The officer-involved shooting of Madison resident Paul Heenan last fall served as motivation for a new piece of legislation introduced Thursday that would change how death investigations under police supervision are conducted. 

Rep. Garey Bies, R-Sister Bay, said the bill would require an outside agency to carry out investigations of deaths involving police officers, rather than an internal affairs department investigating incidents.

Bies said motivation for the bill came after the shooting of Michael Bell by Kenosha police in 2004 under what he described as “questionable” circumstances. He said there were a number of questions that still remained in the case, which was evident in the $1.75 million civil settlement between the City of Kenosha and Bell’s family.

The other deaths of Heenan in 2012 in Madison and of Derek Williams in 2011 in Milwaukee also served as motivation, Bies said. He said he hopes the law would serve as both a deterrent for any misconduct during the investigation of such incidents and a way to prevent instances of wrongdoing from being repeated.

The bill also requires blood samples be taken from officers involved in fatal incidents. The blood sample can only be tested for alcohol or drugs with the permission of the officer or after a court order.

After Heenan’s death in her district, Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, said she will sponsor the bill.

“I think this is a really good first step after a series of police shootings in our community,” Taylor said.

Taylor added another layer of oversight is always a good idea for police investigations.

Bies said the legislation would create a statewide standard and create consistency between investigations in all Wisconsin counties.

“A lot of the smaller departments are doing this already and larger ones do their own internal investigations,” Bies said.

Taylor added the bill will not impact the ability of the district attorney’s offices to conduct their own investigations.

Establishing review boards is a simple way to ensure transparency of the investigation, Bies said.

Taylor said she hopes the bill will receive support from law enforcement and restore public confidence in police departments.

“It is important that law enforcement buy into this [bill],” Taylor said.

Madison Police Department spokesperson Joel DeSpain said the bill would be something outgoing Police Chief Noble Wray would likely support.

However, until the bill is formally introduced, an official endorsement cannot be made, he said.

“We are always looking to be transparent and have the trust of the community,” DeSpain said.

Lt. Mark Stanmeyer of the Milwaukee Police Department said the department plans to work with officers throughout the state and the Legislature on the bill.

So far, Bies said he has received bipartisan support and no negative comments from constituents about the legislation, and he said the bill would allow a more involved and public investigation of future incidents.

“I think this will raise the comfort levels for everybody,” he said. “This procedure is set up to give [the police] more credibility.”