A police officer forced out of a suburban Milwaukee department for appearing to skip a lot of work and claiming many questionable comp days is now working for a small-town department in Waukesha County.

Amanda Lang resigned from the Glendale Police Department in 2021 after an internal investigation found she had more than 230 paid hours unaccounted for between 2019 and 2021. At her wage of $40 an hour, those hours added up to $9,300, the investigation noted.

“Based on the discovery of leaving early, along with the substantial number of full shifts not accounted for, one can only wonder how many other times she has left significantly early without documentation,” then-Captain Rhett Fugman wrote in his investigation, which The Badger Project obtained in a records request.

The captain recommended Lang be fired, and she resigned in April of 2021.

She worked for Glendale in the Milwaukee suburbs for more than 13 years, rising to the level of sergeant, before her resignation.

“As a sergeant, additional responsibility and trust was provided to Sgt. Lang,” Fugman wrote. “Her actions and inactions displayed regarding leaving early and posting off time over the last two plus years have displayed a lack of integrity, honesty and trustworthiness.”

“These characteristics are the foundation of what we are as police officers,” he continued.

Lang was hired by the Lannon Police Department later in 2021 and has worked there since.

Lannon Police Chief Daniel Bell said his department “follows rigorous background checks and screening procedures for all new hires to ensure they align with the standards and integrity expected of our officers,” including for Lang.

“During the interview process, we were satisfied with her explanation of the situation,” Bell said of her resignation.

Lang is “consistently demonstrating professionalism, dedication and a strong commitment to community policing,” he added.

She has been promoted to lieutenant, the second in command of the 12-officer department.

Another officer employed by the Lannon Police Department, Nathaniel Schweitzer, was forced out of the police department in the town of Waterford in Racine County late last year. Like Lang, he “resigned prior to the completion of an internal investigation,” according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s database on officers who left a law enforcement position under negative circumstances.

Number of wandering officers in Wisconsin continues to rise

The total number of law enforcement officers in Wisconsin has dropped for years and now sits at near record lows as chiefs and sheriffs say they struggle to fill positions in an industry less attractive to people than it once was.

Unsurprisingly, the number of wandering officers, those who were fired or forced out from a previous job in law enforcement, continues to rise. Nearly 400 officers in Wisconsin currently employed were fired or forced out of previous jobs in law enforcement in the state, almost double the amount from 2021. And that doesn’t include officers who were pushed out of law enforcement jobs outside of the state and who came to Wisconsin to work.

Chiefs and sheriffs can be incentivized to hire wandering officers, experts say. Hiring someone new to law enforcement means the police department or sheriff’s office has to pay for recruits’ academy training and then wait for them to finish before they can start putting new hires on the schedule.

A wandering officer already has certification and can start working immediately.

Nearly 2,400 officers in the state have been flagged by their former law enforcement employers as having a “negative separation” since the state DOJ launched its database in 2017.

Most are simply young officers who did not succeed in a new job during their probationary period, when the bar to fire them is very low, experts say. But some have more serious reasons for being pushed out.

Law enforcement agencies can look up job applicants in that database to get more insight into their work history. And a law enacted in 2021 in Wisconsin bans law enforcement officers from sealing their personnel files and work histories, a previously common tactic for officers with a black mark on their record.

About 13,400 law enforcement officers are currently employed in Wisconsin, excluding those who primarily work in a corrections facility, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Wandering officers make up nearly 3% of the total.

At least one major study published in the Yale Law Journal has found that wandering officers are more likely to receive a complaint for a moral character violation, compared to new officers and veterans who haven’t been fired or forced out from a previous position in law enforcement.

Sammie Garrity contributed to this report.

This article first appeared on The Badger Project and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

The Badger Project is a nonpartisan, citizen-supported journalism nonprofit in Wisconsin.

Milwaukee-area cop quit last police job after appearing to miss 200+ work hours is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

The Eau Claire County Jail | Photo by Frank Zufall/Wisconsin Examiner

Silver O. Jenkins, 29, who was found unresponsive in the Eau Claire County Jail on the morning of March 12, 2023, had by choice eaten very little in the 27 days leading up to  her death. She appeared ”emaciated,” raising concerns among jail and medical staff. Still, no interventions were taken to save her life because the sheriff’s office didn’t believe it had the authority for drastic measures and instead  continued to offer her food and water and monitor her condition.  

The Eau Claire County in-custody death investigation report on Jenkins, prepared by the St. Croix Sheriff’s Office, was released Monday June 9.

St. Croix County Sheriff Scott Knudson had told the Wisconsin Examiner back in July 2024 that the death investigation had been completed in August 2023, but the report was not available through a  records request pending a review by the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ).

On Monday, Eau Claire County Sheriff Dave Riewstahl issued a press release saying that  the DOJ had “declined to bring charges.”

The investigation included interviews with the sheriff, the jail’s security services captain Travis Holbrook, four shift sergeants, 17 correctional officers, Christ Hill with the Eau Claire County Department of Health Services and five employees of Wellpath, an agency providing medical and mental health services to the jail.

“The Wisconsin Department of Justice concluded criminal charges were not appropriate in this matter,” said Riewestahl.

Jenkins was booked into jail on February 9, 2023, for criminal trespass and held on a $500 cash bond. By Feb. 18, Jenkins had refused 22 meals.

On Feb. 19, 2023, due to difficulty breathing, Jenkins was transferred to the Mayo Clinic, where she received two liters of IV fluids and was returned to jail on Feb. 20, 2023.

On February 28, 2023, Jenkins again requested to go to the hospital due to chest pains, but the request was denied.

On March 3, Jenkins was moved to a special needs cell at the suggestion of a clinical social worker, where there are better facilities for showering.

On March 5, Jenkins asked to see a nurse and go to a hospital, and again her request was denied.

The nurse attending Jenkins on March 5 said it was challenging to obtain heart rate and blood pressure because Jenkins would not sit still.

On March 8, Jenkins made a court appearance via a laptop held by correctional officer Craig Berg, who told the investigators on that date Jenkins looked malnourished. Berg later told Sgt. Phil  Field, the day-shift sergeant, that he didn’t think Jenkins would be physically able to make a court appearance the following week.

On March 8, Field sent out an email that states, “I witnessed her in her cell a few moments ago and observed that she is very emaciated from the last time I personally saw her. It appears that most of her hair is gone and her overall physical appearance does not look well. Her log indicates that she did eat some the past 2 days but mostly refused for many days before.”

The investigation revealed that Holbrook, who was in charge of the jail, took no action because he thought the situation was under control and the medical staff was monitoring her condition.

Riewestahl said he had asked Hill whether his office could use a Chapter 51 mental health detainment to address the feeding issue with Jenkins.

Hill told the investigators that Chapter 51 emergency detentions cannot be used for medical conditions, although it was Riewestahl’s opinion that Jenkins was also experiencing mental health issues.

Correctional officer Ryan Addis had the 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. shift starting March 11. He said he passed by Jenkins’ cell in the early morning hours of March 12, between 1-2 a.m., and Jenkins was lying on the ground naked but moving. He didn’t enter the cell because in a previous situation, he did try to help her, and she lunged at him and he noted she had previously slept on the floor naked.

Addis said he noticed Jenkins was breathing and moving. He could also see her skeletal structure and what he observed concerned him, prompting Addis to send an email to the nursing staff asking what was being done for Jenkins.

Addis said he talked to his morning replacement, Byran Dachel, and they both thought Jenkins was dying.

Addis said he went home and told his wife that Jenkins would be dead within a week or a couple of days, and he determined, when he saw Jenkins again, to intervene and offer her some juice or “something.”

But later that Sunday morning, March 12, Jenkins was found in her cell by medical personnel not breathing, and her body was cold.

The autopsy findings, reported by Kristin E. Howell, M.D. Assistant Medical Examiner, attributed Jenkins’ death to “dehydration due to voluntary restriction of food and liquids.”

Day shift Sgt. Kevin Otto said in his interview that he didn’t believe Jenkins’ death was inevitable.

“I mean, all the players that were involved, something should have happened, and it always seemed to just get dumped back on us as a staff.”

He added, “I just think the staff was, were frustrated, we don’t know what to do with her. We’re not capable of doing it in our roles, and it seemed like the people that could weren’t doing it.”

Several of the jail staff said they felt frustrated in that all they were being asked to do was monitor and document Jenkins’ condition, but nothing was being done to ameliorate it other than offering her food and water.

Sheriff and jail captain

Since 2019, Jenkins had spent 205 days in the Eau Claire County jail for various charges.

Sheriff Riewstahl said that often when Jenkins was released, she would ask to be taken to a local hospital and then refuse to leave the hospital’s premises, resulting in a complaint and Jenkins returning to jail.

Riewstahl, Holbrook and others interviewed also noted that Jenkins from previous stints in the jail would often not eat the food offered to her and even ask for bottled water instead of using water from the jail sink.  

Hill said she believes Jenkins didn’t have a food disorder, but that refusing to eat gave her one thing she could control in her otherwise chaotic life.

“Silver has severe mental health issues, and our jail is the largest mental health facility here in Eau Claire County,” said Riewestahl. “Jails have been turned into the answer for mental health.”

He added, “we are technically a jail but the people that come to us have more mental health crisis needs at a different level than a Chapter 51 [a person who is involuntarily committed for mental health reasons].”

Investigator Dustin Geisness asked Riewestahl if he was aware of any concerns being expressed by the jail or medical staff regarding Jenkins.

“Ultimately, the hunger strike was a concern, and it was a concern every time she’s been here,” he said.

Holbrook also told investigators there was concern every time Jenkins returned to jail

“Obviously we know Silver as often as she’s here,” he said. “We know she‘s a problematic inmate, not cooperative, whatever. We knew that something potentially could happen someday.”

He added, “She was a non-cooperative inmate. She was offered food, medical services. A lot of times or sometimes she would refuse that, sometimes she wouldn’t. You never knew what she was going to  do.”

He said Jenkins was never on a full hunger strike and occasionally would eat small amounts of food offered.

He was asked about March 12 when she was naked on the floor and noted that was normal behavior for Jenkins and that she was often naked.

Holbrook also said the local hospitals didn’t want to see Jenkins unless it was an emergency because she had been disruptive there during previous visits. He said because everyone was aware the hospitals were reluctant to see Jenkins that may have played a part in not sending her to a hospital again before her death.

“Most of the hospitals don’t want nothing to do with her here, so even when we’d bring her there for something, we’d get a lot of heat from the hospital,” he said.   

Holbrook was asked by the investigator after Feb. 19,  when Jenkins returned from the hospital,  if anything  different was done for Jenkins besides  documenting her condition and food intake.

 “They’re just still documenting, documenting, documenting and in my opinion that sounds like the definition of insanity,” said investigator Geisness. Holbrook concurred, saying, “Over and over.”

Holbrook was also asked, “Who is ultimately responsible for this jail?” and he responded, “Ultimately, ultimately, yeah, that’s exactly. That’s the problem.”

Holbrook also said there was a “leadership issue,” but he didn’t specifically place responsibility for the issue on himself or staff or the sheriff.

Investigator Capt. Tim Kufus asked a similar question of the sheriff: “But while she’s here, whose responsibility is she?”

Riewestahl responded, “Ours.”

“When you’re saying ours, you’re saying collectively?” asked Kufus.

“The sheriff, the sheriff’s office,” responded Riewestahl

“Okay, and are you the …”

“I’m the sheriff,” said Riewestahl.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the Social Development Commission on Friday to secure back pay for former employees. 

At the same time, three state legislators are asking the agency, also known as the SDC, to consider voluntarily giving up its community action status. 

According to court records, the Department of Justice lawsuit filed on behalf of the Department of Workforce Development alleges that SDC failed to pay $359,609.73 in wages and benefits owed to former employees. 

However, the department is seeking double that amount – a total of $719,219.46 – as a penalty for “willful failure to pay.”

Sarah Woods’ claim against SDC seeks roughly $4,800 of back pay. 

“These are not small payments,” said Woods, a former youth and family services supervisor for SDC.

This marks the latest stage in a long-running wage dispute following the agency’s abrupt April 2024 shutdown, leaving some employees unpaid. SDC, which reopened in December, has provided a variety of programs to serve low-income residents in Milwaukee County.

SDC’s response

William Sulton, the attorney for SDC, said Thursday that the agency will file a third-party complaint against the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, which he claims failed to reimburse the agency for services SDC provided.

“DCF needs to be held to account,” he said, adding that SDC should sue the Department of Children and Families regardless of what the Department of Justice does. 

Woods remains skeptical that further legal back-and-forth will get people what they’re owed. 

“I just want the workers to get paid,” she said. “SDC needs to … just leave it alone.” 

Dispute over proper documentation 

Sulton said a major dispute between SDC and the Department of Children and Family Services is about documentation. 

“They had all of the required paperwork, but they kept asking for additional information that had never been asked for before,” he said. “We met every one of those obligations.”

In a letter sent last month, the Department of Children and Families said SDC failed to meet federal audit requirements and had not provided enough documentation to justify its reimbursement request. 

State legislators ask for voluntary de-designation 

Earlier this month, the Department of Children and Families decided to rescind SDC’s status as a community action agency effective July 3, making the agency no longer eligible to receive certain federal block grants that support anti-poverty work.

SDC plans to request a review of the decision from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Sulton said, which could take up to 90 days after the department receives documentation. 

On Thursday, however, State Sen. LaTonya Johnson, Sen. Dora Drake and Rep. Kalan Haywood — all Milwaukee Democrats — sent a letter to SDC’s Board of Commissioners, asking the agency to voluntarily de-designate.

In the letter, the lawmakers said voluntarily de-designating would create a pathway for $1.182 million in block grant funding that had been allocated to SDC to be used in Milwaukee to support services such as food security, rent assistance and workforce development. 

“These dollars must be spent by September 30, 2025, or they will be lost to the federal government,” the letter states. “At present, SDC’s operational instability prevents these funds from reaching the people who need them most.” 

Sulton said this pathway does not seem viable because the state has not presented a plan. There is, he said, a lack of alternative agencies prepared to provide these anti-poverty services. 

“If you want the board to consider de-designating so that these funds can go to another program, you gotta tell us what that is,” Sulton said. 

Additionally, SDC leaders argue the state lacks authority to make this de-designation decision without also getting approval from the city and county’s boards, based on state statute. 

Even if SDC steps down, Johnson said in an interview, there is no guarantee the money will be spent in time, as the state must meet federal requirements to move the funds and find another agency to administer services. 

“This is a really difficult place to be if you are an African American elected official because this is an agency that has been in the community forever that has a lot of support,” Johnson said. 

“Everybody is rooting for SDC to be successful. … But the reality is that I cannot choose the side of an organization over the community’s needs.” 

Edgar Mendez contributed to this report.

Meredith Melland is the neighborhoods reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and a corps member of Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsroom.

Wisconsin Department of Justice sues SDC as lawmakers push for new funding path is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

When a journalism nonprofit asked the Wisconsin Department of Justice in 2020 for the names and work histories of all law enforcement officers in the state, the agency initially appeared ready to grant the request.

But the department received pushback from law enforcement groups, and the records were not released.

This new information came to light in documents recently obtained by The Badger Project in its lawsuit against the state DOJ. The suit is seeking the names and work histories of most law enforcement officers in Wisconsin. The Badger Project’s co-plaintiff in the suit is the Invisible Institute, the journalism nonprofit that made the 2020 request.

Other news organizations, including the Washington Post, had seen similar requests rejected by the Wisconsin DOJ in preceding years.

In 2024, after the state DOJ denied another request for police names and work histories, this time from both the Invisible Institute and The Badger Project, the organizations sued for access.

In March, as part of the regular evidence exchange in the case, called discovery, the state DOJ released hundreds of documents to the two journalism nonprofits.

Among the documents was a letter sent by Assistant Attorney General Paul Ferguson, who heads the state DOJ’s Office of Open Government, to every police chief in the state. The letter indicated that the state DOJ intended to fulfill the request and release a list of all law enforcement officers in the state, but asked the individual agencies to identify any undercover officers who should not be included in that list.

The Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association responded with a letter to Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul the next day and urged the department to reverse itself, according to the documents obtained by The Badger Project.

Kenneth Pilegge, the association’s vice president, wrote that he had “significant concerns” in the letter.

“We have had contacts with members within our membership that have very serious concerns with this release and adamantly oppose this release without a court review,” he continued.

Neither the state DOJ nor the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association gave a comment for this story when offered the opportunity to do so.

Kaul assumed the position of attorney general, the head of the Wisconsin Department of Justice, in 2019. The department previously rejected the request for a full list of law enforcement officers’ names and work histories several times before he became AG, according to the released documents.

Dozens of states — including Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa — have released a full list of their law enforcement officers to a nationwide reporting project, which includes the Invisible Institute and The Badger Project.

The Wisconsin DOJ has, in response to repeated requests, released a list of “flagged officers,” those who lost their jobs due to termination, resignation in lieu of termination, or resignation prior to completion of an internal investigation.

This list, however, does not include officers who were fired or forced out of law enforcement jobs in a different state before taking a position in Wisconsin.

In previous denials, Ferguson has cited concerns that a complete list could “endanger” undercover officers and pose a general risk to officers and their families in a “volatile environment.”

The state DOJ says it isn’t able to identify undercover officers and redact their names.

Wandering officers

In Wisconsin, police and jailers who were fired or forced out of a previous job in law enforcement only to get hired at another one, called wandering officers, increased by 50% from 2021 to 2024. 

The total number of law enforcement officers in Wisconsin is sitting near record lows, according to investigations by The Badger Project. So the pressure to hire previously fired or forced-out officers can be high, experts say. Chiefs and sheriffs need to fill positions, and officers fired or forced out from previous jobs already have their certification, which costs law enforcement agencies and new recruits time and money to obtain. Wandering officers are more likely to again commit misconduct on the job, studies have suggested.

A full list of names of law enforcement officers, including those separated from jobs outside of Wisconsin who now hold positions in the state, would alleviate a considerable information gap, the Invisible Institute and The Badger Project argue in their lawsuit.

The records requested would not include home addresses or family information.

The lawsuit

The Badger Project’s lawsuit is being funded by The National Freedom of Information Coalition, through grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Society of Professional Journalists’ Legal Defense Fund. 

The Wisconsin Transparency Project, a law firm dedicated to enforcement of the state’s open records laws, along with the University of Illinois First Amendment Clinic, filed the suit on behalf of the plaintiffs.

The parties are submitting written arguments, called briefs, to Dane County Circuit Court, and then the judge will likely rule on the case, said Tom Kamenick, lead attorney for the Wisconsin Transparency Project.

This article first appeared on The Badger Project and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

The Badger Project is a nonpartisan, citizen-supported journalism nonprofit in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Department of Justice withheld officer roster after police group pushback is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.