By Tina L. Scott
MMC Staff
LINCOLN COUNTY – Grant Peterson of Merrill has announced he will run for the office of Sheriff of Lincoln County.
Current Sheriff Ken Schneider is also running for reelection.
Both men will run on the Republican Party ticket, which means they will face off against each other on the Aug. 9 ballot in the upcoming Primary Election.
Peterson, a nearly 30-year veteran of the department, is emphasizing his experience as a leader, as well as the support he has from members within the department.
A Wausau native, Peterson was hired as a Patrol Deputy with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office in 1993. He immediately moved to Lincoln County and has since called the community his home.
Peterson graduated from the Criminal Justice Program at Northcentral Technical College (NTC) in 1991 and also completed his recruit school training and continued additional training at NTC during his career. In addition, he graduated from the Law Enforcement Supervision course at Northwestern University, is a Certified Crisis Negotiator as a result of training through the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and has taken classes in command, supervision and executive training through the FBI.
Prior to heading up the Negotiation Team for Lincoln County, Peterson was a member of the Sheriff’s Office’s Special Response Team (SRT).
At the Sheriff’s Office, Peterson has led a patrol shift, conducted numerous pre-employment background investigations and had a supervisory role in the Detective Division. He now commands the Communications Center and acts as the agency’s Public Information Officer.
Peterson is the last Deputy Sheriff to have worked the jail, dispatch and patrol in his early years.
“The last three-plus years have proven to be a significant challenge for the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, particularly in terms of recruitment and retention of qualified and dedicated staff,” Peterson said. “With a vast majority of members of this agency and a number of citizens throughout the community encouraging me to run, I have filed the paperwork to seek the Republican nomination for this office. I firmly believe that a change in leadership will allow us to maintain the strong commitment of our current employees, as well as to attract well-qualified new ones so that together we can be accountable to the county board and the citizens we serve. I have the qualifications, training, and experience necessary to lead us forward with that change, and I ask for your vote on Aug. 9, 2022.”
Peterson and his wife, Tammi, have two children, four grandchildren, and another grandchild “on the way.” His late father, Gary Peterson, retired as a Captain of the Wausau Police Department, and his brother, Greg Peterson, was the Assistant Chief of the Appleton Police Department prior to becoming Chief of the Grand Chute Police Department.