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Victims call for cop psych exams

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by Kevin Bargnes

Friday, February 22, 2008

In the wake of the October shootings in Crandon, state lawmakers considered a bill Thursday that would require a psychiatric exam for prospective police officers.

The bill is co-authored by Rep. Gary Bies, R-Sister Bay, and Rep. Ann Hraychuck, D-Balsam Lake, who said the mandate is key, even though the process is already performed by many state agencies.

“What [the bill] will do is force county and local boards to look at the necessity of psychological examinations and spend $300 on a very wise investment,” Hraychuck said.

The bill is a direct response to the Oct. 7, 2007 shootings in Crandon, when Tyler Peterson, an off-duty sheriff’s deputy, shot and killed his former girlfriend and five of her friends before turning the gun on himself several hours later.

During the time between the killings and his own suicide, Peterson called multiple friends and family members saying that he had just “lost it,” implying some kind of psychiatric problem.

The bill received a hearing in the Assembly Corrections and Courts Committee Thursday and would require psychological exams for those applying for full-time jobs as police officers.

Doug Phebus, an attorney for Lawton & Cates in Madison, represents three of the Crandon shooting victims. He said while the families all support the bill, they would like to see other steps taken to prevent similar crimes in the future.

In addition to the initial psychological screening process, Phebus said the families would like to have periodic testing throughout an officer’s career, as well as mandatory testing following a traumatic event.

The Crandon families would also like to set a minimum age of 23 to be a full-time officer. Peterson was only 20.

Phebus and the family do know that psychological testing is not an exact science.

“But even if something works part of the time, that’s better than not doing anything,” Phebus said.

Part-time officers will not be included in this bill but may be included in a future bill.

“We are not including part time… because of the cost impact to the small rural agencies,” Hraychuck said.

Dennis Kruger, legislative representative for the Wisconsin Troopers Association, criticized the action and said his organization thinks the Legislature needs to “get it right the first time.”

“Part-time officers carry a gun. They deal in stressful situations no different than a first-time officer,” Kruger said. “If we’re going to do something, we’d like to do it right.”

State Patrol Major Sandra Huxtable said that they already include two written, four to five-hour long examinations as a part of their hiring process, after which applicants must meet with a psychiatric examiner.

At no other point is a state trooper required to go through a psychiatric examination. However, following a traumatic event, officers will be made aware of counselors but are not required to meet with them.

“That is a very private thing,” Huxtable said. “We cannot mandate it. We can only encourage them, provide the information to them.”

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