In April, I brought you the news regarding the surprising departure of Todd Hermann, third in command of the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department since his brother Rob’s election as sheriff in 2006. Todd Hermann was also instrumental in running the Command Center post set up during the week of Nov. 5-12, 2005, at the Avery Salvage Yard, deciding to disregard any appearance of conflicts of interest involving Steven Avery. Rather, he received a Special Recognition Report, praising his performance.
The Cleveland, Wis. resident whose family owned and operated the Cleveland Auto Salvage announced his retirement as Deputy Inspector of Operations shortly after reaching his 50th birthday. Todd Hermann addressed his resignation letter to his older brother and to Undersheriff Gregg Schetter. Both were part of Todd Hermann’s wedding party during the 1990s.
“It has truly been a pleasure working with both of you over the last 30 plus years. Your guidance has provided numerous opportunities for professional and personal development,” Todd wrote in his letter. “Your unbiased decision making has generated a professional atmosphere that we can all be proud of at the Sheriff’s Office. While I am looking forward to retirement, I know that I will miss working with both of you.” Previous post here about Ricky Hochstetler homicide: http://bit.ly/2rxrVOi
At the time of his retirement announcement, Todd Hermann had recently received his annual job evaluation -which was glowing as usual. But it did contain a Goal Start Date of Jan. 3, 2017 and a Goal End Date of Jan. 2, 2018 – Test and evaluate body worn cameras for the Sheriff’s Office. “I will obtain information from other agencies to determine positives and negatives for body worn cameras,” Todd Hermann wrote. “This will include a documented report to the Inspector (Schetter) and Sheriff. The report will include a cost analysis and recommendation of the best product available to our agency.”
Hermann’s job evaluation did not specify whether the body cameras would be worn primarily by road patrol deputies or whether these devices would also be mandated and turned on at all times by the seven members of the sheriff’s upper administration – people such as Lt. of Detectives Andy Colborn, Detective Dave Remiker and three-term Democrat, Sheriff Rob Hermann.
As a side note, one has to wonder why the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department is still in the Dark Ages regarding body cameras. Other Manitowoc County police agencies that are regarded as more professional – Two Rivers and the City of Manitowoc – have already deployed body cameras for years. See story here: http://htrne.ws/2s7nZmk
Back to Todd Hermann. He submitted his retirement letter on Jan. 10 – announcing his last day of work as April 3 – and yet his most recent annual performance evaluation gave the impression that he planned to remain on his department through 2017 and beyond. “During the next evaluation year, I would like to exceed recommended training,” Todd Hermann wrote. “I would like to seek advanced management courses to improvement (sic) my ability to manage the operations division at the Sheriff’s Office.”
For Todd Hermann’s 2016 job evaluation, he suggested he deserved an Exceeds Job Requirementsrating. “Examples include my willingness to respond to serious calls outside of my work schedule. I have came to work for serious crashes that have occurred in the County. I regularly respond to SWAT calls. I want to provide my Lieutenants the knowledge of my training and experience should they have any questions.”
His two bosses – his brother the sheriff and his fellow groomsman Gregg Schetter – agreed.
“Deputy Inspector Hermann once again had a solid performance year and exceeds overall expectations in many areas. Todd brings much experience, knowledge and value to his current administrator position. Nice work during this reporting period Todd,” they wrote.
As for Schetter, Rob Hermann also gave him an Exceeds Job Requirements. Both in their 50s, the sheriff and undersheriff grew up together around Manitowoc County. Schetter lives around Francis Creek.
Schetter’s evaluation noted how he serves as chief administrative officer for his department. “I have exceeded in this area as we continue to struggle with retaining employees and hiring replacements,” Schetter wrote. “During this past reporting period we made 16 hires and had 8 vacancies at the Sheriff’s Office … I have taken on an active role with recent media attention to past homicide case and was active for bomb and life threats related to the same case.”
Added Sheriff Rob Hermann: “Even with the numerous negative calls since the release of the Netflix movie, Gregg would treat all the callers with respect and tried to persuade the callers to research additional information.
“He upholds the organizational values of this agency on a daily basis by making sure employees adhere to policy and follow chain of command.”
True Crime Author John Ferak 