Gov. Scott Walker’s security unit increased its numbers after current members of the patrol unit voiced concerns they were not adequately staffed to deal with higher security demands. 

The unit under former Gov. Jim Doyle consisted of four guards, while Walker’s current security detail has six. 

The number of guards increased with Walker’s inauguration because of the threat level facing politicians, State Patrol Col. Ben Mendez said. Current unit members said more officers would also be necessary because Walker’s family is larger than Doyle’s.

“The needs today are different than they were with the previous first family,” Mendez said. “We have a larger responsibility, more people.”

Walker has a wife and two sons in high school in Wauwatosa.

The two additional sergeants will not cost any more money because they were already working within State Patrol – one as a traffic patroler and the other as unit supervisor, Mendez said.

He said the new members’ previous jobs have been reassigned.

The two new members were also added in acknowledgment of recent events on the national and local level where politicians have been attacked or threatened, Mendez said.

Following the shooting during a town hall meeting in Arizona during which six people were killed and a U.S. Congresswoman was shot, the Wisconsin Capitol Police, among other law enforcement agencies, said threats were made against Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and several other Wisconsin politicians.

Although the decision to increase the security detail had been made before the shooting and threats against Capitol lawmakers, Mendez said those events spoke to the need for an increased security presence around the governor.

Rep. Kelda Helen Roys, D-Madison, supported the decision to increase Walker’s security detail, but she said she would like to see more analysis being done to explain the reasons behind the violence.

“Why are people who are mentally ill or disturbed in some way not getting the help they need, or why are they getting access to firearms”? Roys said. “We should look into these patterns and how we can reduce them, but we’re not asking those questions.”

– – The Associated Press contributed to this report.