NEENAH, WI (WTAQ) – The Neenah Police Commission has accepted a formal complaint seeking to remove Police Chief Kevin Wilkinson from his position.
On Friday, the five-member commission received the amended complaint filed by two Florida-based investigative consultants on behalf of several citizens including Michael Funk, Ryan Moderson, Michael Petersen and Eagle Nation Cycles owner Steven Erato.
Commission members did not discuss the merits of the complaint and scheduled to revisit it at their meeting on September 7.
“It’s unfortunate that we have to be here and do this,” says Chief Wilkinson, who spoke with WTAQ after the meeting. “But if this helps bring closure for the citizens of Neenah to a tragic event, then let’s do it.”
The complaint criticizes the handling of the December 5th hostage situation at Eagle Nation Cycles, which included the officer-involved shooting death of Funk, along with lack of proper training and discipline of officers Robert Ross and Craig Hoffer, who opened fire on the 60-year-old hostage.
The investigation was conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Justice and it was determined that the officers were justified in their use of force.
Flatoff is facing 16 charges, including two of attempted first-degree intentional homicide for allegedly firing at officers, on March 13.
“Whatever people want to do, if they want to put a microscope on us or look into the incident more thoroughly, scrutiny is good,” Wilkinson says. “Look, I got nothing to hide here.”
The complaint filed by Ira Robins and Salvatore Rastrelli, working as the “Archangels of Justice”, goes into detail about the alleged “incompetent performance” of Wilkinson.
“Under Wilkinson’s leadership, the Neenah Police Department mishandled the dismissal of Officer Renee Dubinski costing the taxpayers more than $180,000. The taxpayers paid another $100,000 for a lawsuit filed by Neenah property owner Peter J. Long and paid another $50,000 to defend a case alleging abuse of powers by officers including Craig Hoffer one of the two that shot and killed Michael Funk last December 5th,” the complaint states. “Isn’t it about time the Police Commission took charge, relieved Kevin Wilkinson of his duties, and appointed someone who will do a more diligent job in order to regain the trust of the citizens?“
Wilkinson would not comment on the complaint, but when asked about Mayor Dean Kaufert’s two-page statement he put out Thursday regarding his views of the situation, he felt the document spoke for itself.
“Clearly it would address some things that weren’t addressed by the Department of Justice and weren’t addressed by the consultant who did the policy review,” said Wilkinson. “Some of the complaints are off to the side of those things.”
“From the beginning, I said that I would do a review as the Mayor of the community, to look at policies and procedures,” Mayor Kaufert said on Friday. “To make sure that we had proper training that we were providing adequate resources for the department’s officers to be trained. So I went through, and because there’s a lot of feelings on both sides of this issue, I tried to get a real, in-depth review of all the documents with regards to this case.”
Kaufert’s goal was to reassure residents that, in his opinion, the Neenah Police Department is protecting them and officers are looking out for their best interests.
NEXT STEPS
By the time the commission reconvenes on September 7, Kaufert hopes to have a definitive direction with the help of outside legal counsel.
“They are going to hire some outside counsel, who’s going to be somewhat of the investigator who’s going to look further into the complaint to see if it actually has merit,” Kaufert says. “Then provide information to the Police Commission on how to proceed, to possibly be even like an examiner, maybe be in charge of future proceedings.”
The reason for the need of outside counsel, rather than City Attorney James Godlewski who would normally act as counsel, Kaufert explains is because of his involvement in the pending wrongful death lawsuit brought by Funk’s widow, Theresa Mason-Funk.
Mayor Kaufert explained that the commission will be helped by the outside counsel in applying the “Seven Tests for Just Cause” to the complaint.
Wilkinson says he expects to learn about whether or not he will be interviewed as this process plays out.
“Certainly, at some point, my testimony is going to be important,” says Wilkinson. “I don’t know at this point if it’s going to be in the form of an investigation that occurs, or if it’ll just be in the form of a hearing.”
The sooner that outside legal counsel can be hired, Kaufert expressed, the better for the city.
“The hope is they get that person on board and that person, and they (commission) gave him permission to start immediately,” says Kaufert. “The president has the ability to do that and I think its prudent action on their part.”
STATE OF THE P.D.
Kaufert, when asked about his opinion on the overall job performance of Wilkinson as Neenah’s police chief, refused to answer it directly.
“I have confidence in the department and the officers,” Kaufert responded. “And I’m going to let the Police Commission, whose job it is to look into these types of complaints, per state statute specifically calls for a Police Commission so that you don’t involve the Mayor.”
The Mayor noted that he lauds the Legislature for creating this statute, to avoid an issue like this from becoming what he called a, “political football.”
Within the complaint, it’s repeatedly addressed that both Officers Hoffer and Ross were awarded medals. Kaufert believes that Wilkinson shares regret with those honors.
“Many people I talked to, they understand the tragic outcome and the events that led up to that. They have some questions with some of the decision making that was made after the shooting, one of them being the awarding of medals,” says Kaufert. “I would’ve preferred not to award any medals, accommodations or anything like that this past May. I had expressed that to the chief beforehand as a suggestion. In retrospect, that was a decision not very well thought out.”
Wilkinson, in a statement released days after Eagle Nation Cycles incident, said, “It is not uncommon for groups to attempt to manipulate news media to propagate a biased and sometimes false representation of an incident. Due to misleading statements being made about the Neenah case, the Department of Justice has released limited information to counter those claims.“
In the weeks and months that followed, the public microscope zeroing in on the Neenah Police Department has led to other concerns being raised about the operations led by the 55-year-old Wilkinson.
Wilkinson, when asked if he felt that he was being treated fairly by the media, paused for nearly 15 seconds before passing on the question.
