A veteran of the City of Waukesha Police Department quit after he was arrested for driving drunk and knocking down a light pole with his Jeep. The Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office hired him in March.

By Annie Pulley, THE BADGER PROJECT

Steven Guth, a 21-year veteran of the Waukesha Police Department, resigned in 2023 shortly after he knocked down a light pole with his Jeep and got arrested for a first-offense OWI in western Wisconsin. After a year away from law enforcement, Guth now works as a patrol deputy for the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office.

Guth “clearly possessed the knowledge that operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated was wrong and obviously presented a danger to himself and the public,” Waukesha Police Department Lt. Scott Christensen wrote in an internal investigation obtained by The Badger Project via a records request. “These are laws that he himself as a patrol officer has enforced on many occasions.”

The internal investigation recommended Guth be terminated, and he later opted to resign in 2023, officially separating from the department in January 2024. 

Guth spent his last nine years at the department as a detective in the sensitive crimes unit investigating sexual assaults against minors, said James Gumm, an inspector for the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office. Guth also worked as a school resource officer.

“Steve Guth did a lot of really good things in his career, and very little of them were written up” in news outlets, Gumm said.

The sheriff’s office was aware of Guth’s history and evaluates applicants on a case-by-case basis, Gumm said. The department’s background check includes a polygraph test and psychological examination. Guth, who was hired by the sheriff’s office in March, earnestly sought treatment for substance abuse, Gumm said. Guth now earns about $44 an hour, about the same as his wage with the city.

“There are people that make bad decisions and then continue to make bad decisions,” Gumm said. “But there are also people that make (bad) decisions and learn from them and can go on to continue to be productive members of the profession.”

The Lake Hallie Police Department in Chippewa County arrested and cited Guth for a first-offense OWI, a hit-and-run and a prohibited alcohol concentration on Oct. 1, 2023. Guth called his superior officer the next day. 

“He asked if I had heard anything yet,” a lieutenant for the city wrote in his report. “I didn’t know what that meant. Detective Guth then told me he got arrested last night.” 

Guth said he drank for about 12 hours that day while he was traveling for his niece’s softball tournament in Eau Claire. After returning to his hotel in the evening, he continued drinking and then eventually left to get nicotine pouches at a local Kwik Trip. 

While driving, Guth said he got lost after “incorrectly navigating a roundabout” with his Jeep, the investigation reported. He then made a U-turn at an intersection and struck a light pole, which fell into the roadway with wires exposed.

The crash report notes “the vehicle Guth was operating was making a U-turn at an intersection, struck a traffic pole, and fled the scene,” the investigation states. Shortly afterward, a Lake Hallie officer pulled him over after seeing the sparks created by one of his vehicle’s rims scraping the road. 

“The video clearly depicts the Jeep emitting a shower of sparks into the air as it is traveling down the highway,” the investigation writes.  

Guth took 45 seconds to pull over, according to the report, then stumbled out of his Jeep for the arresting officer. His preliminary breath test returned a blood alcohol content level of 0.222, almost three times the legal limit. Guth was handcuffed and taken to the county jail for a mandatory 12-hour hold. 

Guth said he had at least 12 drinks over a 12-hour period, which a Waukesha Police lieutenant questioned based on how long it takes someone of Guth’s weight to process alcohol.

“It’s not reasonable to believe that his 12 drinks in 12 hours would cause him to reach this BAC level,” he wrote. “Thus, if he was at a .21 at the time of his arrest (11:27 p.m.), he consumed a considerable amount more alcohol than he stated in his interview.”

Guth would later tell investigators he planned to report the incident but wanted to do so from the hotel. The investigation states that it seemed Guth was trying to avoid arrest. 

In his investigatory interview, Guth said he had already started a treatment plan and was willing to do whatever he needed to prove his worth as an employee. 

The investigation noted Guth drove drunk for 4.5 miles, putting the public at risk and his department into disrepute.

He eventually pleaded no contest to the first-offense OWI and the prosecutor dropped the hit-and-run citation, according to online court records. Guth’s citation for operating with a prohibited alcohol concentration was dismissed but read into the court’s record.

The Badger Project offered Guth a chance to comment for the story. He chose “to not provide any additional statements beyond what the department has stated on his behalf,” Gumm wrote in an email.

Negative separations in Wisconsin law enforcement

The City of Waukesha Police Department flagged Guth as a negative separation with the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s employment database.

The Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office employs one of the largest pools of officers with negative separations in the state compared to other law enforcement agencies. The department currently employs about 175 sworn officers and 154 corrections officers. Gumm estimated there are about four openings on the sworn side and six on the corrections side.

Some of these officers flagged in the state database were novices who weren’t able to pass their probationary employment period at an earlier law enforcement agency, when the bar to fire new cops is low, experts say. But others, like Guth, were veterans fired or forced out of jobs for more serious violations.

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