“I knew what was really important was that in order to have a better understanding, a better institutional knowledge or better professional knowledge was to ensure that I had experience in a diverse background and have experience in diverse areas of our criminal justice system,” Barrett said. “It’s one thing to talk about something, but when you are experiencing it and you are doing it, it really provides you with that insight to help you lead and move the profession forward. And being blessed to have worked in a jail facility with the Dane County Sheriff’s Office then moving on to really focusing on that community policing, being a patrol officer in the community that I lived in and served in was a blessing at the Sun Prairie Police Department. And then moving into the academic side of it while teaching in the Criminal Justice Studies Program at Madison College, but also the training side where I was the lead defense and arrest tactics instructor at our law enforcement academy just as provided me with the overall understanding and knowledge of where we can find efficiencies and move our profession forward.”

While Barrett was well-aware that he was Dane County’s first African American sheriff — who wasn’t after Barrett was appointed by Governor Tony Evers in 2021 — Barrett wasn’t concerned about the status. He was more concerned about what he could do to make the sheriff’s office relevant and sensitive to all of the citizens of Dane County.

“I wanted to make sure — I thought it was very important — that I was a great sheriff first who happened to be African American,” Barrett said. “I am very aware of the challenges that come with being the first. But I accepted those and I didn’t want that to be the focus of conversation. Then as we were moving forward, in sharing that positive message and focusing on all of the positive things that we have done while in office, it was amazing to see the support for really making history with this election. It was just something that I did not want to focus on because I wanted to make sure that it was very clear that we were taking that Barack Obama approach of making sure that it is clear that I was qualified for this position, that I had the background, the education, the experience and the expertise to be graded well and to take this profession forward and serve our community. That was the true focus of our campaign.”

Barrett is well-balanced in his priorities and responsibilities. Although there are great responsibilities and demands on his time as Dane County Sheriff as well as campaigning for the position, he worked hard to ensure that it would not be at the expense of his family, often involving his two daughters in campaign work, whether it was at parades and rallies of having his daughter drive him to campaign events while she was getting driving practice in as she practiced to get her driver’s license. His family came first although the campaign and being sheriff came a close second.

And it was never about the status, it was about the service that propelled Barrett through a campaign season while still conducting the responsibilities of the office while ensuring it wasn’t at the expense of family.

“There needs to be a perfect balance of experience, expertise and academic that blend together that allow us to really put forth a philosophy, ideas, vision and mission for our agency that is successful and attainable in some areas, but also far reaching and almost unattainable in other areas,” Barrett said. “But I think first, a great leader needs to have a great team around them and I have been very blessed to have a great executive team, great administrative staff and a great group of deputies and professional staff and volunteers who go out and serve our community day and night, 356 days per year and 24 hours in a day.”

It is also helpful in Barrett’s quest to be a change agent that he has been there and done that.

“It’s very helpful that I was a deputy sheriff, for our Sheriff’s Office and others to know that it wasn’t too long ago that I was working patrol, working night shifts, working second shift, being forced on overtime and really experiencing all that our profession entails,” Barrett said. “I think that helped with establishing a relationship. But it really comes down to the individual and our ability to continue to build those relationships by modeling the way as an exemplary leader. I think that is key, modeling what we are doing and what we want for our people to do and not just saying what we want them to do or telling them what we want them to do.”

And through that acceptance and respect, Barrett has plans for what he wants to achieve during his first four-year term.

“Number one, I want to make sure we are continuing to keep our community safe by finding additional efficiencies throughout our sheriff’s office to make sure that we are putting the right people in the right place and they are doing the right thing,” Barrett emphasized. “Number two, I want to continue to improve our medication assistant treatment program that we have in the jail. Currently, it is limited to Subutex, but I want to extend that to additional medications like methadone, which is provided to our incarcerated population as well. Third, I want to continue to make evidence-based decisions as we move forward and focus on data-driven decisions and move away from the philosophy that our profession has had that really focused on individuals and instinct, focusing on individual subsets and the officer’s instincts to make decisions instead of really looking at the data in making decisions that are based off of the evidence and what that supports. Last, I want to continue to hire a diverse sheriff’s office that reflects the community that we serve and really put an end to our staffing shortage that we have. Those are some of the top things that I want to work on moving forward. It’s going to take a lot of work to get to where we need to be. But with the team that we have at our sheriff’s office, the brave men and women of our Dane County Sheriff’s Office who are continuing to serve our community day and night, I know that we will be where we want to be after four years working together.”

Kalvin Barrett is Dane County’s first African American Sheriff. But he will be known for his effectiveness in promoting equity and inclusion in the furtherance of Dane County’s public safety mission.