(The Center Square) – Two lawsuits have been filed by The Badger Project looking for records of law enforcement officers who were fired or forced to resign.
Both officers have worked for other departments in the state after their separation from the previous department. Wisconsin Transparency Project represents The Badger Project in both cases.
The Badger Project is a nonpartisan journalism nonprofit that says its focus is on investigating government, politics and related matters.
The Badger Project requested records regarding an officer who resigned from the St. Croix Sheriff’s Office and one who was said to have been “terminated for cause” by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
“There is a disturbing trend of law enforcement agencies issuing blanket denials for internal investigation records,” Tom Kamenick, President and Founder of the Wisconsin Transparency Project, said in a statement. “Court after court has said that only minimal amounts of information in these records can be redacted, but law enforcement agencies routinely ignore those cases.”
The Badger Project said that Amanda Alberts resigned from the St. Croix Sheriff’s Office in 2021 and has since worked for the Roberts and Wrightstown Police departments.
St. Croix released the separation agreement but denied the release of any records related to the separation. Alberts elected to release all claims against St. Croix in exchange for 8 months’ pay and other compensation, according to the separation agreement.
The second request was related to officer Keegan Williams, who was a State Patrol Officer that the Department of Justice put on a “flagged officer” list and Badger Project says was “terminated for cause” by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
In its denial, the Department of Transportation said that it needed to “restrict public access to current disciplinary and employment review proceeding.”
Williams hasn’t worked for the department in two years and now works for the Delavan Police Department. The Department of Transportation has since agreed to release Williams’ records after the statutorily required notice period allowing Williams to object.
“Studies have found that ‘wandering officers’ are more likely to commit misconduct again compared to rookies and veteran officers with clean records,” Peter Cameron, Managing Editor of The Badger Project, said in a statement. “Everyone deserves a second chance, but communities are best served when they know who is policing them. The Badger Project’s work in this area aims to give them that transparency.”
