State of the Union; Waukesha police chief to be in attendance
WAUKESHA, Wis. - Waukesha’s police chief will be one of the guests at President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday, March 7.
Among the crowd at Thursday, March 7’s State of the Union address will be the city’s chief of police Dan Thompson.
"[I’m] so extremely honored and humbled to be a part of this," Waukesha Police Chief Dan Thompson.
SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News
Thompson is a guest of U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.). He hopes his presence draws Biden's attention to ending the fentanyl crisis.
"The funding for education, our ultimate goal is to prevent deaths and how do we do that? One of the main things is through education," Thompson said.
Baldwin is calling for investments in technology and manpower at the southern border to stop drugs from coming into the country.
"I’ve been really pleased to introduce legislation endorsed by many law enforcement officers and chiefs from throughout the state that is specifically focused on making sure our front line is prepared with the training they need," Baldwin said.
Thompson said one of his officers recently quit after being exposed to fentanyl in the field.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX6 News app for iOS or Android.
"We need more narcan," he said. "We need to keep our officers safe."
In 2022, Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow declared fentanyl a "community health crisis."
A spokeswoman for Waukesha County said the most recent complete data shows 85 drug-related deaths in 2022, down from 105 the year prior. The majority of these cases involved fentanyl.
State of the Union: Biden expected to talk immigration, economy, ceasefire
President Joe Biden will address Americans Thursday night for the annual State of the Union Address. Here's what he's likely to cover during this contentious election year.
Last summer, the county distributed "overdose aid kits" to businesses and public spaces.
Nonprofits even launched a billboard campaign featuring Wisconsinites who overdosed.
There’s hope the message will be heard Thursday night.
Waukesha County data
"What I want from our president is to take those steps and say, ‘We are going to be involved.’ That’s not talk, these are actions," Thompson said.
The campaign for Baldwin’s Republican challenger Eric Hovde provided the following statement:
"Senator Baldwin's track record as a rubber stamp for the ‘Biden open-borders agenda’ has been disastrous for families all across Wisconsin. No amount of campaign-season politics can overcome her failure to take border security seriously over her five decades as a career politician."