Brown Deer Police Inaction Is Inexcusable. Resignations, Not Excuses, Are In Order

We now know that the Brown Deer Police responded to incidents at the home of Radcliffe and Zina Haughton 20 times since the couple moved there.

Although at least seven of the responses were domestic violence calls, the Brown Deer police never made an arrest.

It is especially inconceivable that the Brown Deer police believed they saw Radcliffe Haughton with a gun, closed down the street, set up a perimeter, announced to Haughton that he was under arrest – and then decided to just go away without doing anything.

This was not a situation in which the police made one call to the house and there were a lot of questions about what was going on – only total ineptness can be the reason for so many calls and so little action.

In my opinion, the mishandling of the situation with Radcliffe Haughton put Zina Haughton in danger – as well as other citizens, and any other police officers that might have had an interaction with him. He surely was taught by the Brown Deer police, that he could get away with just about anything – no reason to fear lawful authority, was there?

I think it is obvious that this was a total systemic failure by Brown Deer police and officials that led to the deaths of three innocent women, and the wounding of others.

I believe that if they have any shred of integrity left, Police Chief Steven Rinzel, Police Lieutenant Jonathan Schmitz (who ordered the retreat), Village President Carl Krueger (who doesn't seem to have a clue about domestic violence) and Police Commission President Jim Jiracek (whose commission never evaluated the police chief) – should all resign immediately.

It is shameful that those men have not only not taken responsibility for their many failures, but the Brown Deer police recorded a nearly 14-minute audio statement from Brookfield attorney Lisa Martin, and then posted it on the village website.

In full disclosure, Lisa Martin represented me in a case, and in my opinion it appears that she is representing her dead client as well as she represented me.

Lastly, what happens in Brown Deer does not stay in Brown Deer – three murders and others wounded, due to their lack of proper police protocol. Their ineptness affects all of us and thus we should all be concerned.