Former IPD Chief: Quitting ‘felt good’

Former Independence Police Chief of Police Chad Halvorson said resigning from the city department felt like leaving “an abusive spouse, and it felt good.”

That was in response to an open records request sent to the city by the Times. State law required that the city allow Halvorson to augment any records it would send. In his response, he cited low pay, a hefty workload and the treatment he received by city officials as key reasons for his departure. 

Halvorson was hired as the city’s police chief in April of 2022. He received two written warnings from city Mayor Robert Baecker prior to resigning last December. Both warnings were dated Sept. 26, the same day the city’s law enforcement and personnel committee met in closed session, apparently to consider disciplining Halvorson. The first warning accused him of loaning a city-owned cellular phone to a private citizen, an accusation he denied. The other was for failing to provide squad car mileage records. 

In response to the accusation regarding the phone, Halvorson wrote it was “impossible to have happened.” He wrote that the department had not had a cell phone with the number listed since October of 2020 and had no knowledge of what happened to the old phone itself because it was before his time as the chief. He also wrote that he had loaned his own personal phone to a subject so Whitehall Police could take a complaint. 

In the warning letter regarding the squad car mileage, Baecker asked Halvorson to begin keeping logs in the vehicle for each shift and that Halvorson had not done that. Baecker wrote that not doing so violated city policy and further infractions “can result in further employment consequences which would include suspension or discharge from employment.” 

Baecker did not respond to the Times’ request for a comment.

Following the Sept. 26 meeting, the city apparently discussed issues regarding Halvorson on Nov. 20 and Nov. 28 — meetings that Halvorson said in the augmentation letter he was not aware of. After a closed session during the Nov. 28 meeting, the city council voted to create a committee that could discipline the chief or terminate his employment with the city. 

Halvorson submitted his resignation letter on Dec. 6, writing that he was leaving the city for a “better opportunity.” His resignation was accepted during a special city council meeting on Dec. 8. 

In the augmentation letter, Halvorson wrote that he was one of the lowest-paid police officers and chiefs in Trempealeau County. He said a longstanding city practice regarding comp-time was taken away, while overtime practices and other rules “arbitrarily changed multiple times.” He also wrote that “training and purchasing was turned into a procedure guaranteed to make each more difficult and prohibitive,” holiday time was redefined and shift flexibility was eliminated. The last straw, he wrote, was that his “valued work schedule was taken away without explanation.” 

“I pretty much have had in the past 12 months, everything taken away that made Independence worthwhile to still work for,” Halvorson wrote. 

Halvorson wrote that he had been manning a three-man department as the sole full-time officer. After using vacation time, he realized he no longer wanted to work for the city.

“I saw how I was treated for over a year after certain city elected officials disagreed with a decision I needed to make in September 2022, and I saw how I get treated by other employers that show value and respect,” Halvorson, who is also the police chief in Fairchild, wrote. “I walked away from the city employment feeling like I had just left an abusive spouse, and it felt good.”