LEADER LAND – As I shared the news of the tragic violence against the police in Chetek and Cameron over the prior weekend with my husband, a remark that came up was, “Isn’t this more commonplace now?” I paused and thought, “Is it?” Up in the North Woods, it feels cushioned against the outside world in many ways. As a news reporter, I read avidly, sometimes to the amusement, but often to the annoyance of my family who would probably like to hear less of the current events outside of our small community and beautiful surroundings on the homestead. With access to archives and other resources, I abandoned my original plans for this week’s column and started to dig into Leader Land’s fallen officer history to see just how commonplace a fallen officer was and what happened. I looked at Polk, Burnett, Barron and Washburn counties and here is what I found.
A total of nine entries were listed for the Wisconsin database. Four for Barron County dating 1916, 1930, 1987 and 1995. Three fallen officers were reported for Burnett County, in 1968, 1974 and 1991. With none listed for Washburn County, the only other county in Leader Land, Polk, had two registered fallen officers, happening in 2009 and 2014. In Barron County, of the four incidents, only two involved an aggressive perpetrator. One officer died of a suspected heart attack after a collision with a semitractor-trailer and another died while directing traffic following a storm where he unfortunately encountered a broken high-voltage wire. For the Burnett County officers, one involved an aggressive shooter and another died in a head-on crash while on duty. The third officer suffered a heart attack while struggling with a suspect at a tavern disturbance. The Polk County fallen officers involved one who succumbed to injuries suffered during an on-duty crash while pursuing a traffic violator. The other officer in the database was not fatally shot but paralyzed by a shooter from the neck down and then died from complications from the paralysis 23 years later.
I felt it would be poignant to share more detail about some of these stories, and my co-worker, reporter Shaila Johnson, was 13 at the time of the deadly attack on the officers involved in the Burnett County incident in 1991, and remembers when it happened. Officer Allen A. Albee was the Burnett County officer who died that day from gunshot wounds he suffered after the suspect, Robert K. Reineccius had shot Officer Michael J. Seversen, of Polk County, in the neck from 3 feet away, then turned on Albee. Severson was the officer who died 23 years later from complications from the paralysis. Reineccius was from Minnesota and had been involved in a shooting that left a 24-year-old man wounded. His car was seen in the village of Webster. When Reineccius was spotted by Webster Elementary School and refused to drop a weapon he was holding when confronted by law enforcement, he then pulled a gun on the officers. After shooting the officers, he was killed.
Prior to his death, Severson traveled to share his story and encourage others that there is life after paralysis, but did talk about the difficulties in a 1994 interview with the Star Tribune: “I'll be honest with you, there are many times I go to bed at night and the lights are off and I'll be crying and praying to the Lord to take me home because this is so hard.” At the time of the shooting, Severson was a Polk County deputy who was in Burnett County under mutual aid along with several other Polk County deputies. He was only 27 years old at the time of the shooting. In a heartwarming welcome after his battle with paralysis, near his death, elementary children lined the streets with signs as Severson returned to his home in St. Croix Falls one last time, which Johnson recalled was especially touching as many did not even know him personally or remember the shooting, but it was honoring to Severson. He was also honored by a large law enforcement procession for his funeral.
On the Officer Down Memorial Page at omdp.org, Severson’s sister, Jayne Wellumson, wrote, “My Brother, Mike remained a deputy with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office until the day he died. His badge number 905 has been retired. Mike handled his life as a Deputy the way he handled his years paralyzed from the neck down, bravely, kindly and trying to help others adjust to their disabilities. He made friends everywhere he went. He was seldom discouraged and bad days came when news of other officers anywhere being killed or injured. He had a heart of gold and because of his “I can do that” attitude he was greatly loved. We as a family have been thankful for the years we had him to travel with, laugh with, and even cry. The years got harder and as his body aged, he dealt with severe pain, but he just kept going. Even after all these years we are amazed at the outpour of support. Mike was a true hero in the way he lived his life as a Quad. He was brave and courageous and to him, Attitude was everything. Thanks to the community and the support of Polk County Sheriff’s office (WI) that kept him in the loop and allowed him to do what he loved. Thanks to Craig hospital in Denver that kept him healthy. And in 2010 when his health took a big turn, he had to have 24-hour care and his home health nurses loved, protected and cared for him. I just miss him so much.”
Officer Albee also left behind his wife and two children. In a remembrance from a friend named Robert Erickson dated May 7, 2006: “It really doesn't seem like 15 years ago that Alan went to be with the Lord. It seems like just yesterday he and my dad, who was a reserve for the department, were working together or roasting the pig at the Lake 26 campout. I will never forget how Alan kept his friendship with my dad after my dad went through treatment for alcoholism even though my dad was no longer on the force. Albee is just one of the reasons I went into a career as a law enforcement officer as well. Alan is gone, but not forgotten.”
Reading over the stories of the fallen officers, several things came to mind. First, it is important to not forget those who go into the communities we live in every day and work in the background to protect and serve, facing multiple dangers, whether we appreciate them openly or not. In the bios of the fallen officers, it frequently mentions the families and loved ones they leave behind in their service as well. Not only are they choosing to serve, but they and their loved ones do so at great sacrifice and potential risk to their own circumstance. Secondly, the violence toward law enforcement is not “more commonplace now” in Leader Land, which I found comforting as I researched, with the last incident of physical assault leading to death being in 1974, and the last fatal incident involving a weapon in 1995 and a vehicle death during pursuit in 2005. That would also seem to indicate our law enforcement does a good job of keeping peace without the need for excessive force or confrontation beyond what is necessary to maintain law and order.
If I were to put the deaths on a chart from the first in 1916 to the last, you would notice an upward and more concentrated spike after the late ‘60s. Looking at the data for national crime and justice statistics for America as a whole is another story, and one I hope to not see trending into our lovely rural areas. It did show some increase in rural areas, but the majority of activity seemed to center around metro areas.
A resource I found fascinating while exploring this subject was usafacts.org/data/topics/security-safety/crime-and-justice. At this site it encourages the reader to, “Dig into this data for a picture of American security and the criminal justice system, including federal district court cases and metrics on jails and prisons. Compare records on firearms licensing, manufacturing, and background checks. Understand the history of national security with data ranging from border apprehensions to drug seizures to the value of intellectual property seized.”
Interesting patterns I observed while looking at the data were that while property crimes appeared to be on a downward trend, it appears violent crimes in the general population are on the rise. I wonder if some of this is due to the recent trends of some of the larger metro areas toward proposals of, or refusing to prosecute more “minor” property damage, such as car break-ins or jackings, when there is not an aspect of physical assault. Prison population in general appears to be on the downward trend, as well as months served, people under the sentence of death, and admissions. Another popular recent trend for metro areas is to release those not considered to be a “violent offender,” which seems to have decreased these numbers significantly.
According to the data at the site for firearms, despite a trend in gun production and licenses issued decreasing, as well as increased background checks, suicide and homicide deaths with guns have increased, and the site stated, “More people in the U.S. die from suicide involving a firearm than homicides or accidents.” Statistically, the greatest increases in deaths appear to be in metro locations and among non-white populations according to the charts. One chart shows a steep decline in gun deaths from the Clinton-era Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, seen as the largest bipartisan crime bill in U.S. history. That bill led to massive funding and staffing of metro law enforcement in the nation’s capital, which were then adopted on many state and local levels, at odds with current proposed solutions to crime. Of the prior crime bill in 1994, Hilary Clinton, former Democratic presidential candidate and first lady, said, “We need more police, we need more and tougher prison sentences for repeat offenders. The ‘three-strikes-and-you’re-out’ for violent offenders has to be part of the plan. We need more prisons to keep violent offenders for as long as it takes to keep them off the streets.” In the charts, you can see a steady decline in crime from 1994-2013. An upward trend that rises dramatically after 2014 is shown in the graphs, when much of the nation was calling for criminal justice reform in the form of defunding and retraining the police to more tentatively react to violent situations via sensitivity training. These came on the heels of massive social unrest and rioting over well-publicized incidents involving police and nonwhite suspects, with the pervasive thinking being that it would be better to deal with crime via social programs instead of policing. However, after looking at history through the factual lens of statistics, crime is lower when there is more actual enforcement of the rule of law via the strong presence of enough officers, who have permission and protection to do their jobs as required, who are well funded, and therefore able to perform their jobs.
In my experience covering public meetings as a reporter, during the public safety reports it is common to hear that “calls are up and it has been more busy” as of late for law enforcement. Staffing and retention in general appear to be strained in rural areas, with some areas considering joining forces or being absorbed into other areas, which could cause further delays or lack of attention to some remote areas. These areas are already more vulnerable due to distance and sparseness with the existing law enforcement, where it can take a while for response. In a country that cries, “defund,” or “disarm,” I would suggest a close look at funding and whether stricter laws have helped to abate illegal obtainment of anything in the past by those with a poor intention. In some of the areas with the strictest laws, the highest levels of crime in recent history are being seen. Historically speaking, crime has been at an all-time low when enforcement of the law is at a high. Enforcement can’t happen without officers having the authority to enforce, as well as the capacity and resources needed to do so. Unsurprisingly, times of lower crime were when funding, staffing and support were higher for law enforcement. I suppose time will tell whether society agrees, can unify in the face of crisis and act, as well the repercussions of decisions to come.
The bios for all nine fallen officers in the Leader Land area. These are screenshots taken from the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Memorial Fallen Officers database located at wlem.com/FallenOfficers. For Barron they are Wally L. Larson, Matt Olson, Michael R. Baribeau and Louis E. Gagner; Burnett County included Officers Allen A. Albee, Paul R. Gramer and Richard F. Schinzing; and for Polk County Officers Jorge R. Dimas and Michael J. Seversen.
This is a small sample of the data at usafacts.org/data/topics/security-safety/crime-and-justice. I highly recommend you go there to do some searching and analysis for yourself. I found it very interesting.
