War of words escalates between La Crosse police and courts

The war of words keeps escalating in the feud over whether La Crosse County’s judges are soft on crime. Now it has reached new heights. La Crosse Police Chief Ron Tischer took to Twitter to speak critically of the local judicial system. Until now, Assistant Chief Rob Abraham has been the police voice of their frustration with having to arrest the same bad guys over and over, only to have them set free on low bonds, or light sentences if they are convicted. Meanwhile, the drug problem continues. At least three overdose victims were saved by La Crosse police with Narcan Friday night. Chief Tischer tweet reads “How many lives need to be ruined and people need to die before we start taking drug dealers-especially fentanyl dealers seriously.” He is right. The drug epidemic is a scourge on our community. But isn’t it everywhere? La Crosse is not alone in dealing with the criminal effects of drug addiction. Do we really know local judges are softer on crime? It is past time to have a community-wide conversation. Police, judges, the public. We can do it right here. Let’s invite the Attorney General. Let’s find solutions. Simply lobbing angry tweets is not nearly enough to solve the problem.