By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
In the grand cascade that has reorganized the City of Burlington police department in the past year, the latest promotion occurred the first week of December.
Matthew Baumhardt, an officer who had been with the department since 2011, was officially sworn in as the department’s newest sergeant Dec. 1. He replaced Brian Zmudzinski, who was promoted to lieutenant. Zmudzinski replaced Mark Anderson, who took over as police chief this summer after Peter Nimmer left for Shorewood.
The last of the new hires was announced Tuesday night, as Michael Gabrus was sworn in as Burlington’s new patrol officer.
Burlington was Baumhardt’s first full-time position. He attended the Fox Valley Technical College’s Police Academy, graduating in the summer of 2010. Baumhardt then worked as a community service officer and auxiliary officer for the City of Fond du Lac – an unsworn position.
His first day in Burlington was Aug. 1, 2011 – a few months after Nimmer was hired as police chief.
“There was a good group of younger officers, we were all about the same age,” said Baumhardt. “I felt like it was a good fit. Burlington’s a good-sized city where there’s a lot of opportunity.
“But you’re not just a number,” he added. “You can still connect with the community.”
Baumhardt and his family live in the area, and he plans on the area being his long-term home.
“We plan on being here to stay,” Baumhardt said.
He said he was looking forward to “hitting the ground running,” and continuing the working relationships he’s established over the last four-plus years. He’s currently on the swing shift as a sergeant, working three days on one shift and two on the other bouncing between second and third shift.
Baumhardt worked most of his career in Burlington as a “cover” shift, in between the second and third shifts, so he’s comfortable with where he will be spending his working hours.
“I’ve always tried to be very ambitious as an officer, traffic stops, OWI arrests, drug arrests,” he said. “As a sergeant, I’d like … to instill some of that ambition in the other officers.”
Burlington also reassigned long-time officer Jodi Borchardt as the Burlington High School resource officer. The former resource officer, Dan Hayes, is now working a regular patrol shift.
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