Vernon County Sheriff Roy Torgerson ran for sheriff in the fall of 2022 by emphasizing his connection to people, and constantly communicating. Throughout Torgerson’s campaign he seemed to be everywhere on social media, and everywhere on the ground. Every day there were several more huge red and white “Torgerson for Sheriff” signs popping up all over the county, and on social media. Always with a picture of the sign, but always with the people who helped put up the sign, or allowed him to put the sign on their property.
Torgerson’s message must have resonated with Vernon County residents because he defeated a number of candidates to win the job, including longtime Vernon County Investigator Scott Bjerkos in the primary, and three more candidates in the general election in November.
Torgerson has attempted to make good on that promise in his first six months on the job, but that has not necessarily been easy with the kinds of issues that landed on his desk in that time. Especially tricky have been some personnel issues that by nature make it difficult to be open and transparent, but those issues have led to some frank discussions between Torgerson and his home committee on the Vernon County Board of Supervisors, the Public Safety Committee.
Since taking office Torgerson has had to place a top officer on leave, dealt with media reports about another officer who had been arrested while employed at a previous department, handle an officer involved shooting and manage a major communications system outage. Discussions that have taken place at the public safety committee since Torgerson took over the reins have centered on increasing that transparency and moving the department forward. At one committee meeting on May 8, long-time committee member Frank Easterday asked Sheriff Torgerson about information being learned through the media.
“How come I am hearing about some of these things in the news and I didn’t know anything about it?” said Easterday. “I am on the committee and I had no idea some of these things were going on.”
Sheriff Torgerson responded to Easterday by saying he was completely committed to making sure that was not the case moving forward and making sure his department was “as transparent as possible”, especially regarding personnel issues.
What Easterday was referring to were internal department matters that had not been public until recently. Shortly after being elected Torgerson was faced with a decision about disciplining his next in command, Chief Deputy Nate Campbell. Just a couple weeks into his new position Torgerson handed out a paid leave for Campbell for violating department policies regarding intimidation and harassment. Campbell served that paid leave between January 20 and March 27. When Campbell did return to duty on March 27 he was placed on patrol duty for four months. You can read about that disciplinary action in our previous story here.
In short, Campbell was disciplined for an interaction with a subordinate employee that ended with that employee resigning and transferring to another county department. The disciplinary letter states the interaction between Campbell and the employee was about the employee’s support for a particular candidate for Sheriff. The letter also alleges Campbell confronted the employee about their cooperation with an previous investigation into his conduct in early 2022.
Previous investigation into chief deputy conduct
The previous investigation that Campbell was referring to in the interaction with that employee happened in 2022 under former Sheriff John Spears . That investigation began after at least four employees made anonymous complaints to the Vernon County Human Resources Office in late 2021 about Campbell’s conduct, both on and off the job. Then County Administrator Cari Redington and Human Resources Director Serena Inman (both of whom have since left the county) asked an outside law firm from La Crosse (Hale, Skemp, Hanson, Skemp and Sleik) to look into the complaints.
Allegations investigated by that outside firm included misuse of county vehicles and resources, operating county vehicles after consuming alcohol, inaccurate recording of work hours or excessive time off, and inappropriate contact with another employee’s wife.
In the end the investigators recommended no discipline for Campbell since they did not find sufficient evidence that his actions violated county policies, but investigators did acknowledge a negative office climate and recommend the county look at tightening some county policies.
With nearly every accusation against Campbell, investigators pointed out that when employees were asked about direct knowledge of specific incidents, they would often refer to things they had “heard” but did not have direct knowledge of. Investigators did find some inaccuracies in records for hours worked, but Campbell was adamant that he had always worked at least the minimum hours required and often more. Former Sheriff Spears told investigators he was in constant contact with Campbell and said he never saw an issue with hours worked and Campbell always performed up to expectations. Investigators also noted the complaints about hours away from the office were from a time when COVID work from home policies were in place, but did note that lack of time in the office did appear to have an impact on morale.
According to the report, when questioned, Campbell also addressed accusations of driving county vehicles after consuming alcohol and said he does sometime go to local taverns, but mostly to eat, and never drives his county vehicle after consuming alcohol. Campbell also stated he did sometimes use his county vehicle for personal errands but always paid for gas in keeping with department policy. The county does not require employees to keep logs of miles driven and investigators recommended the county consider a change in that policy. Campbell denied all allegations about inappropriate actions outside of work hours and investigators found no evidence to substantiate those claims.
While investigators did find some of Campbell’s actions may have some impact on morale and office culture, they found his actions did not violate county policies to the extent that disciplinary action was necessary. When investigators told Campbell that some long-time employees had said the office environment was the “worst it had ever been” Campbell said he was surprised and both he and Spears said they were committed to “fostering improved communication and teamwork”. The report recommended an increased dialogue between the department and the county board to improve morale and transparency.
Chief deputy pay reduced – job description re-evaluated
What was not clear about the disciplinary action that was handed out in January was, what happens when Campbell’s four month reassignment ends. The Vernon County public safety committee meeting on Monday, July 10 may have provide some clues as to where the issue goes from here. The committee discussed the chief deputy position in a closed session and made a motion after coming back to open session to “re-evaluate” the position and come up with a new job description by July 20.
The committee also voted to adjust the salary for the chief deputy position. Supervisor Mary Henry (District 12) said she had researched the chief deputy position and discovered that when the county made the change from under-sheriff to chief deputy in 2005, the resolution creating the position (Res. 2005-40) states that the chief deputy pay will be set at 10 percent below that of the sheriff position. That issue was raised again in 2010 by the county board and it was reaffirmed in another resolution at that time. Henry said that because the position was placed in the county pay step system that includes automatic raises, the chief deputy position is now higher than the sheriff, contrary to the original resolution. The salary for the chief deputy position is currently $92, 469. The sheriff’s salary is currently at $87,753. The committee voted to adjust the pay for the chief deputy back to the level set in that original resolution when the position was created, setting it at 90 percent of the sheriff position, which comes to $78,978. The committee approved a motion to reduce the salary by a unanimous voice vote.
Committee discusses investigative report
Sheriff Torgerson had another issue to handle regarding another employee since he won his election. An officer within the department was the subject of an investigative journalism piece by The Badger Project, a non-profit investigative news outlet that uncovered information about officer Mark Bellacero that showed he had been arrested twice while working for the West Salem police department. Ballacero was arrested twice, in 2012 and 2013, for domestic disorderly conduct for threatening his then-wife. Ballacero was never charged with a criminal offense for either incident but was given a forfeiture for unlawful use of a telephone.
According to The Badger Project reporting:
At the time of both arrests, Bellacero was employed as a police officer for the West Salem Police Department. He worked for that department from 2002 until May 2013 when he “resigned to pursue other opportunities,” according to Teresa DeLong, an administrator of the Village of West Salem. His official resignation came just after his second arrest in March 2013. Law enforcement agencies can “flag” an officer with the Wisconsin Department of Justice, noting that the officer was fired, or that they resigned pending an investigation or in lieu of firing. But West Salem Police did not flag Bellacero in the system, according to the list of flagged officers The Badger Project obtained from the Wisconsin DOJ. In April 2013, a few weeks after the second arrest, the Vernon County Sheriff’s Office hired him as a deputy, according to the Wisconsin DOJ.
Sheriff Torgerson told the Badger Project when asked about the hire that he was not a part of the hiring process under Sheriff Spears and assured them that all new hires under his watch will be fully vetted. Sheriff Torgerson also told us when asked about the Bellacero hire that “If we didn’t know (about Bellacero’s history) we should have known.”
The public safety committee discussed the Badger Project article at their meeting on July 10. The article was listed on the agenda as a specific topic of discussion. The committee entered closed session to talk about the issues raised in the article, but took no action when they returned to open session.
Increased public communications
Torgerson has emphasized with his committee his commitment to engaging the public with more communications, especially an increased social media presence. Torgerson used social media effectively while campaigning for the office and has continued that with the department telling his committee it takes constant updates and not just once a day. Torgerson said that contact has also been an effective tool in asking for the public’s help with tips and leads to help solve cases. The most recent example being a robber case in the Hillsboro area where public communications helped investigators generate over a thousand leads and ultimately helped apprehend three suspects and recover stolen property. Torgerson also held a press conference in Hillsboro to report on the progress of that investigation and to continue to encourage the public to keep providing tips in the case. You can read our story about the robbery investigation and watch a video of the full press conference here.
Officer involved shooting discussion – officer support
In addition to those personnel issues the Sheriff’s Department has also been grappling with the aftermath of an officer involved shooting that resulted in a resident being fatally shot. On June 16 Deputy Jonathan Brown shot and killed 61-year-old William Boardman as Boardman tried to speed away from a traffic stop with Brown hanging on the vehicle’s running boards. Deputies were called out to a residence in Genoa for a welfare check and stopped Boardman’s vehicle when he left the residence. The Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) is investigating the incident and is expected to release its findings any day. You can read our previous story on the incident here.
Sheriff Torgerson updated the Pubic Safety Committee at their July 10 meeting on how his department is dealing with the aftermath of that shooting. Torgerson has expressed his support to the committee for the departments “Peer Support Team” numerous times since his election. Torgerson said following the shooting that team has been very active, and especially with the officers involved in that incident.
“In fact I had to kind of slow them down and say let’s give these officers a little bit of breathing room,” Torgerson said. “Give them a little bit of time with their family and do this gradually.”
Torgerson said the county’s employee assistance service that is provided through the Human Services Office was inadequate for the situation.
“The county’s employee assistance program failed us,” Torgerson said. “I fired them and I hooked him (Deputy Brown) up with a counselor that specializes in law enforcement. From the little I heard with the first phone call he had to keep repeating himself from one person to the next person and the next person. They had no avenue to meet in person and I put my foot down and said that first meeting has to be in person, not on zoom. So, I fired them.
“The county’s employee assistance program failed us,” Torgerson said. “I fired them and I hooked him (Deputy Brown) up with a counselor that specializes in law enforcement. From the little I heard with the first phone call he had to keep repeating himself from one person to the next person and the next person. They had no avenue to meet in person and I put my foot down and said that first meeting has to be in person, not on zoom. So, I fired them.”
Torgerson said the employee assistance program is probably fine for most other situations but not for something as specific or as traumatic as a shooting. Torgerson added that everyone from the department participated in a debriefing on the incident that was facilitated by volunteers from Gundersen.
Communication outage – software provider contract
The Vernon County Sheriffs Office has been working toward upgrading the communication systems software. They contracted with a company called Central Square , and after about a year long process the system upgrade was completed in December of 2022. What the upgrade did not include was a backup server and in March the main server that operates the system failed, and the dispatch office was without a computerized system for eight to nine days. From March 2 to March 10.
At the April 13 Public Safety meeting Sheriff Torgerson praised his dispatch staff and Vernon County Information Technology Director Conner Simon, and his staff, for working numerous hours and days to get the system back online.
“That public never even knew there was a problem thanks to our staff,” Torgerson said.
Torgerson said the dispatch staff was able to use a training module to enter some information but then had to go back and manually re-enter all their call information from those nine days manually into into the main system once it was back up and running.
The agenda item at the meeting on the issue was to purchase a backup server to prevent the same problem from happening again. Estimated cost for the backup server and associated services was just under $10,000.
A representative from CentralSquare was in attendance at the meeting via zoom and committee members questioned why the original contract to replace the system had not included a backup server. The representative told the committee he was not part of the original sale so he couldn’t answer that question. The representative said perhaps it was not included because of budget or the sales quotes just left it out.
“I disagree with you and your response to this emergency,” said County Board Supervisor Mary Henry.
Henry said she was on the committee when the original quotes came in for the system.
“What if we would have a call in and somebodies life was threatened at that time?” asked Henry. “I am really disappointed in your response to what happened and now the extra cost that we will have to fix, in my opinion, your mistake.”
Simon said he and his staff spent a total of over 50 hours working with CentralSquare to review contracts for the original project and integrate the system with the county. Simon said he was never shown an option for a backup and was always led to believe the system had built in resiliency.
“We were led to believe resiliency was part of the infrastructure natively,” said Simon. “They swore up and down that this was rock a solid solution and resilient and if the production server went down it would fail over to the training servers. I am very dissatisfied from an IT standpoint.”
“Something terrible could have happened,” said Henry. “Okay it didn’t, but it could have, and it put us in a very vulnerable spot as a county.”
Simon said he wasn’t sure how a company can sell a system with built in resiliency, and at the very least a customer should have sign a waiver if they choose not to include a backup system. Henry suggested the company pick up the cost for the server.
The committee talked about various funding sources available including ARPA funds or HoChunk funds the county receives every year to help pay for the backup server. In addition to the need for the backup server the county would be required to pay a yearly subscription of around $6,700.
“This is a major problem,” said Henry. “We have to have it but this is being blindsided in an emergency situation and now adding on a subscription to what we thought we already had. That is a ridiculous amount of money for something we were never presented with.”
“I think CentralSquare needs to sharpen their pencil.” Torgerson said.
“I am genuinely sorry about your sales experience,” said the company representative. “Like I said, I was not the original sales rep on this deal so I can’t speculate as to why it wasn’t included on the initial purchase. There is nothing I can do about it.”
The representative said he had taken the issue to his management and they responded they could not discount this item because of the discount they had given on the original contract for the original project.
Sheriff Torgerson said he felt CentralSquare was “too big for their britches” and “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.”
“If it had not been for my staff and Conner’s IT staff I am not sure if we would have gotten this project up and running,” Torgerson said. “But we were willing to work through that and then we end up with the brand new server crashing. Just unacceptable.”
Torgerson said the main server was replaced by the company under their warranty.
Simon questioned the subscription cost of over $6,700 a year to provide backup services.
“I hate to be frank but I buy servers on a monthly basis and servers are about $6,000 entirely,” said Simon. “So to pay $6,000 a year, I’m just not connecting the dots there.”
Henry asked Simon for options other than the CentralSquare option and Simon said the county was so far into the system with the original purchase that backing out the system now would more costly and labor intensive and likely would not worth switching paths.
Captain Mike Davig asked if the county could just purchase their own server and maintain it in house. Simon said the issue comes down to access to the data and money.
“CentralSquare really holds the reins on a lot of what they provide to us,” said Simon. “Which is unfortunate, and it all boils down to greed. Because the data which this production server is hosted on is under lock and key by CentralSqaure, therefore we can’t even make a carbon copy of this data to another server. I doubt CentralSquare would allow us to have our own server and maintain that data.”
The CentralSquare representative said he would check with his management if that is an option. The sheriff’s department has moved forward with purchase of that backup server since that April meeting and has allocated funds from other accounts to make that purchase.
In a later conversation Torgerson said overall the communication upgrades have vastly improved service capabilities in the county. The new system is used by nearly all the police departments in the county including the city of Viroqua police who received approval form the city council to switch to the same system. Torgerson said the system allows departments to see records between departments in real time. That increased real time communication greatly improves communication between officers and between departments.
Sheriff’s office assists with securing funds and implementing domestic abuse programs
Sheriff Torgerson and his department have also been a par both securing funds for and implementing several domestic abuse programs in conjunction with several other organizations and county departments. Amy Oliver the county grants officer and help spearhead the effort to secure $200,000 Rural Violent Crime Reduction Initiative.
The RVCRI grant will be used to support the newly launched HEART program at the Family and Children’s Center (FCC). The HEART (Help End Abuse Response Team) program trains local volunteers to assist law enforcement at the scene and support the victim when there is domestic violence. This program is managed by Janice Turben, Coordinator, Vernon County Domestic Abuse Project, FCC.
The Grant will also fund training for local clinicians at Stonehouse Counseling and Hansen Assessment and Educational Services so that they can begin conducting domestic violence assessments and run groups for batterers. In addition, we will be able to have a fully trained coordinated community response team which will include our local Vernon County Sheriff, Judge, Victim Witness Coordinator, District Attorney, FCC, social workers, and Passages.
You can read more about that program in our previous story here.
Purchase of full body scan for jail to reduce contraband discussed
The issue of better ways to limit contraband, and in particular drugs, finding their way into the county jail has led to a discussion of purchasing a full body scan machine. County Board Supervisor and Committee Member Mary Henry brought the idea to the Public Safety Committee. Henry said she was recently at a sheriff’s convention and the issue came up. She said there had been an incident where inmates had gotten sick or died from smuggling drugs like Fentanyl in body cavities in other counties.
Captain Michael Davig is researching the machines and how they are used at other facilities. He presented information about the machines and their cost to the Public Safety Committee in May.
Davig said the machines are considered safe and are similar to what is used in airports. Davig said someone being scanned would receive about one percent of what a typical x-ray at a medical facility delivers. Federal standards say someone could scanned up to a 1,000 times a year with the machine and not exceed federal limits on exposure. At the highest level someone could be scanned up to 120 times a year.
The Sheriff’s office would need to develop policies about how the machines would be used. Davig said jail staff are currently limited to how thoroughly they can search someone and these machines would be effective in catching drugs that can get into a facility. Davig said many counties are using ARPA funds to install the machines. Vernon County currently has about $4.5 million in ARPA remaining out of the approximately $6 million they were originally allocated from the federal government through ARPA.
Price for the machine is around $150,000.
Committee chair Will Beitlich expressed his support for the purchase and encouraged the department to seek funding for the project through the county budget process.
“I know this is a lot of money but I really think you need this,” said Beitlich. “And it seems like it is good use of ARPA funds.”
Requests for ARPA funds and HoChunk money ($1.2 million the county receives every year as the result of state gaming compact) will be evaluated through the county budget process through late summer moving into the fall.
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