Wisconsin shouldn’t have secret police

They are called “wandering officers.” But, in Wisconsin, there is no way to tell how many of them there are, and a new lawsuit seeks to change that. These officers are cops who get fired, resign in lieu of termination or resign before any investigation, then go on to get hired to be a police officer somewhere else. Wisconsin is one of just a handful of states that doesn’t require the list of employed police officers to be a matter of public record. Wisconsin, since 2017, has required the Law Enforcement Standards Board to keep a list of officers who have been disciplined. The theory is, police departments in the state can refer to the list when making hiring decisions. But there is no requirement they do so. Wisconsin police agencies are free to hire any officer who holds a state certification, regardless of whether they behaved badly at their previous police job. Many who are on the list continue to get rehired elsewhere. The Wisconsin Transparency Project is part of a lawsuit against the state Department of Justice, seeking a list of all police currently employed in the state, and their employment history. Our police shouldn’t be allowed to shroud themselves in secrecy, and it should not require a lawsuit to ensure that.