Tischer, Ronald From: Tischer, Ronald Sent: Monday,'August 13, 2018 1:13 PM To: 'sta nfordr@westerntc.edu? Cc: Police Administration; Kabat, Tim Subject: LE Instructor Importance: - High Dear President Stanford, It has been brought to my attention that an instructor with the Law Enforcement Academy has been telling students the La Crosse Police Department is ?full of racists? and that "you shouldn?t work there?. As you can imagine, I am outraged at this comment. The La Crosse Police Department does more than any other police department in the state to attract and hire a diverse workforce. The sheer ignorance of thiscomment by one of your staff shows a lack of knowledge of the professionalism and high standards within our department. The La Crosse?Police Departmentdoes more training on Fair and Impartial Policing, Implicit Bias, and cultural diversity (to name a few) than. any other department I know of. I had heard rumors that one or more of the law enforcement instructors were critical of our department and imposing their opinions on students. This ?rumor? has recently been confirmed. Unfortunately, the person that gave me this - information, whom I highly respect, does not want to share the name of the instructor. If this instructoris) worked for me they would be out of a job. The State Training and Standards Division of the Department ofJustice' requires that agencies send recruits to the closet training facility to their respective municipality. In our case that would. be Western Technical College. However, if this practice continues by one or mere of your staff, I will be contacting the state requesting that we be allowed to send our recruits elsewhere. I implore you and your staff to investigate this matter and ensure us that this uneducated, unprofessional, ill-informed instructor immediately cease this activity. Ronald J. Tischer Chief of Police City of La Crosse Police Department 400 La Crosse Street La Crosse, WI 54601 (608) 789-7201 Tischer, Ronald From; Tischer, Ronald Sent: Monday, August 20, 2018 4:01 PM To: 22 Police Administration Subject: FW: LE instructor Importance: High Ronald J. Chief of Police City of La Crosse Police Department 400 La Crosse Street La Crosse, WI 54601 (608)-789-7201 tischerr@citvofiacrossecrg From: Tischer, Ronald . - Sent: Monday, August 20 2018 4:00 PM To: state. wi. us'; Fortunato,I Dennis]. fortu natod1@d01 state. wi. us); 'LeInz, Stacy 'BIarthuly, J. Tony Subject: FW: LE Instructor Importance: High l-Ilello, Sorry to include all of you in this email I wasn?t sure who can help me with a significant problem "that has been uncovered involving a Western Technical College?s (WTC) Police Recruit Academy Instructor. Please see my email below to the President of WTC. WTC has assigned their HR Director'to conduct the internal investigation While interviewing one of Our Hispanic Officers it was learned that this instructor actually convinced this Hispanic Officer to withdraw his application from our process in 2017. it may never be known how many minority candidates this instructor influenced to not apply with the La Crosse Police Department - So, the reason I write is that our department will not send anyone to WTCfor the recruit academy or for any other training as long as this individual is allowed to instruct. We; also have a concern regarding an ethics instructor at WTC that. we recently allowed to resign in lieu of termination. We would like to meet to discuss our {moons and ensure this. instructor or any other instructors are never allowed to unjustly defame our department I?m looking forward to hearing from one of you in the near future. Thank You! Ronald J. Tischer - Chief of Police City of La Crosse Police Department '400 La Crosse Street Tischer, Ronald From: Mullen, Gerald E. Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2018 9:13 AM To: Tischer, Ronald Cc: - Nelson, Cera R. Subject: Meeting at WTC sender and know the. content is safe - - --. ThIs email orIgInated from an external sender 130 NO clIck [Inks or open attachments unless you recognIze the .5 John Heath, HR Director at Western Technical College has completed the internal investigation pursuant to the allegation against Nicole Miller making disparaging comments to students about the La Crosse Police Department. Tony Barthuly and Mike Steffes will be in La Crosse on October 18th and 19th for the PEG meeting. WTC has agreed to host a meeting attended by Tony, Mike, yourself, and other command staff from your department along with WTC staff to discuss this issue. Would you be available to meet at WTC at 1:00 p. m. on October Thank you, I WIll send a confirmation e- -mail to all parties once the date and time are set. Jerry Mullen Compliance Officer Wisconsin. Department of Justice Training Standards Bureau (608) 266-7380 desk (608) 234?7432 --cell mullenge@doi.state.wi.us Tischer, Ronald From: Mullen, Gerald E. Sent: Friday, September 21, 2018 11:17 AM To: Tischer, Ronald Cc: Nelson! Cera R. Subject: WTC meeting -. gm senderandknowthecontentrs Safe; The following staff from WTC will be in attendance at the meeting: Mellisa Elliot Law Enforcement Academy Coordinator Kevin Dean Associate Dean of Health Public Safety Carlo DeCarlo - Dean of'Heath Public Safety John Heath Director of HR Jerry Mullen Compliance Officer Wisconsin Department of Justice Training Standards Bureau (608.) 266-7380 desk (508) .23-4~7432 cell ullenee@doi.state.wi.us Tischer, Ronald From: Mullen, Gerald E. Sent: Monday, September 24, 2018 12:52 PM . To: - Barthuly, J. Tony; Steffes, Michael Vike, Dana Tischer, Ronald Cc: Nelson, Cer-a R. Subject: WTC meeting Tml?N emall originated from an: externau'xdender Di) ttachmentsunless . . sender and know the content I received the meeting confirmation e-mail from John Heath. Hllerry, We are all able to make the 1 :00 PM meeting on October 19. We have reserved the La Crosse Sign room in the Lundo Center on the Western campus. I Will send you ofollow up email With a link to our campus map and parking permits but I wanted to let you know we are good to go Thanka John R. Heath, SPHR, SCP, MA. Director, Human Resources Western Technical College 400 7th Street N.- PO Box C-908 La Crosse, WI 54602-0908 (608)785?9464 Jerry Mullen . Compliance O-ffic'er Wisconsin Department ofJustice Training ail-Standards Bureau (608) 266-7380 desk {608)' 234?7432 cell mullenge@doi.state.wi.us Tischer, Ronald From: - Tischer, Ronald Sent: Monday, November 5, 2018 10:53 AM To: . Heath, John (HeathJ@westerntc.edu) Cc: Steffes, Michael J. Vike, Dana Mullen, Gerald E. Kabat, Tim; 22 Police Administration; . stanfordr@westerntc.edu Subject: . Complaint rezMs. Miller Attachments: Stubbed Dear Mr. Heath, I On October 19th, 2018 you and several members of Western Technical College (WTC) met with representatives-from the La Crosse Police Department and the State of Wisconsin Department ofiustice. During that meeting, you guaranteed that Ms. Nikki Miller would not retaliate against Officer or the La Crosse Police Department. You also stated that WTC felt the matter was closed and Ms. Miller would not be saying anything more on the subject. On September'ZOth, 2018 at 9:13 AM I received an email from Mr. Mullen from the Department ofJustice. Mr. Mullen stated your investigation had been completed. i can only assume, having done several internal investigations myself, that your statement of ?completed investigation? meant you had interviewed Ms. Miller and she stated she would not retaliate. - - On October 11th, 2018 Sergeant' from the La Crosse Police Department was at a social function also attended by Ms. Miller. They were conversing about students that attended WTC recruit academy. Ms. Miller was utilizing her knowledge of events that occurred while she was under your employment, as an instructor at WTC for the recruit academy, and therefore acting as an agent of WTC. Please see the attached'memo?s by Sergeant Lieutenant i i, and Officer It is clear that she was using her position to influence Officer direct supervisor. This clearly contradicts what you guaranteed us. Ms. Miller is clearly attempting to destroy not only this young officers career but his personal life as well. As you can see from Officer memo Ms. Miller has fabricated substantial allegations that are false! Officer is abundantly aware that if he is untruthful he will be terminated and will no longer be able to be a police officer. Sergeant has no priorknowledge of the complaints against Ms. Miller. The fact that Ms'. Miller has turned to blatant lies against Officer should raise moral and ethical questions regarding your employee that is an instructor in the Criminal Justice field. Western Technical College is culpable for Ms. Miller?s words and bears the burden for her actions. The term Vicarious Liability comes to mind. At our October 19th meeting, the information that other instructors are fed up with Ms. Miller being allowed to say and do whatever she wants with no ramifications was not investigated. You mereiy asked her direct supervisor and friend about these allegations. The State, asked you to question some of the former and current instructors at the academy. I?m not sure if you have spoken to anyone else but the former instructors that are employees ofthe La Crosse Police Department have not been contacted, nor have you contacted any of us to facilitate those interviews. 'The lack of follow up and the fact that you couldn?t even interview in person (phone interview), leads us to believe that WTC has not taken our complaint seriously. It?s also that WTC chose to feature a ?Staff Profile? on Ms. Miller on September 24th. Please see the attached twitter post. Therefore, please immediately remove my name from the Criminal Justice Advisory Committee. Remove all City of La Crosse Police Department employees city emails from your database. We should no longer receive individual or group emails from Finally, we will be asking the State for a permanent waiver from the La Crosse Police Department sending any future officers to WTC recruit academy. lf Ms. Miller does not'immediately cease and desist from making untruthful allegations against our department and police officers, we will be forced to take additional actions. We are willing to reconsider our relationship if and when major changes occur at the recruit academy. We are committed to sending our officers to the best training facilities available where are officers can be treated like adults and taught to make split second decisions keeping themselves, their fellow officers and the public safe. Not considered children. We hope you have the moral courage and intestinal fortitude to do the right thing with our complaint and protect not only Officer but our entire police department. Sincerely, Ronald'l. Tischer Chief of Pol-ice City of La Crosse Police Department 400 La Crosse' Street La Crosse, WI 54601 (608) 789-7201 tischerr@cityoflacrosse.org Tischer, Ronald m? From: . Steffes, MichaelJ. Sent: Monday, November 5 2018 12:25 PM Tischer Ronald CC: Vike, Dana Mullen, Gerald E. Subject; Re: Complaint rez'Ms. Miller sender and know the content IS 531? Hi Chief, Thank you for copying us. We will have some internal discussions at DOJ. Let me know if to discuss further with our team Mike Michael J. Steffes Deputy Administrator . Department of Justice Division of Law EnfOroement Services (608) 267 2232 (Of?ce) . (608)216 8491 (Cell) . Tischer, Ronald From: Stanford, Roger Sent: Thursday, November 8, 2018 8:58 AM To: Tisc?he'r, Ronald; Heath, John Cc: Steffes, Michael J. Vike, Dana Mullen, Gerald E. - Kabat, Tim Subject: - RE: Complaint re:Ms. Miller Dear Chief Tischer, We will be following up with an investigation into the matter. We also wanted to let you know that we'met with Mary Jo Werner from Wipfli last Friday to discuss the possibility of her doing an investigation of the initial concern. One component of that would include speaking with former instructors that are employees ofthe La CroSse Police Department. i feel that an'independent, outside party having those conversations would be best. Mary Jo. has done this work before. We will move forward with formally engaging her to do this work. Sincerely, Roger Stanford Roger J. Stanford, President 400 Street North La Crosse, WI 54601 stanf-ordr@westerntc. edLI Executive Assistant Janice StrUpp, 608 785? 9210 struggiQwesterntc. edu Twitter. Every Student . Every Day hum?hind From: Tischer, Ronald Sent: Monday, November 5, 2018 10: 53 AM To: Heath, John Cc: Steffes, MiChaelJ. (steffesmj@doj. state. wi. us) , Vike, Dana G. ; Kabat, Tim - 22 Police Administration org>; Stanford, Roger . Subject: Complaint re:Ms?. Miller