By Owen Reissmann for Wausau Pilot and Review

At Monday evening’s Athletic Park neighborhood meeting, Officer D’Acquisto shared with the group a few ways in which the Wausau Police Department gets involved in the community: Battle of Badges–a softball fundraising event, Shop With a Cop, and Explore a Post–a program through which youth are put through a sort of mini police academy.

This month the police department was very busy with search warrants, mostly for marijuana, but also a lot of ecstasy. There occurred one incident of 4th degree (outside of clothing) sexual assault between two young adults. Sexual assault charges are fairly rare here, Officer D’Acquisto shared.

Officer D’Acquisto spoke of a recent experience of her husband’s. The K9 County Deputy attempted to pull over a vehicle for a lamp violation, and was led on a high-speed chase through yards and businesses.  When the car stopped, one person got out and fled. The K9 officer tracked them for over a mile but left off after the person fled across ice. The driver, a well-known drug dealer in the area, was later found and apprehended.

Officer D’Acquisto also shared that she had received indication that a local strip club may be forming contracts establishing dancer employees as the contract holder’s girlfriend. One can obtain, for a fee, an escort license in Wausau. However, the concern would be if the business has not applied for this license or if more than companionship is being provided. Police continue to investigate this issue.

A resident asked about Citizens Academy. Historically, both the city and county present a series of 2-hour meetings wherecitizens can get a feel for what it is like to be a police officer. They do things like taking a trip to a firing range, touring the police department, and running scenarios and trainings such as officers would.

Evan, who has worked for the Neighbors’ Place for four years, shared some information about the organization. The food pantry serves about 100 people per day. Families can only participate once every two weeks. Yet, 76 percent of the families served only use the service around six or seven times per year.