Ozaukee Deputies Part of Crowd at State Capitol

Ozaukee County sheriff's deputies have been helping to keep the peace in Madison since the protest of Gov. Scott Walker's budget bill began and they are expected to stay there until next week.

"We've sent three (deputies) for the first couple of days, and we’ve been maintaining five pretty much every day," Ozaukee County Sheriff Maury Straub said. "Right now we are scheduling pretty much through next Wednesday."

The request for the extra help came from the Capitol Police in Madison and all participating agencies will be reimbursed by the state Department of Administration, he said.

People have been gathering at the Capitol to , which calls for most public employees to pay higher costs for health care and to contribute more to their pensions. It also eliminates most collective bargaining rights.

Straub said the move comes in hopes of providing "enough law enforcement professionals on scene to secure the security of the Capitol and the Legislature, and to maintain peace (with) the protesters."

Straub noted that if the budget repair bill and Walker's state budget presented Tuesday pass, it only makes tight bugdets event tighter.

"They’ll be a lot less aid coming to the counties and municipalities in the state," he said. "Therefore — in spite of our past tight budgets — I anticipate that they’ll be even tighter going forward."

At a county level, however, Straub said he is unsure at this point of where exactly the cuts would have to be made.