Crime & Safety

Waukesha Police Lieutenant Resigned Over Allegations of Drug Use, Mismanagement, and Insubordination

Waukesha Patch filed open records request to obtain copy of internal investigation against Lt. Craig Rivers.

A late-night shift supervisor at the Waukesha Police Department who resigned from his position in late February was facing termination for several misconduct incidents, including marijuana use while off duty, overspending $14,678.40 in unbudgeted overtime on a traffic grant and being insubordinate to his supervisors, according to the results of an internal investigation, which was obtained through an open records request by Waukesha Patch.

During the internal investigation, another officer, Scott Heitman, resigned after he was facing termination for marijuana usage while off duty.

"I think we need to show the community that we have a very high standard at the and that we will investigate, discipline and terminate if necessary those employees who do not meet our high standards," said Waukesha Police Chief Russell Jack in an interview with Waukesha Patch. "I am obviously thoroughly disappointed with both of these former officers. Their poor choices tarnished the badge that we are all proud to wear. It is our professionalism that sets us apart and sets the high standards of the Waukesha Police Department.

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"The type of behavior that both of the former officers engaged in will not be tolerated at the Waukesha Police Department. That should gain confidence in the community in the administration of the Waukesha Police Department. In particular violations of untruthfulness and illegal drug use will not be tolerated."

A nearly 400-page investigation documents the accusations against Lt. Craig Rivers, who was placed on paid administrative leave Aug. 23 after confronting another officer about a personal family matter in the police department garage. Other officers had to pull Rivers away from the officer and officer told investigators he felt threatened by Rivers, who previously was related to the officer through marriage.

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That officer had previously been verbally attacked years earlier while working a shift as the department desk officer. In that incident, a police clerk was debating calling for emergency back up due to Rivers’ shouting at the officer, the investigation report states.

The officer “felt physically threatened by Lt. Rivers as he was armed in both instances,” the investigation report documents state.

"The trigger to this investigation was the incident with (the officer) in August of last year," Jack said. "During the investigation into the lack of civility and orderly conduct with (the officer), additional allegations of misconduct came to light that also needed to be investigated. Although Mr. Rivers record of service has generally been positive up until recently, his role as a leader, a lieutenant at this department, requires the highest standards of conduct and behavior. Never the less, the seriousness of the various acts of misconduct far out weigh any of the positive aspects of his record of service."

Waukesha Patch filed an open records request for the internal investigation on Feb. 28 following a Police and Fire Commission meeting that included Rivers’ resignation.

The Charges

Charges issued by  Jack that were heading to a hearing by the Police and Fire Commission before Rivers resigned included a variety of departmental rules that were broken by Rivers, including insubordination, duty to obey, duty to know and abide by all rules, effectiveness of orders, responsibility of supervisors, neglect of duty, truthfulness, personal conduct, possession and use of drugs, prohibiting illegal behavior and lieutenant of police

The investigation report accused Rivers of many departmental violations, including:

  • Failing to properly staff the dispatch center
  • Failing to properly monitor traffic grants
  • Failing to properly administer the crossing guard contract
  • Inappropriate comments or threats to coworkers
  • Failing to investigate a dispatcher over an allegation of viewing pornographic material (the dispatcher was later terminated following an investigation on rule violations that was conduct by other supervisors)
  • Failing to train subordinates
  • Marijuana use (off duty) and untruthfulness

Rivers, in a prepared statement questioned the credibility of the witnesses that were interviewed in the report, which included former family members and current police officers at the department.

"While I have made mistakes in my personal and professional life, nothing warrants the witch hunt and vendetta the department undertook to bring discredit to me," Rivers said. "I was employed at the Waukesha Police Department for 23 (years) and in that time I have never witnessed nor would I have believed the character assassination that has occurred regarding me would have been possible."

Rivers, in his statement, highlighted his three letters of commendations and a letter of appreciation for his past performance. He said in the statement he was targeted for elimination under the new administration.

"No one witness or one piece of evidence substantiates an investigation," Jack said. "The totality of the investigation and the facts of the incidents substantiate the charges."

Passed Over for Promotion

The investigation shows that despite nearly two decades of quality work for the Waukesha Police Department, Rivers work habits and personal life changed in 2006 after he was passed over for a promotion. An affair with a parking agent in the department, who was married at the time to another police officer, and a divorce that ended his brother-in-law relationship with another Waukesha officer added to the issues.

The investigation report states that patrol officers felt they couldn’t talk to Rivers about issues because they didn’t know what side of him they would get – a patient and calm supervisor or a supervisor that was prone to bursts of anger.

Jack ordered in January 2010 that the dispatch center be staffed with a minimum of three dispatchers at all times. Rivers ignored that order, the documents state, and failed to staff the proper amount of dispatchers on multiple occasions. Another sergeant rectified the problem at least once, but other instances left the dispatcher center being short staffed and the police department being forced to pay overtime for hours a dispatcher would have received had the dispatcher been called in to work based on the union contract.

Rivers did not take responsibility for his actions during the investigation, the report states, but other officers reported hearing the lieutenant say “I don’t care about the minimum.”

Overspending Grant Money

When it came to administering a traffic grant, Rivers overscheduled $23,000 in overtime wages. Another officer caught the issue but by that time, the department had overspent more than $14,000 in unbudgeted overtime. Despite that, his former brother-in-law was not given about $3,000 worth of overtime hours that he was qualified for under the terms of the union contract.

When it was realized during the investigation that there was “massive overspending by Mr. Rivers," supervisors eliminated the future overtime for the grant work, Jack said. The more than $14,000 in excess expenditures were accounted for in the budget by taking from other areas in police department's operational budget.

"Other areas were forced to be cut short and suffer financial losses because of the mismanagement of the grant," Jack said.

Rivers was given in 2007 the responsibility of overseeing a contract with a private company that provided crossing guard services for the city. The contract was for $10.91 per session at that time. Rivers began paying the company at prices beyond what was in the contract, up to $16.49 per session in the 2009-10 school year.

In addition to several problems with Rivers making comments toward other police department employees, he became angry with Capt. Ron Tischer during a February 2010 meeting about security and law enforcement services at Carroll University. Rivers became “red faced, clearly angry and was yelling at Capt. Tischer during the course of this meeting in front of other supervisors, including Capt. (Dennis) Angle,” the documents state. Tischer, as a captain, was a superior officer to Rivers.

When Rivers was asked to investigate a dispatcher over allegations of viewing pornography on a work computer, Rivers did nothing with the investigation in eight months except make an initial check with the IT Department. The dispatcher was later terminated when other police department employees were given the task to investigate the dispatcher.

“I dropped the ball on this one,” Rivers said after being confronted on the issue, according to the investigation documents.

The investigation included multiple complaints that Rivers failed to observe, monitor and train supervisors and non-supervisors, including those who were placed in the school resource officer program.

"We don’t have any evidence that the community itself was put in jeopardy," Jack said. "Police work in general is a dangerous profession and law enforcement is trained to equip and handle that on a daily basis.

"I believe that Mr. Rivers failure to provide our training principles kept officers from maximizing on their safety while performing their duties."


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