Teynor provides update from the city police department
By Steve Van Kooten
Police Chief Kyle Teynor gave the Common Council a departmental update during the Aug. 19 meeting, addressing a plethora of topics from the temporary move to City Hall to the conclusion of a major criminal case.
Teynor addressed remarks made by Crawford County District Attorney Andrew Burdick during the sentencing hearing for Alejandro Jose Coronel Zarate regarding the defendant’s suspected ties to a transnational gang called Tren de Aragua.
At the hearing, Burdick said that the DA Office had not received any substantial evidence that linked Coronel Zarate to the gang throughout the litigation process.
“I read that quote, my staff read that quote and we were kind of blindsided,” said Teynor. “I had previously done press releases to the contrary. Some of you might remember that we had a presidential visit based on that case as well.
“I communicated my frustrations with the district attorney, and we had a constructive conversation. I felt compelled to respond, so I responded in writing to our local media.”
Coronel Zarate was found guilty of physical abuse of a child and strangulation and suffocation and sentenced to prison.
The police chief said he had confidence in his department’s work on the case and his previous statements because they were based on the facts of the case.
“I have no political points to win. My name is not on a voting system, and it will never be on a ballot,” he said. “My allegiance is to the City of Prairie du Chien. The truth is important to the residents, and more importantly, to my staff, who put many hours into this.”
Upgrades
The citywide camera system has continued to grow, now consisting of 109 “lenses.” Teynor clarified that each location can have up to five lenses.
“A major improvement in 2024-25 was St. Feriole Island,” he said. “We partnered with the Wisconsin Historical Society. There’s a lot of camera coverage around the Villa Louis now. We were having some issues with the parking lot down there —people crashing into their fence and not knowing who it was; they had one of their buildings crashed into. We didn’t really have any leads on where to find these vehicles, so they partnered with us and paid 50 percent of the cost to install more cameras on the island.”
He touted the cameras’ effectiveness, saying more than 250 incidents were solved with the system’s help.
The camera system gives officers a tool to thoroughly investigate crimes.
“It’s a sense of comfort for my cops to bring up the video and know we’re arresting the right people and we’re charging them with the right offenses,” said Teynor.
Earlier this summer, Crawford County awarded the department $7,500 for a new fume hood, which will be installed in the public safety building.
“It’s one of the major safety needs we needed in the redesign of our building,” said Teynor. “It’s a little money to offset some of the cost for the new building, which is important.”
Other upgrades mentioned include:
• new body cameras (50 percent paid through a grant)
• all-virtual report writing system (some costs covered by grant)
• prepaid money for evidence lockers in the future public safety building (utilized grant money)
Relocation
Teynor said the department is about 90 percent complete with the move to the City Hall property. He suggested the transition would be finished by the next council meeting (Sept. 3).
There will be challenges for the department during its temporary occupation in the upstairs conference room, including limited space for equipment and for personnel to conduct confidential interviews.
“There are some struggles we’re going to have to work through, but we’ll make do,” he said.
Teynor said he hopes the Public Safety Building project will break ground in the next few months.
Calls
The council received a summary of the department’s service calls through the first six months of 2025.
The department experiences peak call volume between 5 and 10-11 p.m. Calls for service have been relatively level, with small spikes on Friday and Saturday.
In the first six months of 2024, the department had 2,847 calls for service. In the first half of this year, the department received more than 3,300 calls.
“A lot of it is self-initiated, meaning our officers have time to go out there and self-initiate calls for service, whether it’s a traffic stop, ordinance enforcement or just following up on different things,” said Teynor.
Mental health
The department will take part in the color run, which takes place on St. Feriole Island on Sept. 20, and continues to sponsor mental health days at the schools.
“Over the last year, we’ve focused on mental health. It’s really no secret that our community has been devastated with folks who have completed suicide,” said Teynor.
Through the Wisconsin Department of Health, police department employees also participated in a “Neck Up Check Up” with Ascent Consulting.
Police officers, along with other first responders and emergency personnel, can experience hundreds more life-changing traumatic events during their lives.
“It’s for our officers to go in and see a counselor and be able to have someone to talk to about any type of mental health concerns they might have... Sometimes people might forget the toll that it takes on officers who respond to suicides or traumatic calls throughout the year,” said Teynor.
The department has funding for 45 more appointments they can use as needed.
