SHAWANO, WI- The City of Shawano has announced that Captain Brad Rabideau has been selected as the City’s new Police Chief, following the upcoming retirement of current Police Chief Dan Mauel.

“I think the committee felt that Captain Rabideau rose to the top of a solid group of candidates. They did have a tough call,” said City Administrator Eddie Sheppard.

Sheppard said six internal candidates applied and interviewed for the position on Tuesday.

“Those were six qualified candidates and in these times, we are having a hard time getting recruitment from the bottom for officer positions, but to have six people who are qualified to be chief and want to do the job is amazing,” Chief Dan Mauel said.

Sheppard was one of the individuals who sat in on the interviews.

“Just hearing some of their responses was so refreshing to hear that our officers treasure the work that they do and our community is in great hands.”

Rabideau has been a certified law enforcement officer in the State of Wisconsin since 1996, after
receiving his Bachelor of Science-Criminal Justice Degree from the University of Wisconsin-
Platteville and has been an integral member of the City of Shawano Police Department for 21 years.

“To me it was a natural progression,” Rabideau said. ” I had a felt need to do something more for the department and for the community and I wanted to have a seat at the table in making decisions where the department goes.”

Current Police Chief Dan Mauel said he was pleased that the hire came from within the department.

“I am very happy that the Police and Fire Commission made the decision to choose the next in line in our administration,” he said. “He has been my right-hand man and he is the perfect person for this job right now and we are in a good place. I am confident that Brad will keep up our good work moving forward.”

Rabideau has served as a Lieutenant/Shift Commander for 10 years and most recently the City of
Shawano Police Captain for the past 3 years. He has also been responsible in supporting the Chief
with the planning and implementation of department operations, budget formulation and
procurement, and policy development.

“I have brought Brad along in the process with everything that I do with a few exceptions, but those things will be easy for him to take over doing.”

“I don’t think it is any secret that the Shawano Police Department is in a really great place,” Rabideau said. “We are very fortunate in Shawano to have really good support from our community and I will be continuing to meet the needs of our community and and it is a constant progress that does not end.”

In a time where the job of police officer is not as easy to do, Rabideau says he will work on continuing community outreach.

“My goals are to serve the community and provide the best possible care for the people that live, work and play in the city.”

He says that has been done in the past administrations with Cone with a Cop, Coffee with a Cop and National Night Out.

“Unfortunately, 2020 and COVID did not make it possible for us to hold those events this year, but we hope to do those again in 2021. We want people to see the human being who is behind the badge and we want people to know that they are just like everyone else, they just have a job to do, and often times, that job is not easy.”

Sheppard says the transition will officially take place in January.

“Over the next month or so, we will be working to fill the Captain position and get ready to flip the switch to have our new administration team in place to move forward.”

Mauel says it will be one of the first building blocks in Rabideau’s tenure and it will continue to process that has been built through the past couple of Administrations.

“Hopefully we keep growing our own leaders in this department and we want to continue to help our team grow.”

While his continuing education and experience has provided Brad with the necessary skills to be a
knowledgeable and effective law enforcement officer and leader, he also fully acknowledges that he
would not have achieved this level of success without the support and dedication from his wife
Wendy and their children.

The commitment and dedication that Brad has provided to this department has not gone unrecognized
over the years. Brad was named the 2012 Officer of the Year and has received numerous Letters of
Recommendation and Commendation for his ongoing efforts with the department.