Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line 08-19-2026: Lincoln Sharp shares updates from the Dixon Police Dept.

Transcript

Talk Line 08-19-2026: Lincoln Sharp shares updates from the Dixon Police Dept. · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It's time for talk line, and I'm joining the booth
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: once again by our good friends from the Dixon Police Department,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Sergeant Lincoln Sharp making his appearance, at least for the
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: first time since I've taken the helm over the legendary
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Steve Marco, Studio's ear sergeant.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: How you doing this morning, Sarah Good Brandon. Thanks for
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: having me, Alex said, first time with you. So excited
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: to be here.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, man, your voice carry is even better in
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the microphone for radio. Dude, you need a side gig.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: You might want to consider that.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: I'll look into it, but for.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Right now, Lincoln's very busy in his current career. But
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I'm always interested, especially when I've got somebody on the
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: show for the first time. I love hearing how people
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: get into their professions. What drew you to law enforcement, Brandon?
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Obviously there's no secret answer. It was as a kid,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: you know, just wanted to drive a police car. So
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: the sex appeal, right, sure, yeah, but no being serious,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: I was just always, you know, all through high school.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: I went straight to college for it, never really straight
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: from it. Born in Dixon, actually, but Raisin Sterling went
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: to Western graduated act My first job opportunity was in
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Kiwani worked there for like a year and a half.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: I interned with Dixon as part of my college internship
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: and it applied there. So when I got the job
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: offered Kiwan, who's good me but Dixon it was it
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: was an easy decision.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: So I came here in two thousand and eight and
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: been here since.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Okay, and then, so you're in a new position now, right,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: not officially yet here in a couple of weeks, a
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: couple of weeks will take over Brandon's breaking the news
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: out here, So community engagement sergeant, is that correct?
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Correct? Yeah, that's that's gonna be the title. Obviously, it's
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: a new, a new, unpaved position within the department. So
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: it's exciting yet yet nervous because obviously it's it's it's new,
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: so obviously you want that reputation of being doing a
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: good job. And so when it's new and you're kind
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: of paving that path, it could be a little never
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: recom exciting. All the things that we've talked about that
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: encompass it our our stuff that I really take pride in,
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: so I think we'll have a lot of fun with it.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: That's awesome. So now what exactly is it that you're
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: going to do in this position. So obviously we're still
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: paving that path.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: But I think a lot of it is just that
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: community point of contact between us with you know, businesses, schools,
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: our community programs, social media, anything else we can think of.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: So just just even those there, just our community programs
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: as schools, social media can be can fill it up.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: But we're obviously opening a new idea. So as we
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: move forward with it, well we'll think of different ideas
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: to try to encompass it. But just just those ideas there,
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: with our businesses and schools and social media. It's gonna
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: be fun.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I've always been a big, big fan of the
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: community policing model. I had the privilege of getting to
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: learn more about it as my time as a reporter
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: before I had switched over to the radio, and in
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: so many of the interviews you know that I had
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: done with law enforcement. Is just such a fantastic approach,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: you know, to community policing.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: I mean definitely agree. I guess for us it makes
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: it easy, especially with me because I just that's me.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: I'm human. I know, No, you're good our community partner.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's people we live with. It's just so
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: it's natural to want to do those things. So I
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: guess it probably that's why it is successful for us,
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: because you know, anybody you can put in that position,
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: but they've got to have that passion to do it
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: and want to do it and be there. So I
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: think that's key. You can't just force officers to be
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: in a social media and expected to be successful. I
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: think you got to have a good, strong connection with
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: the community and it pays off because you have that reputation.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: That's where we like to keep going.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Sure, now you know you said, this is a relatively
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: new position, still figuring some things out. How did it
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: come about that they're like, hey, we want to create
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: this position and we want you to do this, Lincoln.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Or did you come to them learning about it and
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: be like, man, I hey I want this, can I
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: take this? How did that happen?
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah? Obviously we just had the position with the department
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: to kind of change some roles and with this position
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: to kind of focus on that. So where I'm at
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: now is still general case assignment, which I'm ex sure
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: having you and being able to really kind of dabble
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: into this new position. Yet so until we kind of
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: start switching over, I'll be able to really start get
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: into it. It's keeping busy, but I know that the
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: new position, I think just recognizing, like what because I
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: when I first you know, probably it's probably been fifteen
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: years ago, really starting to get our social media going,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: and we had a lot of success with it. Unfortunate
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: with role changes with me, I kind of just slowed
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: down a little bit, so we knew the value of it.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: So this position, to be able to mold it and
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: then get me back into that position, to really focus
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: back on it, to really get it back up, is
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: kind of what you know, the goal was.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: So yeah, no, that's that's fantastic. I love the mindset
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: that they're going with that. And you guys also have
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: an app to even help folks keep connected with the department, right.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: Correct, Yep, yep, we just launched that, So obviously that's
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: one of my first priorities when I get over, is
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: really starting to push that out, because yeah, this app
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: is awesome. Obviously Averredy's I want to say everybody's, but
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: most people a connected to their phones and this app
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: is it's a one stop shop for us. It's obviously
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: it's evolving. We can add more things to it. But
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: department information programs, we got communication with us. It's it
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: can really be great because I know some of our
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: social media the ways the message us are an ideal
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: and most people don't like calling in, you know, the
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: police department for stuff. So through this app, if we
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: can just push stuff out, that can be exciting. So yeah,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: same thing. It's relatively new. We're really trying to get
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: that out and we'll start pushing that out more so
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: people more aware of it.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: What's the name of it and where can they find it?
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: So it's on the app store. Actually I'm not sure
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: about like Google. I don't know if I'm apologizing to
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: the most educated on that, but I know after the
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: police department. Yeah, it's got our patch or our patch
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: on there that you can find it pretty easy and
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: you download. It's very user friendly. It's just you open up,
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: it's got a menu, you gind your way through it,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: so it's super user friendly, which some apps are you know,
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: a little rough to navigate, but this is super friendly. Yeah,
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: so encourage you to download it so we'll be pushing out
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: more and just evolving and getting getting more stuff out
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: on it.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Sure, any common questions or anything you want to take
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: a chance maybe do addresser or clearup since you have
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: a large invisible audience with us today.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Right. No, just biggest thing we're excited is again our
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: new role, just trying to get our social media out.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: You know what this can be the engagement that I'm
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: gonna do, and it's gonna be super exciting. Just finding
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: new ways to be involved with our businesses in town, schools.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: You know, it's something that you know be a process
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: for me, but making making those contacts with everybody, just
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: finding more ways for us to get involved other than
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: just your normal police activities, which is exciting. I think
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: that's not too often that you get to go to
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: businesses and schools and you know, say it's quote unquote
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: police related, but it's really not. It's just more ways
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: to engage with us personally as officers.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's it's really taking you know, the department
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: and law enforcement in general back to that day where
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: everybody like they knew the cop that that you know,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: their block or whatever. You know, I was the beat.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: I don't know if that's the you know, the the terminology,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: but you know what I mean, like they knew that
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: officer he walked around. You know, he knew the people's
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: names in the name, but they knew him and you
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: felt really connected. It wasn't just the you know, this
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: is just law enforcement. It's like protecting. They're here, you
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: could come to them. And this really feels like it's
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: bringing it back to that time, which is something I
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: think we've sorely needed.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: Definitely, especially with the younger, younger generation, to you know,
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: from the schools and different just community events, seeing these officers,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: you know, just day after day, just having fun talking
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: to them. That's what we want because we want those
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: kids when they have issues to be able to come
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: to us and not feel the only time they see
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: police it's when somebody's getting in trouble or somebody's you know,
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: something like that. So that's definitely the goal. And we
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: see that and that resonates, you know, you know, people
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: as they get older, they oh, we had you know,
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: I know this officer back from Kene events twenty years ago.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: So to know that's that's the type of interactions we
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: want want to build upon.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I mean again, it's really above and beyond
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: and about creating that sense of community. I mean, you know,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: taking kids shopping for Christmas, the water gun fights, I
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: love seeing the pictures of that, the officers doing that,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: touch a truck events, just you know, your guys event
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: the Halloween things. It's all things that I mean, the
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: police department doesn't have to do right Like it's you know,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: you could sit there and take it back to the
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: very basic like law enforcement, but this is just the
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: department trying to go above and beyond to be connected
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: with the community.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: And again I'm just I'm all for that model.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: And even like you said, even some of those programs
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: that's not even I mean, we we thoroughly enjoy doing it.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: It's not like, oh, we need to do these programs
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: like we love like you know, I'm super involved with
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: the Christmas program some of our like the water guns,
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: that was something that again we did years past and
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: it was just tricky. But now in this world going forward,
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: we're gonna, you know, secretly kind of get that going
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: again in the summers too, because that was that was
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: probably one of our biggest thing. We had a lot
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: of publicity from that, a lot of good feedback. Certain years,
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: there were things going on in the nation that we
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: had a little bit of flack for it, you know,
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: but you're not gonna make everybody happy. But for the
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: most part, especially what matters is the people in Dixon.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: That's what matters nationwide, you know, people making comments whatever else,
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: but what matters here is here in Dixon, and those
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: were great. So that's where again, like you said, all
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: these programs and we have officers that that love doing it,
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: that take pride in doing it. They're off I'm you know,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: they're not getting compensated for it, they're just they want
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: to do it. So it's it's I think it's just
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: a you know, grateful to have the people that we
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: have in our department that love doing that stuff, because
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: if we didn't have, Like I said, you can force
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: anybody into those businesses, but to be able to want
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: to do it, to be there, that's what makes it successful.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. You know, I've said that time and time again.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: There are certain there are certain careers that you can
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: do and not have a passion for, and that's okay,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: But there are certain things to where I say, you know,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: law enforcement is one of them. Healthcare is one of them.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: If you're you know, directly affecting other people's lives and
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: you don't have a passion for what you do, go
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: get out, You'll be happier and the people that whose
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: lives you would have affected are going to are going
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: to be much better off. So I couldn't agree with
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: you more on that exactly. A Like I said, you
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: certain professions, I mean you hit it to a t.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: You know certain professions you can tell instantly. That's huge
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: because this isn't like you said, you're not in a
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: certain professions where you're not affecting anybody, but you're affecting
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: the whole community. So one officer out there with that
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: type of bad to be, I mean, it can have
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: ripple effects.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: So it's super important have those people in the right positions.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna sneeze, but yeah, No, I couldn't echo that more. Yeah.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, And we're just lucky to have people with that
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: kind of passion in our local department. So we really
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: appreciate it. We got a couple just a couple of
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: minutes left. Was there anything we forgot to cover? You
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: want to throw intoday, Lincoln, No, I think we hit
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: the hit the high points.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Well, means any other side questions feel free to fire away,
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: but I think we covered No, we're just excited again.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: We appreciate you coming on, and I'm excited to keep
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: going forward this and especially in my position, replying more
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: contact with you and looking forward to it.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well I look forward to the to the monthly
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: updates we get from the department, having you guys come in,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: sharing what you're you're doing. Again, it's just all a
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: part of connecting with the community, having that transparency and
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: trying to get everybody together and involved. So I love it.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: I love having you guys on and we appreciate it. No,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: and I and I and I thank you all for
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: what you do. It is a it's not an easy job.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: A lot of times, it can be a thankless job.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: And as somebody who's who's been in a career where
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: people can uh sometimes comment and get you give you
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: flak for what you do, I uh I I I
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: certainly understand that and have a soft spot for anybody
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: who has to deal with that. So thank you all
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: for having that passion, putting your lives on the line
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: quite literally, uh, to keep the community safe. We really
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: appreciate it.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: Appreciate it. Brandon, thanks for having us