DA: Show respect for Law Enforcement
Officers’ effective handling of a manhunt last week shows law enforcement is getting a bad rap, Sauk County District Attorney Kevin Calkins said Monday.
Speaking at a Respect for Law Day ceremony at the Sauk County Courthouse, Calkins decried the national critique of law enforcement that followed high-profile, officer-involved shootings.
“Law enforcement has become the subject of hateful rhetoric,” he said. “Trust has unfortunately been replaced by mistrust.”
Agencies’ cooperative effort to apprehend a suspect in a fatal shooting last week demonstrates the critical role effective police work can have, Calkins said. Several agencies, including the Sauk County Sheriff’s Department, tracked down Zachary T. Hays of West Allis after he allegedly committed a drive-by shooting May 1 on Interstate 90/94. Tracy Czaczkowski died from injuries suffered in the shooting, and Hays faces a murder charge in Sauk County. Hays was charged Monday in the slaying of a neighbor in West Allis earlier that day.
After a chase on the interstate, Columbia County deputies shot and wounded Hays when they say he moved toward them while carrying a pistol. He is now in custody.
“This was law enforcement taking care of all of us, making us safe,” Calkins said.
He asked the dozens of people attending to make sure respect for law enforcement “isn’t merely reserved to one day, or even one week, in May.”
Police, fire and ambulance agencies gather annually to mourn officers who died the previous year. Several family members of the eight individuals to be added to the county’s law enforcement memorial attended.
Sauk County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Jeff Spencer said 128 officers were killed in the U.S. last year. Five have been killed on duty in the county’s history.
“We’d like you to think of those officers and the sacrifices they made,” Spencer said.