ASSISTANT CHIEF
Assistant Chief Kurt Zempel has been with the Sheboygan Police Department since 2003. He was previously the Captain of the Patrol Division and the lieutenant on third shift patrol. Prior to this assignment, he was the commander of the Sheboygan County Multijurisdictional Enforcement Group, the county’s drug unit, for more than two years, and also spent three years as a sergeant and field supervisor for second shift patrol. He served as committee chair of the department’s Law Enforcement Explorer Post, supervised the crash and crime scene reconstruction team, and is an instructor for Fair and Impartial Policing and member of the Honor Guard. He was co-commander of the Emergency Response Team (SWAT) for four years.
Prior to his promotion to sergeant, Kurt spent three years as a general-assignment detective. He also was assigned to the Sheboygan Police Department’s Street Crimes Unit, a specialized investigative, interdiction and intelligence-gathering unit focused on street-level crime, for more than two years.
In 2017, Kurt was selected as an instructor in the Leadership in Police Organizations curriculum by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, the IACP’s flagship leadership course, and instructs law enforcement leaders from agencies around the state.
Kurt received a bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, in Criminal Justice Management from Concordia University – Wisconsin in 2003. He obtained a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh in 2013, receiving the Steven Hintz MPA award which recognizes academic excellence and community involvement among MPA graduate students. His graduate field project, “Putting Police in the Box: The Effectiveness of Data-Driven Law Enforcement”, was nominated for the UW-Oshkosh Distinguished Masters Research Award in 2013. He was class president of the 133rd Administrative Officer’s Course at the Southern Police Institute, University of Louisville, where he received the Dr. William Walsh Director’s Award for academic achievement.
Kurt is proud to live and work in his hometown of Sheboygan with his wife and has two adult sons, and was honored to be their Scoutmaster and help them both earn their Eagle Scout rank. He is a lifelong musician, performing and accompanying in various capacities on piano, voice and trumpet, and has completed the Ironman Wisconsin triathlon in 2018 and 2021.
CAPTAIN OF INVESTIGATIONS
Captain Doug Teunissen has been with the Sheboygan Police Department since 1997. He has worked in a supervisory role for the past 15 years as a Patrol Sergeant, Patrol Lieutenant, Lieutenant of Investigations, and was promoted to Captain in 2023. He has also been the Sergeant of the Street Crimes Unit, Police Training Officer Coordinator, and the Commander of the Emergency Response Team for five years.
Prior to his promotion to Sergeant, Doug spent three years as an investigator in the Sheboygan County Multi-Jurisdictional Enforcement Group and one year as an investigator in the Sheboygan Police Department’s Street Crimes Unit. While in the MEG Unit, Doug became a member of the Wisconsin Department of Justice Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement and Response Team where he served for almost seven years. He has been a Field Training Officer, Emergency Response Team Operator, Evidence Technician, and the Chairperson and member of the SPBA Scholarship Committee.
In 2014, Doug was selected as an instructor in the Fair and Impartial Policing curriculum. The Fair & Impartial Policing training program conveys the science of bias and discusses the negative consequences of letting “hidden biases” impact perceptions and behavior and, most importantly, teach police professionals the skills that they need to reduce and manage their biases.
Doug received a bachelor’s degree in Sociology with a minor in Criminal Justice from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 1996. While at Whitewater he was a member of the wrestling team and earned a letter in his favorite sport. While studying in his major he was on the Dean’s List, became a member of the Alpha Kappa Delta Sociological Honor Society, and was an intern for the SPD. He obtained a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh in 2013, and was nominated for the Steven Hintz MPA award which recognizes academic excellence and community involvement among MPA graduate students. His graduate field project, “Community Based Solutions to Domestic Abuse Problems”, became the basis for a training platform to teach officers to respond to domestic abuse with a victim-centered focus and has helped create a coordinated community response to this problem here in Sheboygan County.
Teunissen graduated from the law enforcement academy in 1997 from Fox Valley Technical College where he was voted the “most valuable officer” by his classmates. He again graduated from FVTC in 2010 when he completed Session #15 of their Executive Development Program. In 2018 he graduated from Session #271 of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Academy in Quantico, VA. The FBI’s National Academy, is known as one of the premier law enforcement training programs in the world. The National Academy provides advanced investigative, management, and fitness training to senior officers who are proven leaders within their organizations.
CAPTAIN OF PATROL
Captain Joel Kuszynski has been with the Sheboygan Police Department since 2001. He was previously the lieutenant of third shift patrol, a sergeant of third shift patrol, and sergeant of the Street Crimes Unit. He served as the supervisor of the K9 unit, a supervisor of the crash reconstruction team, and as a team member of the Sheboygan County Drug and Alcohol Treatment Court. Prior to his promotion to sergeant, Joel was a member of a number of special teams, including the Crash Reconstruction Team, the Honor Guard, the Emergency Response Team, and the Motorcycle Unit.
Joel received a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh in 2001. He obtained a Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Louisville in 2022. He was class secretary of the 142nd Administrator’s Officer’s Course at the Southern Police Institute, University of Louisville, where he was a Dean Scholar. His law enforcement interests include applying research to policing to maximize effectiveness and legitimacy.
Joel is married to his wife, Becky, and has three adult children.
OFFICE SUPERVISOR
Cassandra Wohlgemuth graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire and holds a BA in Political Science. She joined the Sheboygan Police Department as a telecommunicator on March 5, 2005. In October of 2009, Cassandra was promoted to a position in Court Services and enjoyed working as a liaison between the court systems and the department for several years. In February of 2017, she was awarded the newly created position of Digital Evidence Manager. Cassandra worked hard to establish many of the procedures for managing digital records and sharing digital evidence with the court systems. On December 14, 2020, Cassandra was promoted to the position of Office Supervisor, supervising our Information Services Division which consists of 12 employees.
Cassandra completed the Leadership in Police Organizations training program in May of 2015 and earned an Emerging Leadership Certification at CVMIC (Cities and Villages Mutual Insurance Company) in July of 2019.
Cassandra is married to her husband, Dietmar, and has three children.
