A deputy resigned from the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office before it concluded an investigation into her conduct. The county denied a request for those records, citing concerns over department morale.

By Annie Pulley, THE BADGER PROJECT

The Badger Project is suing St. Croix County after it refused to release documents detailing an investigation into one of its sheriff’s deputies.

In 2021, Deputy Amanda Alberts resigned from the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office before an internal investigation into her conduct concluded, according to a Wisconsin Department of Justice database that tracks negative separations of law enforcement officers. The sheriff’s office flagged Alberts in the database.

The Wrightstown Police Department hired Alberts in 2022, where she remains employed. She also works for the Roberts Police Department.

The Badger Project routinely reports on wandering officers, or police and jailers forced out of one law enforcement job who are rehired at another. Previous reporting suggests that the number of wandering officers in Wisconsin rose by 50% from 2021 to 2024. Studies suggest that wandering officers are more prone to misconduct and discipline at their new jobs.

In a partial denial of The Badger Project’s May request, the human resources director, Audri Haycraft, wrote that “Such investigatory records are of small public benefit or interest and would likely have a substantial adverse effect on Ms. Alberts’ reputation.”

Alberts’ separation agreement, which the human resources department did release to The Badger Project in June, notes the county gave her about $40,000 for paid time off and agreements to give her a positive job reference and not contest her eligibility for unemployment.

Haycraft wrote that Alberts’ was never disciplined as a result of the investigation and that releasing the records could create a chilling effect and result in a loss of morale for the sheriff’s office, making it more difficult to attract quality candidates.

That does not follow state law, The Badger Project’s attorney Tom Kamenick argues. 

Wisconsin’s open records law dictates that “all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those officers and employees who represent them.”

Law enforcement should be held to a higher standard, Kamenick argued in The Badger Project’s lawsuit against the county.

Kamenick is the founder and president of the Wisconsin Transparency Project and has represented The Badger Project in multiple open records lawsuits.

“A quote from a 2006 case about a DNR warden’s misconduct records says it all,” Kamenick wrote in an email to The Badger Project. ‘The public interest in being informed both of the potential misconduct by law enforcement officers and of the extent to which such misconduct was properly investigated is particularly compelling.’”

The Badger Project has successfully sued the La Crosse and Wausau police departments for similar records and is actively suing the state’s Department of Justice for a comprehensive list of police officers across Wisconsin. Per state law, government agencies must repay the record requester’s legal fees if they are found to have improperly withheld documents.

Kamenick said he expects a court hearing in St. Croix County sometime this month in The Badger Project’s lawsuit.

The Badger Project is a nonpartisan, citizen-supported journalism nonprofit in Wisconsin.