Wisconsin Law Enforcement Memorial must be respected, protected.

• Date: 11 October 2023
• Published date: 11 October 2023
• Author: Steve Schuster, sschuster@wislawjournal.com
• Author: Schuster, Steve

Byline: Steve Schuster, sschuster@wislawjournal.com

Everyday when law enforcement officials say goodbye to their spouses and kids to watch our backs, they face violent criminals, witness human tragedy and see the very worst in humanity. When duty calls each time, they never know if they will come home that night to their families -- and the one monument in Madison that pays tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice has seen everything from insult to injury in years worth of vandalism and destruction of property.

The most recent incident involved a 7-year-old child who took a brown crayon, damaging the memorial during the weekend of Sept. 30 - Oct. 1.

Wisconsin Department of Administration officials tell the Wisconsin Law Journal that the parents of the 7 year old weren't paying attention to their child, who damaged the memorial. To date, those parents have not been charged, however, Wisconsin taxpayers have to foot the bill for the facilities service team who were required to clean up the most recent mess.

Prior to the incident earlier this month, the memorial has been no stranger to vandalism.

Green Bay Police Officer Craig Kolbeck, who currently serves as chair of the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Memorial, told the Wisconsin Law Journal on Monday that the memorial has been vandalized at least a half-dozen times. A search of headlines revealed only a couple of instances have been covered by the mainstream media.

"I'm bothered by it. Even as a child you should be taught not to damage other people's property. It wasn't like the parents weren't watching the child for 30 seconds. An entire section of the memorial was scribbled out on a new panel that had just been replaced from previous vandalism," Officer Kolbeck said, during a Wisconsin...