LAND CONSERVATION COMMITTEE
Appointments to
Appointments to a county land conservation committee, created by the county board pursuant to section 92.06, Stats., are made by the county board, not by the county executive. 76-173
Land conservation committee responsibilities and prohibition of private interest in public contracts discussed. 76-184
LANDLORD AND TENANT
Consent to search
State Arson Bureau and local fire and police departments are subject to the Fourth Amendment warrant requirements of the United States Constitution in conducting searches for evidence of arson. If consent to search is sought, very general guidelines are that a tenant or co-tenant may consent to search of area under his control, while consent to search a common area may be given by landlord or, if objector could not reasonably expect privacy, by a tenant. 68-225
Garnishment of AFDC grants
The recently enacted provisions of section 49.41(2), Stats., which provide that effective April 1, 1988, grants of AFDC may be garnisheed by landlords as provided under section 812.233, conflict with provisions of Title IV-A of the Social Security Act. 77-56
Rent control ordinances
State statutory enabling legislation is required to authorize enactment of typical rent control ordinances. Assembly Substitute Amendment 1 to 1973 Assembly Bill 95 deemed incomplete and constitutionally infirm. 62-276
Security deposits
Security deposits: interpretation of the phrase "surrender of the premises" as used in Wisconsin Administrative Code section Ag 134.06(2) (1990), created Feb. 1980, effective May 1, 1980; The phrase "surrender of the premises" is analogous to the term "vacating the premises," coupled with the knowledge or reason to know of the vacating by the landlord. Therefore, under Wisconsin law, security deposits must be returned within twenty-one days from the time the tenants physically and permanently vacate the premises, where the landlord knows or has reason to know that the premises have been vacated. 80-86
LAW ENFORCEMENT
See also BENCH WARRANT; CRIMINAL LAW; POLICE; SHERIFFS
Arrest
A warrantless arrest and detention for bail jumping, section 946.49, Stats., is authorized if probable cause exists that the arrestee violated the contact prohibition in section 968.075(5)(a)1. after being released under chapter 969. 78-177
Automobiles and motor vehicles
The ordinance adopted by the Village of West Milwaukee which authorizes the placement of an immobilization device on an automobile of an individual who has ten or more outstanding or otherwise unsettled traffic violations does not constitute a valid exercise of a municipality's authority under Wisconsin law. 77-73
Bench warrant
A bench warrant issued under sec. 968.09, Stats., may be directed to all law enforcement officers in the State without regard to whether the defendant is charged with violation of a state statute or county ordinance. The form of the warrant should be tailored to meet the form suggested by sec. 968.04(3)(a)7., Stats. 62-208
Section 968.09, Stats., does not authorize the issuance of a bench warrant upon the failure to pay a fine or forfeiture. (Unpub.). 27-1982
The Circuit Court has neither statutory nor inherent authority to issue a bench warrant for the arrest of a violator of a county ordinance who has received a citation pursuant to sec. 66.119, Stats., and who neither posts a cash deposit nor appears at the citation return date. 70-280
Boating law
Water safety patrol officers, in county patrol, created as a separate agency, do not have to be deputized by Sheriff to enforce secs. 30.50-30.80, Stats., Wisconsin's regulation of boating law. 65-169
Burnett County police and emergency radio
A sheriff's actions in determining access to a county's law enforcement channel are ministerial in nature. The negligent exercise of that authority could subject the sheriff to liability. 76-7
Campus police
The University of Wisconsin has no authority to agree to hold harmless a county that incurs liability because of a university officer's torts, but the common law of indemnification would require such officer to indemnify that county and statutory indemnification would require the state to indemnify the officer when acting in the scope of his/her employment. A county sheriff may deputize university campus police officers and restrict that deputization to particular times, places and crimes. An otherwise valid arrest would not be rendered invalid, however, solely because the officer exceeded the scope of that deputization. 78-1
Citations for ordinance violations
Without statutory authority to do so, a county cannot use citations for violations of ordinances that have certain statutory counterparts. Section 66.119(3)(b), Stats., only authorizes the use of citations for violations of ordinances other than those for which a statutory counterpart exists. 76-211
Citizenship requirements
Sections 62.13(4)(d) and 66.11(1), Stats., making citizenship a prerequisite to becoming a police officer or deputy sheriff violate the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution when applied to resident aliens. 65-273
Conservation wardens, power of arrest
The power of arrest of DNR wardens is limited by statute; they do not have general law enforcement authority except on state-owned lands, and property under DNR's supervision, management and control including the power to arrest violators of state law on all bodies of water which lie exclusively within such area, as determined by facility boundaries. 68-326
Convicted felons
Convicted felons may not serve as sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, patrolmen, policemen, or constables as these law enforcement officers are "public officers" within the meaning of that term in sec. 17.03(5), Stats., and they hold an "office of trust, profit or honor in this state" within the purview of Wis. Const. art. XIII, sec. 3. 65-292
Cooperative agreements
Under section 66.30, Stats., and subject to some limitation, a county may furnish certain supplemental law enforcement services to villages and towns within the county. The county sheriff's consent to provide such supplemental services and the sheriff's approval of such a contract is required. 75-119
Coroner, duties
Where accident occurs in one county and victim is transported to another county, and death occurs there, Coroner where death occurs has duty to immediately report death to Coroner of county where crime, injury or event occurred, and Coroner of latter county has authority to investigate and duty to hold inquest if he deems it necessary or if directed by District Attorney of his county. 62-127
Correctional staff
Correctional staff have the authority, and possess the power of a peace officer in pursuing and capturing escaped inmates. 68-352
Deputy sheriff
Whereas a deputy sheriff must be a resident of the county for which appointed, secs. 59.24(2), 66.30, 66.305 and 66.315, Stats., would allow such deputy to serve in an adjacent county upon request for mutual assistance. 62-250
Discovery
Sheriff's criminal investigation files are not covered by a blanket exemption from the public records law, but denial of access may be justified on a case-by-case basis. 77-42
Drug testing of locomotive engineers
Federal legislation has explicitly preempted the field of rail safety and not conferred authority on state or local law enforcement officials to conduct drug tests of locomotive engineers involved in grade crossing accidents in Wisconsin. However, this legislation does not preempt state regulation of drugs and narcotics. Thus, state or local law enforcement officials acting pursuant to their authority to enforce the state's general criminal statutes may conduct drug tests of locomotive engineers provided that the testing comports with the fourth amendment. 81-78
Emergency detention
It remains the obligation of the law enforcement officer who has placed an individual under emergency detention under section 51.15, Stats., to transport that individual to one of the four categories of facilities listed in section 51.15(2) until custody of the individual is transferred to such a facility. 81-110
Extradition
A Wisconsin law enforcement officer may transport a prisoner out of state for emergency medical treatment. Upon leaving Wisconsin, a law enforcement officer from the receiving state must take custody of the prisoner. The prisoner may be brought back to Wisconsin using the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act, section 976.03, Stats. 80-41
Fingerprints and photographs
Law enforcement officials may require a person appearing pursuant to a summons to be fingerprinted and photographed. A court may condition a person's release from custody on bail upon the taking of fingerprints and photographs. 69-254
Hospitals
Pursuant to section 51.20(14), Stats., the director of the county department under section 51.42 or 51.437 may request the sheriff of the county in which an individual was placed under emergency detention to transport that individual to another designated inpatient facility prior to the initial court hearing under chapter 51, and the sheriff must do so within a reasonable time. 80-299
In certain circumstances a peace officer may command a physician, or other medical staff at a hospital or clinic, to gather evidence from a sexual assault victim. 72-107
