Chief Olson is Appleton’s first female Police Chief. In her 21 years serving the Appleton Police Department, Olson has held a variety of positions, such as patrol officer, school resource officer, lieutenant, patrol captain, captain of investigations and support services, and assistant chief.

She is passionate about bringing awareness to issues surrounding mental health. In 2012, she worked with John Wallschlaeger (ret.) to develop one of the first county-wide peer support programs. She served as Coordinator for the Outagamie County Peer Support Team for several years. In 2017, she presented at the Destination Zero Officer Wellness Conference in Orlando, FL, inspiring other police departments to establish their own peer support programs.

She will be presenting on the relatively new Community Crisis Response Team. This collaboration and pilot program kicked off in January 2022. This pilot program brings into collaboration Outagamie County Health and Human Services with the City of Appleton and the N.E.W. Mental Health Connection’s Project Zero, working to enhance police-involved responses to mental health crises by offering mental health assessments, referrals for mental health services and safety planning in the community.