Services and Functions

The Dodge County District Attorney’s Office is responsible for the prosecution of all criminal cases in Dodge county.  A criminal case is a case where the possible penalty is jail or prison.  Every referral for criminal charges from every policy department in Dodge County and the Dodge County Sheriff’s Department is made to the Dodge County District Attorney’s Office.  Additionally the District Attorney’s Office prosecutes all State violations of the traffic code within the County.  The District Attorney’s Office also represents certain State agencies in local actions including the Department of Workforce Development, of Natural Resources and the Department of Corrections.  The District Attorney’s Office also handles delinquency petitions in juvenile matters. 

In 2003, there were 2215 juvenile and adult referrals made to the District Attorney’s Office resulting in 423 felony cases, 1119 misdemeanor cases, 670 criminal traffic cases and 170 juvenile cases. 

The office is currently focusing on increasing the efficiency of the office and court system to better handle the record workload with a smaller staff resulting from budget cuts.  This focus includes Dodge County  becoming involved with the state operated DA NET Program, which is intended to streamline the criminal justice system.  Ultimately, all prosecutors’ offices in the State will be networked through a central server to facilitate the exchange of information.  The case management system PROTECT (Prosecutor Technology for Case Tracking) has been implemented and is used to enter and track people and cases within the District Attorney’s Office, to produce documents and to schedule events.  This system will also allow us to share data from the Clerk of Courts Office through an interface with that office.  It is hoped that in the future, this system may allow us to share information from other local agencies in our own county and eventually with all counties throughout the state.

SERIOUS OFFENDER POLICY

The Dodge County District Attorney’s Office is also committed to increasing the conviction rate and punishment for those who commit the most serious offenses, especially crimes against our children and the elderly.  This project includes improving the interviewing techniques of child victims and witnesses and using videotaping technologies to reduce the child victim’s trauma from testifying in court.  It also includes assigning these cases to District Attorney Bill Bedker himself who will dedicate the necessary time to these cases to maximize the possibility of a successful prosecution.