John Wallschlaeger

Former Board Member

John started his career in law enforcement with the Hartland Police Department in 1994.  John joined the Appleton Police Department in 2002 and achieved the rank of Sergeant in May 2009.  John holds an Associate Degree in Accounting from Waukesha County Technical College and a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Mount Scenario College, Ladysmith, WI.

In 2004, John became Wisconsin’s first “Memphis Model” based Community Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) officer after attending the 40-hour course offered at the Akron Ohio Police Department.  John sees CIT as the best law enforcement model of training on crisis response available and has helped develop it, in conjunction with NAMI Fox Valley, not only at the Appleton Police Department but throughout Wisconsin.  Since 2004, John has facilitated 28 CIT training sessions in Appleton and graduated nearly 800 CIT officers from across Wisconsin.  John has also played a key role in growing CIT in WI by helping establish CIT training locations in Eau Claire, Green Bay, Kenosha, Lacrosse, Madison, Milwaukee, Ozaukee County, Racine, Waukesha and Wausau. 

John’s efforts resulted in him earning the “CIT International CIT Officer of the Year Award” in 2010.  John was also awarded in 2010 the “Protect & Serve Award” from NAMI Wisconsin.  John recognizes that through CIT, community collaboration between the law enforcement and mental health, communities are enhanced, bettering the lives of persons and families living with mental illness and making the communities safer.

John retired from the Appleton Police Department in April 2015, earning a Career Achievement Award for his dedication and commitment. John was also recognized by the Outagamie County District Attorney’s office with a “Best Badge Award” for his exceptional career service to the community. John is continuing the specialized mental health training for law enforcement, CIT & CIP, under his company, Gold Stripe Consulting, LLC.  John has also continued with his role as a member of the Outagamie County Mental Health Court treatment team. John also helped spearhead the Northeast Wisconsin’s Mental Health Connection as well as a three County - Zero Suicide coalition. John also took on a part time role at Appleton’s homeless shelter, Pillars, formerly the Homeless Connection, as a homeless street outreach worker.  John was elected to the CIT International Board of Directors in January 2017.  Since his retirement John has also become a certified QPR Instructor and added enhanced QPR to his various trainings. In 2017 John became an associate instructor for the National Criminal Justice Center, located in Appleton, WI., where his focus is Tribal Law Enforcement mental health awareness training.