Nichols’ death concerns local sheriff

Lenzner tells what measures are in place to keep abusive officers out of Shawano County
By: 
Lee Pulaski
City Editor

People nationwide have been reacting to the death of Tyre Nichols, where five police officers in Memphis, Tennessee, have been charged with murder.

As with the death of George Floyd in Minnesota in 2020, Nichols’ death has stirred people to call for reforms with police departments to keep such incidents from ever happening again.

For Shawano County Sheriff George Lenzner, Nichols’ death is another reminder that law enforcement agencies like his need to take every step necessary to make sure the best people physically and mentally are chosen to protect the community.

“The reaction is never good when you hear about something like that,” Lenzner said. “It really puts a black eye on all of law enforcement. Everybody wants to say, ‘My department would never do that,’ and you just hope that’s the case.”

Many background checks are conducted by the sheriff’s department when looking for new deputies and jail officers, Lenzner said. This includes psychological exams.

“We put all new officers in before we ever hire them,” Lenzner said.

Background checks are only one part of the equation when it comes to shaping a good law enforcement officer. Lenzner noted that constant training is required, not only as tactics change over the years but to make sure that what has been touched on before is not forgotten.

“Obviously, they weren’t trained well,” Lenzner said of the Memphis officers involved in Nichols’ death. “That’s why training is so important, and when you have incidents like this and you have people screaming to defund the police, that’s when some of these agencies need more training, especially use of force training.”

Lenzner noted there are levels of reaction for officers when it comes to apprehending someone or dealing with crimes in progress. He said it appears the reaction in Tennessee went to the extreme immediately.

“You have many tools on your toolbelt, and it should never get that far,” Lenzner said. “They jumped what type of force they used.”

The sheriff reiterated that even though the video footage released shows law enforcement behaving badly, by and large, the vast majority of officers are more measured when it comes to administering justice.

“Unfortunately, when you have an incident like that, the rest of us all take the blame,” Lenzner said. “I don’t have officers here who would ever act that way. We have a lot of compassionate officers.”

Shawano County puts its deputies through regular scenario training that examines firearms usage and use of force.

“It’s not all about going to the range and making sure you can shoot a target in the middle. That’s old school,” Lenzner said. “We put you in ‘shoot, don’t shoot’ situations. We’ve gotten involved with the city police the last few years in critical incident training. That training is a week long, and our goal is to get every officer through it.”

The critical incident training also helps officers deal with people in crisis, especially those who are suicidal. Lenzner noted the training is needed especially in rural areas like Shawano County, where mental health resources are few.

“Mental health is such a huge issue nowadays, and that’s the type of training officers need,” Lenzner said. “They need training on how to talk with people and how to calm them down. It’s getting to the point where nowadays you’re almost becoming a psychiatrist. You’re going there to listen to people’s problems. That’s over 50% of the job.”

Brutal deaths like Nichols’ at the hands of law enforcement make it difficult for other police agencies to recruit new officers, Lenzner said.

“It’s already tougher to find people who want to work in law enforcement,” he said. “When I applied in 1988, we had probably 200 applicants for a position, and through the years, it’s been going down. Now you’re lucky if you get 20 applicants, and you have to find the most qualified, decent human being out of those 20.”

There are times when there isn’t someone qualified in the bunch, and for Lenzner, it’s better to keep running shorthanded than it is to let a potential hothead have a badge and abuse the authority.

“Unfortunately, that’s what a lot of these bigger agencies, I think, end up doing,” Lenzner said. “They can’t find the candidates so they’re hiring people who, 20 years ago, wouldn’t have been a law enforcement officer because they don’t meet the qualifications, and there is stuff in their background. I’m not going to hire anybody until we have a qualified candidate.

“I’d rather pay the overtime and have the officers working longer hours than hire someone that I don’t feel is fit to be a law enforcement officer. We don’t want anybody out there that we have to take a risk on.”


lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com