MADISON, Wis.—A Milwaukee County prosecutor who authorized pre-dawn, paramilitary-style raids on the homes of conservative activists last year has significantly expanded his department’s armed investigative force in recent years, an investigation shows.

It’s all part of Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm’s drive to start his own police force and expand his power, according to Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr.

“The role of the prosecutor’s office is to prosecute, not to investigate a crime,” said Clarke, who labeled Chisholm’s move to expand his gun-carrying investigative team “mission creep.”

“Why does he need all these investigators?”

Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke says County District Attorney John Chisholm’s continuous additions of armed investigators to his agency is ‘mission creep,’ turning the DA’s office into a police force. (Photo: Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office Facebook Page)

Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke says County District Attorney John Chisholm’s continuous additions of armed investigators to his agency is ‘mission creep,’ turning the DA’s office into a police force. (Photo: Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office Facebook Page)

Chisholm has more than doubled the size of his office’s armed investigative team, from six to 14, since he was first elected in 2006. His budget calls for another four investigators in 2015, tripling its size in less than a decade.

The DA’s critics say Chisholm, a Democrat, has used the state’s John Doe law to target conservative activists—including those he targeted in last year’s raids—in advance of the Nov. 4 gubernatorial election pitting Republican Gov. Scott Walker against Democrat Mary Burke.

Two more investigators were added in 2012 to the witness-protection unit under County Executive Chris Abele’s budget, and two more were brought in this year to assist the Child Support Services Department.

Critics of Chisholm’s expanded armed police squad worry about the abuses possible in weaponizing a DA’s office with a history of targeting conservative groups.

Law enforcement officials, with warrants issued by Chisholm and crew, shattered the silence of usually tranquil neighborhoods and lit up the darkness on the early morning of Oct. 3, 2013, with a blaze of floodlights and noisy demands. Police threatened to knock down the front door with a battering ram at one of the homes.

Read more at Watchdog.org.