as well.”
As Hill navigates this new role, he hopes to implement progressive changes to reach his goal of integrating police into the community and fostering connections between officers and Stoughton residents.
“The one goal I have is to get our officers more engaged in the community. They’re already extremely engaged in the community, and I just want to grow that more,” Hill said. “I don’t know if it’s made down to the student level, but you’ll see cops walking around the schools, interacting with students, and that has been so positive. I think it was one of the building blocks of many that led to our SRO [School Resource Officer] program getting restarted, and I’d like to see our cops doing more of that in businesses, parks, just out interacting more with people in positive ways.”
The Stoughton Police Department offers ride-along opportunities to anyone interested in law enforcement who is interested in getting a better idea of what the job entails.
“Go ahead and do it. I’ve loved my career doing this, but you have to be a people person. I mean, our business is people. Sometimes it’s people having the best day of their life, oftentimes it’s people having the worst day of their life…anybody who’s thinking about it, do ride-alongs with your local community, go see what the job is really about,” Hill said.
