Walworth County Sheriff David Graves announces his retirement
By Anne Trautner
Assistant Editor
After 42 years of working in law enforcement, including 14 years as Walworth County Sheriff, David Graves announced March 14 that he will retire.
Although Graves is looking forward to retirement, the 61-year-old sheriff said he has cherished his job.
“I just enjoy everything about it. That’s why I stayed in it so long,” Graves said. “I think probably my favorite thing is the people I have gotten to work with and associate with. They are a good group of people. They all want the best for whatever they are working on, whatever community they are working in. That has been real fulfilling.”
Climbing the ranks
Graves, who grew up in Richmond Township, started working in law enforcement in 1972 when he was 19.
“The guys give me a hard time, but I was an assistant to the meter maid in Whitewater,” Graves said. “I literally did follow the meter maid around and empty the parking meters out. Then I wrote tickets out when she was gone. And I dispatched when the dispatchers weren’t there.”
One year later, when he was 20, Graves was promoted to patrolman.
“I was given my badge, gun and uniform. Since I had been there a year, they said, ‘There’s the squad,’” Graves said. “So that’s the way I started. I never thought I’d be sheriff at that point, that’s for sure.”
In 1976, Graves was hired as deputy sheriff at the Walworth County Sheriff’s Office. There, he worked his way up from patrol deputy to sergeant, lieutenant and undersheriff, before being sworn in as sheriff on Jan. 1, 2001.
Graves, who lives just outside of Elkhorn in the town of LaFayette, has served as president of the Badger State Sheriff’s Association. He is currently a legislative representative for the Wisconsin Sheriffs and Deputy Sheriffs Association, and serves on several law enforcement committees.
“I got to know all 72 sheriffs, and I’ll miss that kind of thing,” Graves said. “You know, you get to know a lot of people, not just in Walworth County, but also at the state level and different departments. You get to talk, see how they do things, learn from it and bring it back here.”
Challenges
Two years after Graves took office, he was faced with one of the biggest cases of his career when 88-year-old Heddie Braun went missing on Feb. 4, 2003.
“That was kind of baptism by fire for me as a new guy,” Graves said. “We didn’t know exactly what was going on, whether she had just wandered off or what. But as the evidence grew, we knew that it was definitely a kidnapping. We enlisted help from the FBI, the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation…I had 60 agents in my office upstairs in the command post by the end of the first day. Thank God we got her back alive.”
Braun had been kidnapped and held for $3 million ransom by Reinier Ravesteijn, a family friend, who was later sentenced to 45 years in prison and 12 years supervised release. Braun died in 2004.
Since then, Graves has had to deal with numerous tactical incidents, including officer-involved shootings. Violent crimes have been on a steady rise in the county, he said.
In addition, Graves has been faced with changes in technology.
“I go back to the day when we rode two men at night because we didn’t have any portable type of communication once you got outside the squad car. If you wanted to talk to dispatch, you had to find a payphone somewhere,” Graves said. “Now we’ve got cell phones and computers. There is going to be even more technology coming down the road. You know, the challenge is the cost of it and keeping up with it.”
Although it has been difficult, the sheriff’s office has been able to keep up with the latest technology, Graves said.
“I think we have managed to keep up with it and deliver a really good public service product to the Walworth County residents,” he said.
The county’s future
Graves is confident the Walworth County Sheriff’s Office will continue thriving without him.
“We’ve got a very good staff,” Graves said. “They can take over and take the place further than it already is. I’m not at all worried.”
However, it is important for the next sheriff to stay in touch with people in the community, Graves said.
“I think the best advice is to stay in contact with the citizens you represent and stay outside of any public safety bubble that might develop,” Graves said. “I think the goal going forward is the same as it has been, producing a really good public safety product and staying under budget. I think that is going to be a challenge for the next person in line is to continue to do that. Budgets are always challenging.”
Last year, Graves was able to cut the budget by 5 percent without cutting services. Part of the cut was due to a decrease in staff because of increased electronic monitoring, Graves said. In addition, during his stint as sheriff, Graves was able to put the cost of Alpine Valley back on the users that go there, he said.
“I’m hoping the next person is my undersheriff, Kurt Picknell,” Graves said. “Kurt has got a bachelor’s in criminal justice administration and a master’s in business. He has been key and very vital in our success here. I don’t know how much advice I can give a guy like that. He has been around for 14 years; he’s been number two. He knows what the challenges are, and he continues to meet them, and I think he will in the future.”
Graves’ future
One thing Graves knows he will miss is running for office.
“When you first do it, you are apprehensive,” Graves said. “But I tell you, I am probably a little different because I actually enjoy the election process. I guess I kind of enjoy the political end of it. It forces you out in the public to talk to the people. And I will miss that, believe it or not. I like going out and seeing the people and shaking hands and listening to people to what they need. So, it hasn’t really been drudgery as some people think it is. Once you get used to it, it actually is a good tool to use.”
Graves said he is not sure what he will do once he is retired.
“I don’t have the patience to fish,” he said.
And he does not have another job lined up for when he retires.
“If somebody offers me something, I certainly would consider it,” Graves said.
When the weather is cold, Graves might take some of the time to go with his wife, who works for the district attorney, to visit their son and 8-year-old grandson in Texas.
But most of his time will most likely be spent in Walworth County. Retirement will allow Graves to spend more time exercising, he said.
“In the morning, I run two miles on a treadmill. And when it’s nice weather out, I’m usually on my bicycle and I ride between 10 and 15 miles in the morning,” Graves said. “This will give a chance to maybe go a little farther because I won’t have to worry about getting back to get to work. Of course, I don’t know what I’m going to be thinking about when I’m doing that either, because right now I think about work. So it should be interesting.”
