[HISTORY: Adopted by the Village Board of the Village of
Rothschild 11-13-1967 as Ch. IV of the 1967 Code; amended in its entirety 2-13-2017. Subsequent amendments noted
where applicable.]
See Charter Ordinance No. 1.[1] The Police Department of the Village of Rothschild shall
consist of such numbers of personnel as the Village Board may from
time to time determine.
A.Â
Appointment. The Chief of Police shall be appointed by the Police
Commission.
B.Â
Duties. The Chief of Police shall have command of the police force
of the Village under the direction of the President. It shall be his
duty to obey all lawful written orders of the President and Village
Board. He shall perform all duties prescribed to him by the laws of
the State of Wisconsin and the ordinances of the Village of Rothschild.
C.Â
To keep peace. It shall be the duty of the Chief of Police to cause
the public peace to be preserved and to see that all the laws and
ordinances of the Village are enforced, and whenever any violation
thereof shall come to his knowledge, he shall cause the requisite
complaint to be made before the requisite court and see that the evidence
is procured for the successful prosecution of the offender or offenders.
He shall cause to be made and kept such a record of his proceedings
as he may deem necessary or as shall be directed by the President
or the Village Board. He shall be responsible for the efficiency and
general good conduct of the Department and shall report in writing
to the Police Commission all complaints made to him against any member
of the police force.
D.Â
Shall keep record. The Chief of Police shall keep a record in his
office of all arrests made by all of the members of the police force,
the dates thereof, the name of the person arrested, the name of each
arresting officer, the action taken under the arrest and the result.
He shall make a report of such record quarterly to the Village Board
at the first regular meeting after the expiration of each quarter
and more often when requested by the President or Village Board. He
shall also give such other information as the Board may from time
to time require.
E.Â
Shall appoint subordinates. The Chief of Police shall appoint subordinates
subject to the approval of the Police Commission. Such appointment
shall be made by promotion when this can be done with advantage, otherwise
from an eligible list provided by examination and approval by the
Police Commission and kept on file with the Village Clerk. Such list
shall be determined as provided in § 62.13(4), Wis. Stats.
F.Â
Rules and regulations for police force. The Chief of Police and all
members of the Police Department shall be governed by and shall carry
out all rules and regulations prescribed by this chapter and such
other rules and regulations as are adopted by the Village Board.
G.Â
Chief may make additional rules. The Chief of Police may make such
further rules and regulations for the governance of the police force
as he may deem necessary, provided that such rules and regulations
shall not be inconsistent with this chapter and the laws of the State
of Wisconsin and shall, before they take effect, be approved by the
President and Village Board.
H.Â
To preserve information. The Chief of Police shall enter in a record,
to be kept at his office, all information he may receive of offenses
committed or of suspicious persons or places, and the entries of offenses
committed shall state the hour, place and manner in which the offense
was committed, the property stolen, enumerating the articles, the
name and residence of the owner (if known), and the name of the police
officer on duty at the time the offense was committed.
I.Â
Sales of unclaimed articles. The Chief of Police shall ensure the
Property Control Function of the Rothschild Police Department adheres
to all applicable state statutes, including Ch. 170, Strays and Lost
Chattels, § 66.0139, Disposal of abandoned property, § 165.81,
Disposal of evidence, and § 961.55, Forfeitures.
J.Â
Bail. The Chief of Police, whenever in his opinion the circumstances
may require, may receive of any person who may have been accused of
violating any ordinance and has been arrested therefor a sum of money
equal to the maximum amount of the forfeiture which may be imposed
in such case and release such person from arrest until the opening
of the Municipal Court on the next succeeding day when the Court may
be in session, or until a time for the hearing of the case, provided
that:
(1)Â
List. The Municipal Court Clerk may prepare in writing and file with
the Village Clerk, the Municipal Court records and the Chief of Police
a list directing the amount of bail (not more than the maximum forfeiture
provided) to be required by the Chief of Police in case of an alleged
violation of any particular ordinance or ordinances, in which case
the amount of the bail required by the Chief of Police in such cases
shall not be less than the amount shown on said list but may be less
than the maximum forfeiture provided.
(2)Â
Forfeiture of bail. When any person so arrested and released shall
fail to appear personally, or by his attorney, at the time fixed for
the hearing of the case, then the money deposited with the Chief of
Police shall be retained and used for the payment and liquidation
of the forfeiture which may be imposed after the ex parte hearing
upon such person, together with the costs, and the surplus, if any,
shall be refunded to the person who made such deposit. In case such
person shall be acquitted, then the whole amount shall be refunded
upon application.
(3)Â
Village not liable. The provisions of the foregoing subsections in
this section shall not be construed so as to make the Village in any
case liable for the whole or any part of the money deposited with
the Chief of Police.
(4)Â
Chief and police officers not to furnish bail. The Chief of Police
and the police officers shall be incompetent bail for any person arrested
and shall in no case become bail for any person.
A.Â
Entry of establishment. The Chief of Police and any police officers
are hereby authorized and empowered in a peaceable manner, or if refused
admittance after demand made, with force and arms to enter into any
house, store, grocery or other place or building whatsoever, in the
Village, in which any person or persons may reasonably be suspected
to be for unlawful purposes, and if any person or persons shall be
found therein guilty of any crime or misdemeanor or violation of any
law or ordinance for the preservation of the peace and good order
of the Village, or who may reasonably be suspected thereof, or shall
be aiding or abetting such person or persons so found, said police
officer shall apprehend and keep in custody such person or persons
as in case of other arrests made by police officers, until they are
discharged by due course of law.
B.Â
Power of arrest. The Chief of Police and any police officer shall
have full power and authority and it shall be their duty to arrest
all persons in the Village found in the act of violating any law or
ordinance in the Village, or aiding or abetting in such violation,
and shall arrest all persons found under suspicious circumstances,
and shall take all such persons in charge and confine them and, within
a reasonable time, bring such persons before the requisite court,
to be dealt with according to law.
C.Â
Prisoners taken to court. All persons who may be arrested for the
violation of any Village ordinances during the time the Municipal
Court shall be open shall be taken immediately to such Court, and
all persons who shall be arrested at any other time for any such violation
shall be conveyed to the county jail, unless otherwise ordered by
the President or Chief of Police.
D.Â
Civilians to assist. It shall be the duty of all persons in the Village, when called upon by any police officer to promptly aid and assist him in the execution of his duties. Whoever shall neglect or refuse to give such aid or assistance shall be subject to the penalty and enforcement provisions of § 1-2 of this Code.
E.Â
To obey orders of Chief.
(1)Â
The members of the police force shall obey the orders of the Chief
of Police and shall report to the Chief of Police all violations of
the Village ordinances and all suspicious persons, bawdy houses, pawnbrokers'
shops, gambling houses, and all places where idlers, tipplers, gamblers
and other disorderly and suspicious persons congregate.
(2)Â
No member of the police force shall neglect or refuse to enforce
the ordinances of the Village or perform any duty which may be required,
nor shall any such member in the discharge of his duties as such officer
be guilty of any fraud, extortion, oppression, favoritism, partiality,
or willful wrong or injustice.
F.Â
Duty to arrest. Each police officer shall report the existence of
all disorderly houses. He shall arrest all and every person who shall
be seen by him violating any ordinance of the Village, or who shall
be found in the street drunk, noisy or using boisterous and threatening
language, tending to produce a breach of the peace, and any persons
who shall be guilty of indecent conduct or any indecent exposure of
the person, and any person who shall be found committing a misdemeanor,
felony or violation of a Village ordinance, and otherwise as permitted
and required by law.
G.Â
To report defects in sidewalks and streets. The police officers,
in their respective beats, shall immediately report all defective
and dangerous streets, walks and places which shall come to their
notice in the performance of their duties. They shall particularly
examine such streets, walks and places and make such report as aforesaid.
They shall make their report to the Chief of Police, and it shall
be his duty to forthwith enter the same in a register kept by him
for that purpose and to transmit at once such information to the Administrator
of Public Works.
H.Â
Badges and insignia.
(1)Â
Badges. All police officers when on duty shall wear the badge or
insignia of their office on the outside of the outermost garment,
over the left breast, conspicuously displaying the same so that the
entire surface thereof may be seen, except when caution may dictate
that the same shall not be exposed.
(2)Â
Uniforms. Every member of the police force, except the Chief of Police,
shall on all occasions while on duty, unless otherwise directed by
the Chief of Police, wear a uniform, to be made of such material and
trimmed in such manner and style as may be prescribed by the Chief
of Police and Village Board.
I.Â
General regulations.
(1)Â
Not to accept gifts, rewards or bribes. No police officer shall accept
or receive from any person while in custody or after such person shall
be discharged, or from any such person's friends, any gratuity,
reward or gifts, directly or indirectly, or any article or thing as
compensation for damages sustained in the discharge of his duty.
(2)Â
Not to communicate information or orders.
(a)Â
Information. No member of the police force shall communicate
to any person any information which shall enable persons to escape
from arrests or punishment or enable them to dispose of or secrete
any goods or other valuable thing stolen or embezzled.
(b)Â
Orders. No member of the police force shall communicate to anyone,
except to such persons as directed by the Chief of Police, any information
respecting any orders he may have received or any regulations that
may be made for the government of the Department.
(3)Â
Withdrawal of complaint. No member of the police force shall compound
any offense committed against person or property, or withdraw any
complaint therefor, unless by the written consent of the Chief of
Police.
J.Â
Rest day and hours of labor. The Chief of Police shall assign to
each police officer in the service of the Village a working day and
a schedule of days of work and day or days of rest.
Whoever in this Village shall resist or in any way interfere with any police officer in the discharge of his duty, or shall hinder or prevent him from discharging his duty, and whoever shall in any manner assist any person in custody of any police officer to escape or to attempt to escape from such custody, or shall rescue or attempt to rescue any person in custody, shall be subject to the penalty and enforcement provisions of § 1-2 of this Code.
A.Â
The President, District Attorney of Marathon County, Village Attorney,
Chief of Police, Municipal Judge, or any member of the Village Board
may inspect at all times any or all of the books and records directed
to be kept by the Chief of Police, but no person not herein named
shall be permitted to examine any such books without permission in
writing from the Chief of Police, except that police officers may
be allowed to examine the book in which may be entered the statement
of the offenses committed and of suspicious persons and places.
B.Â
This chapter applies to records that may or may not be available separately via a standard public records law request pursuant to Ch. 19, Subch. II, Wis. Stats., and/or other applicable laws. Any requestor not named in Subsection A of this section must instead make a standard public records request and may be subject to fees and/or denial of such requests as deemed appropriate pursuant to Ch. 19, Subch. II, Wis. Stats., and/or other applicable laws.
See Charter Ordinance No. 1.[1]
A.Â
It shall be unlawful for any person to abuse or to refuse or fail
to comply with any law, order, signal or direction of a member of
the school patrol or school guards when in the course of regular duties.
