The Badger Project has filed two lawsuits in recent weeks challenging denials of requests for records related to an officer terminated for cause and one who resigned pending an internal investigation. The Badger Project is a nonpartisan journalism nonprofit that focuses on and investigates government, politics, and related matters in Wisconsin. It has published a series of stories about law enforcement officers who have been fired or forced out or who had resigned from one law enforcement job but had been rehired in another.
In the first case, The Badger Project asked for records regarding Amanda Alberts, an officer who resigned from the St. Croix Sheriff’s Office in 2021 and has worked for the Roberts and Wrightstown Police Departments since. St. Croix released a separation agreement (in which Alberts released all claims against St. Croix in exchange for 8 months’ pay and other compensation), but refused to release any records related to the circumstances of Alberts’ separation.
In the second case, The Badger Project asked for records regarding Keegan Williams, a State Patrol Officer who was, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s “flagged officer” list, “terminated for cause” by the Department of Transportation (which oversees the State Patrol) in 2023. Williams now works for the Delevan Police Department. The DOT claimed that it needed to withhold the records to “restrict public access to current disciplinary and employment review proceeding,” despite the fact that Williams has not worked there in over two years.
“There is a disturbing trend of law enforcement agencies issuing blanket denials for internal investigation records,” explained Tom Kamenick, President and Founder of the Wisconsin Transparency Project, which represents The Badger Project in both suits. “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.”
DOT has already agreed to produce Williams’ records, which will occur after the statutorily required notice period given Williams to object to their release.
“Studies have found that ‘wandering officers’ are more likely to commit misconduct again compared to rookies and veteran officers with clean records,” said Peter Cameron, Managing Editor of The Badger Project. “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.”
Copies of the complaints from the two cases can be obtained by contacting Attorney Kamenick.
