WAUKESHA — A TMJ4 Lighthouse open records request has revealed that the Waukesha Police Department has not referred an officer to the district attorney's office for Brady consideration, despite being one of the largest law enforcement agencies in Waukesha County.
Brady lists contain officers with allegations of crimes, dishonesty, bias, or other integrity concerns. This information must be disclosed to defense attorneys if a Brady list officer is called to testify in court.
Records obtained by TMJ4 show 14 current and former officers across Waukesha County have been referred for Brady disclosure, representing nine different law enforcement agencies. The Waukesha Police Department is notably absent from this list.
Watch: Waukesha P.D. has no officers on county's Brady disclosure list, raising questions about transparency
The documents detail alleged misconduct, including a Menomonee Falls officer who was allegedly untruthful on police reports, a former sheriff's detective accused of lying to circumvent obtaining a search warrant, and a former Mukwonago officer who was reportedly untruthful about evidence removed from a scene.
"The fact that there are none on there is concerning to me," said Jonathan LaVoy, a criminal defense attorney in Waukesha County who frequently deals with the Waukesha Police Department.
LaVoy emphasized the importance of Brady notifications in his work.
"It is imperative for me to know whether that officer has a prior event in their career that causes me to question their credibility," LaVoy said.
The Waukesha Police Department confirmed in an email that it doesn't have any Brady list officers, stating: "We take our legal and ethical obligations under Brady v. Maryland very seriously."
"As the district attorney, you don't know what you don't know,” said Paul Bucher.
Bucher is Waukesha County’s former district attorney.
"I don’t think they’re trying to hide anything because that’s such a costly error,” he said. "It’s a good department, good coppers there. They really are, but just based on the numbers of the police officers on that agency and based upon the very subjective term of Brady and untruthfulness, I would think there would be one, two or maybe three referrals for something internal, maybe."
Current Waukesha County District Attorney Lesli Boese declined an interview request, but said in an email: "Based on my contacts with the City of Waukesha Police Department, I believe they are fulfilling their duty regarding Brady."
“At the Waukesha Police Department, this either means one of two scenarios…. They’ve never had a substantiated claim of truthfulness or integrity issues — or they aren’t disclosing when that happens. Would you say that’s a fair conclusion?” TMJ4 reporter Ben Jordan asked.
"I think it has to be, I mean, those are the only two issues,” Bucher replied.
Given that much smaller departments across Waukesha County have Brady officers, LaVoy believes there should be more standardized reporting requirements.
"I think there should be some more rules put in place so everyone's playing on the same field because, as you pointed out, different counties do different things," LaVoy said.
LaVoy praised the investigation's contribution to transparency in the justice system.
"I'm so glad that your station has pushed for this to be out in the public because I think it provides transparency to the people that are going through the system that things are being done ethically, properly, and right," LaVoy said.
Public records obtained by TMJ4 show the Waukesha County District Attorney’s Office has received Brady referrals for the following current and former officers:
- Former Elm Grove Police Officer Sandra Brown
- Waukesha County Sheriff’s Lt. Christopher Button (Employment status unknown)
- Former Waukesha County Sheriff’s Detective Ryan Dronek
- Former Chenequa Officer David Ferger
- Officer Kurt Kezeske (Current agency and employment status unknown)
- Former Elm Grove Officer Erik Kozlowski
- Former Detective Lang (First name and current agency omitted from records)
- Menomonee Falls Officer Chloe Liska (Employment status unknown)
- Former Mukwonago Officer Jose Ortiz
- Officer Sarah Polka (Current agency omitted from records)
- Former Brookfield Officer Eric Riedel
- Former Menomonee Falls Officer Jarred Ruhlman
- Waukesha County Sheriff’s Deputy Matthew Thompson (Employment status unknown)
- Former Waukesha County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Van Zile
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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