Senate passes law enforcement psychological testing measure

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Wisconsin senators have voted to make police and sheriff’s departments give psychological tests to their candidates for new officers.

The bill has virtually no chance of becoming law before the current session ends Thursday.

The Assembly refused to act on a similar mandate last week.

By passing it, senators stood by the relatives of last fall’s Crandon shooting victims. They demanded the psychological tests because Deputy Tyler Peterson never had one before he killed six people and himself over a jilted girlfriend.

Many larger police forces already require mental exams of their recruits. For those who don’t, the tests would cost about $300,000 a year statewide. Local departments would have to come up with the money.

GOP Assembly members said they probably don’t have the cash, the tests could expose police to new lawsuits, and an exam probably would not have stopped last October’s mass murders anyway.

The Senate’s approval came on a voice vote Tuesday.

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