Former La Crosse Police Department Lieutenant, Brian Thompson, DID NOT appear in court on August 30th to face charges. Instead, he appeared by his attorney. I was there in court on another case. From the discussion with Judge Elliot Levine, Thomson's attorney, and the prosecuting attorney, Assistant Attorney General Jeff Gabrysiak (Wisconsin DOJ), several things were clear: (1) every La Crosse prosecutor and every La Crosse County judge, including Levine, has a conflict of interest and won't be directly involved in the case; (2) after more than two weeks from his arrest, no charges have been filed against Thomson--and none are immediatley pending; and (3) according to Gabrysiak and Thomson's attorney, discussions were continuing between the attorneys which may be "in the best interests" of both the State of Wisconsin and the defendant.
Judge Levine openly voiced concern about the fact that no case number had even been assigned to Thomson's court case, adding that this made things more difficult procedurally, even from the standpoint of assigning a new judge. Thomson is scheduled to appear in the intake court in the La Crosse County Circuit Court on October 2, 2013. Just who will be judge, or whether a judge will even be assigned, is at that point, totally unclear. Does all this seem unusual to you? It out to. TRUST ME, this is not at all how most cases proceed through the courts. However, this is also a rare case where a policeman is actually arrested.
My take on this (my opinion only, and perhaps no secret): This is an enormous public embarrassment for the City of La Crosse; law enforcement generally (including the La Crosse PD and the Wisconsin DOJ) ; and, of course, Brian Thomson. The discussions may include David Thomson never appearing in court again on these charges, let alone pleading guilty to a felony. Could the discussions include Thomson revealing information about other officers? No idea. What will come to pass is pure speculation, because--YOU GUESSED IT--the details of the allegations against Officer Brian Thomson have not even been revealed. There is no Criminal Complaint on file. Moreover, not one so-called media outlet in La Crosse has been able to give any specific details regarding the arrest of the 15-year veteran of the La Crosse Police Department. After more than two weeks, the details of the case have stayed between police and attorneys.
At this point, the outcome of this case is, obviously, unknown. However, it is not surprising that many are becoming pretty cynical about "the system" is when it comes to police officers who get in trouble. I’ll be perfectly honest with you, I am becoming a little cynical about that too. This is definitely not the only La Crosse Police Department personnel--or family member--to become involved in an investigation lately. Does that surprise you? It very well might! Because while I have learned of and investigated these other cases, to my dismay, WKBT, WXOW, the La Crosse Tribune and WIZM radio, collectively "the news" in our area, have written/spoken nothing (NADA!) about them. In my opinion, these agencies rely WAY TOO heavily on the police or the courts to feed the news. There seems to be little actual investigation being done. You might want to stay tuned to this Blog to see how some others connected with the police--others never talked about in the so-called press--have had their own legal situations dealt with. You may be surprised--even pissed off!
Judge Levine openly voiced concern about the fact that no case number had even been assigned to Thomson's court case, adding that this made things more difficult procedurally, even from the standpoint of assigning a new judge. Thomson is scheduled to appear in the intake court in the La Crosse County Circuit Court on October 2, 2013. Just who will be judge, or whether a judge will even be assigned, is at that point, totally unclear. Does all this seem unusual to you? It out to. TRUST ME, this is not at all how most cases proceed through the courts. However, this is also a rare case where a policeman is actually arrested.
My take on this (my opinion only, and perhaps no secret): This is an enormous public embarrassment for the City of La Crosse; law enforcement generally (including the La Crosse PD and the Wisconsin DOJ) ; and, of course, Brian Thomson. The discussions may include David Thomson never appearing in court again on these charges, let alone pleading guilty to a felony. Could the discussions include Thomson revealing information about other officers? No idea. What will come to pass is pure speculation, because--YOU GUESSED IT--the details of the allegations against Officer Brian Thomson have not even been revealed. There is no Criminal Complaint on file. Moreover, not one so-called media outlet in La Crosse has been able to give any specific details regarding the arrest of the 15-year veteran of the La Crosse Police Department. After more than two weeks, the details of the case have stayed between police and attorneys.
At this point, the outcome of this case is, obviously, unknown. However, it is not surprising that many are becoming pretty cynical about "the system" is when it comes to police officers who get in trouble. I’ll be perfectly honest with you, I am becoming a little cynical about that too. This is definitely not the only La Crosse Police Department personnel--or family member--to become involved in an investigation lately. Does that surprise you? It very well might! Because while I have learned of and investigated these other cases, to my dismay, WKBT, WXOW, the La Crosse Tribune and WIZM radio, collectively "the news" in our area, have written/spoken nothing (NADA!) about them. In my opinion, these agencies rely WAY TOO heavily on the police or the courts to feed the news. There seems to be little actual investigation being done. You might want to stay tuned to this Blog to see how some others connected with the police--others never talked about in the so-called press--have had their own legal situations dealt with. You may be surprised--even pissed off!
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