Wisconsin Department of Justice Investigating More Officer-Involved Deaths
Saturday, May 2nd, 2015 -- 7:04 AM
(AP) -A new report shows the state Department of Justice is investigating substantially more officer-involved deaths in the wake of a new law requiring outside agencies run such probes.A Legislative Fiscal Bureau report released Friday shows DOJ has investigated 12 deaths since the law took effect in April 2014. That's up 71 percent from seven death investigations in 2013. The agency investigated a total of 19 officer-involved deaths from 2010 to 2013.
DOJ investigated 18 fatal and non-fatal officer-involved incidents last year compared with 26 total incidents from 2010 to 2013.
DOJ officials say theirs has become the go-to agency for local police who now need outside investigators. The Legislature's budget committee is set to consider creating five more positions within DOJ to handle such investigations next week.
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