JoEllen Islo was woken up around 11 p.m. on April 13 by the sound of two Brookfield police officers knocking on her front door.
Startled and still half-asleep, Islo listened as Officers Brad Piontkowski and Dylon Iverson explained that they needed to speak with her son about starting a fire with his friends by the nearby railroad tracks earlier that night.
Islo complied, bringing her 15-year-old son downstairs. But when her son began to explain that he arrived after the fire had already been started, Iverson interjected.
“Before you get too much into the lie that you’re telling right now, we have three people that watched you guys, specifically you on the bike, light the fire,” said Iverson.
In addition, Iverson said the teen had fled from police, despite officers’ commands to stop.
Before the teen could respond that he didn’t know the people shouting at him were police, the two officers handcuffed and drove him to the station.
There, police issued him three municipal citations for resisting arrest, trespassing and burning, amounting to over $1,300 in fines.
In an effort to verify whether her son was telling the truth, Islo filed an open records request for reports and body camera footage related to the incident. But weeks later, and just days before her son’s court date, she was shocked to find out her request had been denied.
According to a policy that’s been in place since 1976, the Brookfield Police Department does not release juvenile records without a court order. As a result, Islo’s son had to face a municipal judge with just his word versus the officer’s.
“How do I make an informed decision when they will not provide me information?” Islo asked Public Investigator in May.
Through an exception in the open records law for news organizations, Public Investigator obtained in July the records related to Islo’s son’s arrest.
The body camera footage reveals that none of the witnesses said they saw Islo’s son start the fire, as Iverson claimed, nor did officers identify themselves as law enforcement before commanding Islo’s son to stop — information the teen’s parents hoped to have before his court date.
Instead, the 15-year-old took a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to trespassing and resisting an officer in exchange for 20 hours of community service. The Journal Sentinel is not naming Islo’s son because he is a minor.
Islo said if she had access to the footage of her son’s arrest, they would have pleaded not guilty.
Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, said the Brookfield Police Department’s policy likely contradicts state law.
“These records do not belong to the Brookfield Police Department,” Lueders said. “They’re public records. And there is an expectation in the law that public records are open and parents ought to be able to obtain public records regarding their children.”
Brookfield Police Chief James Adlam did not respond to Public Investigator’s request to explain the reasoning behind the department’s policy.
“Our official agency policy is not to release juvenile records,” Adlam told Public Investigator in an email.
Public Investigator asked 10 nearby police departments, including Wauwatosa, West Allis and Milwaukee, for their juvenile records policies. None had the same blanket policy barring the release of such records.
When asked to address discrepancies between officers’ claims and what happened on the body cam footage, Adlam declined to comment, stating that the case is pending.
When Public Investigator pointed out that the teen’s case has been closed since July 15, Adlam responded, “I have nothing further to add.”
Body cam footage backs up teen’s side of the story
It was late at night on April 13 when Iverson was dispatched to check on reports about a group of teens starting a fire by the railroad tracks.
His body cam footage shows him approaching Islo’s son in a dark area behind someone’s residence. He was still far enough away for the teen to be out of frame.
“Come here,” Iverson says on video.
“Why?” Islo’s son replies off camera.
“Because I’m telling you to come here,” Iverson says.
After running for about 30 seconds, Iverson yells “come here” again, although it is unclear whether he is speaking to Islo’s son or someone else. He then diverts his attention to a different teen by the railroad tracks.
When Iverson arrested Islo’s son later that night, the 15-year-old admitted to the interaction captured on video. However, he maintained that he didn’t know the commands were coming from a police officer.
None of the footage reviewed by Public Investigator shows Iverson announcing himself as law enforcement.
Iverson also claimed that three witnesses saw Islo’s son light the fire and called police.
However, body cam footage does not show any witnesses identifying who started the fire. Only one witness mentions seeing a teen on the bike riding down the street — after officers’ arrival.
Police are generally allowed to lie to suspects to obtain information.
The day after the arrest, Justin Buchman, the teen’s father, went to the Brookfield Police Department to get more clarity from the supervisor on duty that night, Sgt. Cody Griebling.
In the body camera footage, Buchman asks how he can verify his son’s claim that he didn’t resist arrest, especially because he taught his son to never flee from police.
“If they didn’t identify themselves as officers, he’s got every right, right? I mean, he can leave,” Buchman said.
“Yep, that would take care of the resisting (charge),” said Griebling. “That would be able to disprove the resisting, because we do have to identify ourselves.”
He then instructs Buchman on how to file an open records request.
About a month later, the police department denied the family’s records request. Because Islo and Buchman couldn’t afford an attorney and didn’t qualify for a public defender, they attended their son’s hearing a few days later without legal representation.
Islo has always been a firm supporter of police, she said. But this situation has broken her trust.
“(Iverson) says to my son, ‘I think you’re lying, turn around,” Islo recalled from her son’s arrest. “But actually, he was the one lying.”
Brookfield’s policy contradicts state law, open records expert says
Adlam, the police chief, maintains that Brookfield’s policy “is in compliance with state law.”
“I cannot interpret state statutes for you,” he said. “You should probably consult your attorney.”
Lueders said the Brookfield Police Department may be relying on one word within state law to justify its policy: The statute says that a law enforcement agency “may” provide records to the parent or legal guardian of the juvenile, subject to “official agency policy.”
The department is likely arguing that “may” does not mean “must,” Lueders said.
However, Lueders said that law enforcement agencies’ policies must still conform to open records law.
For example, he explained, the law gives police departments the leeway to set the cost of fulfilling records requests.
“You could have a policy from one police department that says, ‘we charge 25 cents a page’ and have another public entity that says, ‘we charge 10 cents a page,'” Lueders said. “And both of them would be within the law because the standard is not specific.”
However, Lueders doubts the Brookfield Police Department’s blanket refusal to release juvenile records is legal and called it “contrary to the spirit of the Open Records Law.”
“The law seems to pretty clearly carve out an exception for parents and guardians,” said Lueders. “(Islo) should have gotten that record on request.”
More: How you can obtain public records in Wisconsin: a primer
Juvenile justice system also has obligation to protect kids’ privacy
Cary Bloodworth, a University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School professor, told Public Investigator that she hasn’t seen a blanket policy for juvenile records like this one before.
However, she said there are some advantages to such policies, like maintaining a minor’s privacy. The goal of the juvenile justice system is focused on rehabilitation, she said, rather than punishment.
State law provides an exception for news organizations that request law enforcement records about children and youth for “the purpose of reporting the news,” as long as they do not publish their identities.
“It’s really about protecting kids and recognizing that when kids are kids and making bad choices, we’re trying not to punish them,” said Bloodworth, who is also the supervising attorney at the Family Legal Advocacy and Supports Clinic. “And having their name out there can really have a big impact.”
Islo said she’s always taught her kids to obey officers. If her son really did resist arrest and flee the scene, she wanted to make sure he faced the consequences.
But without access to her son’s records, not only did Islo not know how to proceed in court, but she also didn’t know how to properly address the incident at home.
“It’s frustrating because I want my son to follow the rules,” Islo said. “But I also want him to know that I’m behind him, and I want him to trust me.”
Her son’s outlook on police has been damaged, she added, but Public Investigator’s interest in the case has brought him some relief.
“I let him know I’ve been talking with you,” Islo told Public Investigator. “And he said, ‘Oh, finally someone that cares.'”
Quinn Clark is a Public Investigator reporter. She can be emailed at QClark@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Quinn_A_Clark.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brookfield police refuse to release juvenile records to parents
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