Brian Barkow

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Brian Barkow

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

August 9, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 2004

Personal

Birthplace

Milwaukee, Wis.

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

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Personal LinkedIn

Brian Barkow (Democratic Party) ran for election for Milwaukee County Sheriff in Wisconsin. He lost in the Democratic primary on August 9, 2022.

Barkow completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Brian Barkow was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2004.

Elections

2022

See also: Municipal elections in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin (2022)

General election

General election for Milwaukee County Sheriff

Denita Ball won election in the general election for Milwaukee County Sheriff on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Denita Ball (D)	97.2	270,022
		Other/Write-in votes	2.8	7,901

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 277,923
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Milwaukee County Sheriff

Denita Ball defeated Thomas Beal, Brian Barkow, and Mohamed Awad in the Democratic primary for Milwaukee County Sheriff on August 9, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Denita Ball	55.8	47,615
	Submit photo	Thomas Beal	23.5	20,075
		Brian Barkow	20.4	17,430
	Submit photo	Mohamed Awad (Write-in)	0.2	160

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 85,280
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

To view Barkow's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Brian Barkow completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Barkow's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a lifelong Milwaukee resident and have served for 24 years as a deputy sheriff, supervisor, and senior commander in the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office. I am currently an inspector and the commander of the Investigative Services Bureau, directing criminal investigations and intelligence-led policing for the agency. I previously commanded the Criminal Investigations and Law Enforcement Analytics Divisions as a captain, supervised criminal investigations and airport security as a sergeant, and served as a deputy sheriff.

I am a proud graduate of the Milwaukee Public Schools system and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. As an executive in the Sheriff's Office, I have made extensive use of my degree in computer science, by employing cutting-edge technology to make the Sheriff's Office more effective, more efficient, and more transparent with the public we serve. Throughout my career, I have used evidence-based practices and data-driven strategies to do more with limited resources to keep our community safe. I have successfully led complex criminal investigations and supervised highly effective operations to reduce crime in Milwaukee County's parks and transit systems. And I have built public interfaces sharing agency data with our community.

I was raised on Milwaukee's north and northwest sides and continue to reside on the northwest side with my wife, Aisha, who is a former deputy inspector in the Sheriff's Office. We are the proud parents of two adult children.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I am the only candidate for Milwaukee County Sheriff with detailed plans to reduce violent crime in Milwaukee County. As sheriff, I will redeploy deputy sheriffs based on where up-to-the-minute activity data shows they are most needed. I will increase the presence and visibility of deputies on our freeways and restore year-round patrols to our county parks. And I will lead a countywide investigative effort that brings detectives together across jurisdictional lines to solve backlogged homicide and non-fatal shooting cases and provide justice to the survivors of these violent acts.
• I will resolve the safety and staffing crisis in the Milwaukee County Jail, where approximately 48% of staff positions are currently vacant. I will safeguard the rights and dignity of everyone working or detained in the facility, by ensuring a safe and secure environment in every housing unit (by redeploying security staff where they are most needed, without relying on burdensome overtime) and creating an independent jail ombudsman to monitor conditions, investigate complaints, and report all findings to the public. And I will invest in our employees, working to increase salaries and foster a safe and welcoming work environment to boost retention while at the same time doubling down on intensive recruitment efforts to fill vacant positions.
• I will make the Sheriff's Office more transparent and more accountable to the public we serve. I will maintain an open-door policy so that every Milwaukee County resident can schedule an in-person meeting with me, create the first-ever Community Advisory Council to inform policymaking, and implement agency-wide community policing efforts to build trust and strong crime prevention partnerships between the Sheriff's Office and all county residents. Furthermore, I will create public-facing online dashboards allowing our community to monitor data related to enforcement on our freeways and in our parks, conditions and incidents in the county jail, and statistics related to internal investigations and disciplinary proceedings.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am passionate about making our community safe in a way that every Milwaukee County resident can trust. I care deeply about ensuring justice for the survivors of violent crime. As an investigative commander and supervisor, I lead detectives who work tirelessly to solve complex cases and hold violent offenders accountable for their actions in a court of law. But to prevent crime in the first place, we need to invest innovatively in crime prevention. This means building relationships between deputy sheriffs and residents working to achieve public safety in every single Milwaukee County neighborhood, and it means forging closer ties with public health agencies working to address the root causes of violent crime in Milwaukee County.

I believe that we need to be innovative and community-minded when it comes to helping individuals responsible for low-level offenses find their way out of the criminal justice system and into a healthier lifestyle. As a deputy sheriff, I worked at the Day Reporting Center, a pioneering initiative in Milwaukee County that successfully connected individuals convicted of low-level offenses with community resources that helped them get back on their feet and prevent recidivism. In addition to providing security to the center, I used my background in computer science to build technological tools that allowed the center to become more efficient in managing its services. I'm convinced of the efficacy of this model and will support similar programming.

What qualities does this office possess that makes it a unique and important part of the state government and legal system?

The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office is one of the largest law enforcement and detention agencies in Wisconsin and plays a critical role in ensuring public safety as well as safe and humane pre-trial detention. The Sheriff's Office plays a direct role in keeping Milwaukee County residents safe as the agency responsible for patrolling all freeways in the county, providing police services to the county parks system, and providing security at all county court and airport facilities. Additionally, the Sheriff's Office is responsible for the service of civil process within the context of the county court system. Furthermore, the Sheriff's Office is directly responsible for operating the Milwaukee County Jail, a facility with the capacity to detain up to 960 individuals who are held in custody while awaiting the outcome of a criminal case.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

An elected official is first and foremost a public servant. To serve with honor and integrity, an elected official - particularly a sheriff - should scorn perks and fanfare and apply himself or herself wholeheartedly to the work of serving and protecting our community. Furthermore, an elected official in our country and in our community must be someone who embraces and truly believes in democratic leadership: an approach that welcomes and affirms input from individual residents, community advocates, and employees invested in effective public service. And an elected official must be a person of integrity and empathy, someone whose public and private behavior exemplifies honorable conduct and who is truly dedicated to a safe, just, inclusive, and welcoming community for all residents. And perhaps most importantly, an elected official must be passionate about justice, ensuring that the systems of government treat every community member with equality under the law.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I am a lifelong Milwaukee resident who cares deeply about our community. I grew up on Milwaukee's north and northwest sides, and continue to live on Milwaukee's northwest side. I attended grade school, high school, and college in our community. I have worked in various jobs in our community and now, for the last 24 years, I have been a public servant working to make our community the safest and most just place it can possibly be. I know that our community is going through a very challenging time: not just a time of increased violent crime and reckless driving, but also a time where trust in our law enforcement institutions needs to be repaired. I am someone who leads by listening and who embraces a democratic approach to leadership, so I will be a sheriff who puts our community first and embraces input from every engaged resident, advocate, and stakeholder who wants to address these challenges and forge a stronger and more thriving community for all.

At a personal level, I have served with honor and integrity throughout my career in the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office. I have never been disciplined for violating agency policies and procedures and I have accorded my conduct at all times with the public's rightful expectation that law enforcement officers serve with diligence, dedication, and absolute compliance with the law and professional standards. Furthermore, no matter the political dynamics impacting the Sheriff's Office at any given time, I have never wavered from my obligation to serve the public without fear or favor.

I also consider myself someone who is passionate about innovation and finding new, more effective ways to serve our community without draining the public's resources. I am committed to examining the policies, procedures, and operations of the Sheriff's Office to identify where we can be more effective in preventing violent crime, more successful in managing our county jail, and more transparent and accountable in serving the public.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job was as an architectural intern at a firm in Milwaukee, where I worked for two years while exploring a degree in architecture. This position taught me valuable lessons about attention to detail, the importance of innovation in developing a high-quality final product, and how to work effectively within teams of dedicated professionals whose efforts all centered on a common goal. I subsequently held multiple positions including at a restaurant, in retail security, and as an auxiliary police officer prior to entering the law enforcement profession as a Milwaukee County deputy sheriff.

What is your favorite book? Why?

John Kotter's book A Sense of Urgency is a valuable guide to setting organizations, including law enforcement agencies, on a course for meaningful, lasting, and impactful reform. I have carefully studied this book and believe that its lessons, including distinguishing between purposeful change and frantic but ineffectual attempts to improve an organization, can be applied effectively within a law enforcement agency.

Are there any little-known powers or responsibilities held by this office that you believe more people should be aware of?

The Wisconsin Statutes state that the county sheriff must "keep and preserve the peace" in his or her jurisdiction, an obligation that establishes the sheriff as the county's chief law enforcement officer. While an effective, collaborative sheriff must never use this authority to run roughshod over community and law enforcement partners, it is essential, in keeping with this provision, that the Milwaukee County Sheriff assume a greater support role for local police departments working to combat violent crime and reckless driving. For instance, as sheriff, I am committed to establishing an investigative partnership that would assign Sheriff's Office detectives, as well as detectives from any participating partner agencies, to work across municipal lines to help solve a persistent backlog of homicide and non-fatal shooting cases.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for holders of this office to have previous experience in government or politics?

An effective sheriff is a committed public servant who welcomes public accountability, not an ambitious politician looking for public acclaim. While political experience is not directly applicable to effective leadership in law enforcement, experience as a certified law enforcement officer is absolutely essential to lead an agency responsible for police services throughout Milwaukee County. Furthermore, it is essential that the Milwaukee County Sheriff possess direct experience working within the Milwaukee County Jail, which accounts for a substantial portion of the agency's operations and budgeted resources.

What kind of skills or expertise do you believe would be the most helpful for the holders of this office to possess?

First and foremost, the holder of this office must possess a strong desire to work with, not against, our community. This means that the Milwaukee County Sheriff must be 100% committed to transparency regarding agency operations, administration, and policy. Furthermore, this means that the Milwaukee County Sheriff must work tirelessly to uphold the public trust by preventing any acts within the agency that jeopardize the rights and dignity of members of our community. At an individual level, the sheriff must be an individual open to collaboration and constructive criticism, not someone who resists or responds poorly to third-party evaluation. Deep, personal engagement in our community is also an essential attribute of a successful sheriff, as is a readiness to work with every single resident who expresses a desire to help make our community a safer place.

Professional leadership experience in the field of law enforcement is also essential, as the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office is an agency of over 600 employees and is funded by a budget approaching $50 million. Not only must the elected sheriff make practical decisions regarding law enforcement operations, criminal investigations, and financial administration, but he or she must also manage a large workforce and maintain the professionalism, morale, and cohesion of the agency's employees.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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