Lead sponsor of Wisconsin police-involved death bill calls for changes

One of the lead sponsors of a Wisconsin law requiring outside investigation of police-involved deaths is calling on state lawmakers and agencies to prevent outside investigators from leading probes involving the departments that used to employ them.

“I think it’s a no-brainer,” state Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison) said on Tuesday. “You want to preserve the independence and make sure there’s not a conflict.”

Taylor co-sponsored the original custody death law, which took effect in April 2014 and requires a team of at least two investigators from an outside agency to lead investigations of officer-involved deaths. Milwaukee police frequently request the state Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation to lead such probes when a custody death occurs in the city.

Taylor made her remarks a day after Attorney General Brad Schimel acknowledged some agents investigating the fatal police shooting of Sylville Smith in Milwaukee are former members of the city's Police Department, which has more than 1,800 sworn officers. Schimel said on Monday those former officers were hired for their extensive experience running investigations.

Schimel also said the likelihood is small for any of the state special agents to have a personal relationship with the officer who is under investigation, and that if there were a such a relationship, that investigator could not work on the case.

A state Justice Department spokesman said Taylor "continues her assault on law enforcement" with her statements and that "one can only deduce" by her proposal she intended to "sow doubt in the public's mind."

"To imply deeply experienced DCI agents are unable to carry out a thorough and thoughtful investigation on behalf of the Wisconsin Department of Justice in the search for the truth is insulting," DOJ spokesman Johnny Koremenos said in an email.

Taylor circulated two bills at the statehouse earlier this year to address real or perceived conflicts of interest, but both measures stalled.

One of the bills would have limited the investigators to those who have not been employed and whose immediately family members have not been employed with the officer’s agency within the prior 10 years. The other proposal would have required the appointment of a special prosecutor, rather than a local district attorney, to determine if criminal charges should be filed against an officer.

Taylor said she plans to bring both back this session.

“There is all kinds of potential to try to minimize these conflicts," she said. "We have to address it or the public’s not going to have confidence in these investigations and that’s not what we want.”