Waukesha County Sheriff candidate Nick Ollinger promised to stop criminals from coming to Waukesha County, and it sent a prominent liberal blogger into a tirade.
Ollinger, who is currently a captain running the detective bureau, revealed that 40% of the Waukesha County Jail population is from Milwaukee, and he wants to stop criminals from coming across 124th Street (and from elsewhere) so they don’t victimize Waukesha County residents.
This really upset blogger Dan Shafer, who is one of the most prominent liberal writers in Wisconsin.
“What an awful thing to say about your neighbors. Waukesha County loves to point fingers from the other side of 124th and contribute nothing to a solution,” Shafer raged on X.
What did Ollinger say that was so offensive?
“About 40% of the Waukesha County Jail population consists of people from Milwaukee County. Every day, we see people who are not from our county cross 124th street to victimize our communities. We need to make sure we are holding that line, and holding those people accountable.”
What an awful thing to say about your neighbors. Waukesha County loves to point fingers from the other side of 124th and contribute nothing to a solution. pic.twitter.com/BDTyZzrkxp
— Dan Shafer (@DanRShafer) August 7, 2026
Shafer must have skipped over the people who “victimize” the community part. Ollinger is talking about people who cross 124th street to victimize people and then land in the jail.
Shafer wouldn’t stop. “I’d prefer to work together to get things done instead of pointing fingers and scapegoating. You can’t be a suburb of nothing. Are you part of the solution, or part of the problem? Waukesha County leaders consistently chooses the latter.”
Ollinger says he has a solution – put criminals in jail and make sure they don’t want to come here in the first place with effective law enforcement strategies.
We asked him about Shafer’s comments and, not surprisingly, he didn’t back down from wanting to stop criminals from coming to Waukesha County.
“We have a duty and an obligation to keep the citizens of Waukesha safe. No matter where you come from, if you’re committing crimes, the men and women in law enforcement in Waukesha County are going to hold you accountable. We will continue to make Waukesha County the safest place to live, work, and raise a family,” Ollinger said.
Shafer wrote, “I grew up in Waukesha County and garbage like this is a big part of why I would much rather live in the city of Milwaukee.”
We responded, “He (Shafer) thinks it’s garbage to keep criminals out of Waukesha County lol.” We added, “They’re in jail so they’re not just kindly neighbors.”
Ollinger is running for sheriff on Aug. 11 against realtor John Gscheidmeier in the GOP primary. Sheriff Eric Severson is retiring.
Readers were confused why it’s so upsetting to Shafer that Ollinger wants to stop people from victimizing his county. “Huh? 45% of the population in our county jail are Milwaukee residents. Wouldn’t it be alarming if 45% of the population in Dane Co jail were Waukesha residents?” responded one person.
“They’re jailing the criminals Milwaukee County apparently won’t. That seems to be contributing to a solution,” added another reader.
“I for one think it is the criminals who are the bad guys here,” said another.
“Nick is correct,” concluded another.
