Lawmaker wants more money for officer-involved death probes

MADISON (AP) — A key Republican on the Legislature's budget committee says he supports giving the state Justice Department more resources to investigate officer-involved deaths.

Rep. John Nygren (R-Marinette), who serves as the committee's co-chairman, said in a statement Friday, March 20th that officer-involved shootings are on the rise in Wisconsin and across the country.

Wisconsin law requires an outside agency to lead officer-involved death investigations and many agencies are turning to the DOJ. The agency asked Governor Scott Walker for an additional $738,600 in the 2015-17 state budget to fund five positions that would handle such probes.

Walker chose not to include the funding in the budget. The budget committee will spend most of the spring revising Walker's plan, however, and Nygren says he has a duty to ensure officer-involved deaths are investigated with integrity.

Since January 5th, 2015, there have been eight officer-involved shootings statewide. Four of those have been fatal -- one in Milwaukee, one in Green Bay, one in Madison, and one in Kenosha.