Were there warnings before Lt. Scott Schmidt was arrested for murder? Appleton, Wisconsin mayor admits there were, but says city’s hands were tied.
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By now many of you have probably heard about the Lt. Scott Schmidt of the City of Appleton Fire Department in Wisconsin. He is accused of killing his estranged wife and wounding his mother-in-law on Friday and was arrested moments later. Firegeezer has the earlier coverage.
Beyond the personal loss for the families, friends and co-workers involved, there is a bit of a bigger picture story with wider implications that go beyond this tragedy. It has to do with what did city officials know, when did they know it and what, if anything, could they do about it?
In the story below from Steve Wideman at postcrescent.com some of these questions are answered. They center around Lt. Schmidt’s previous difficulties, including two criminal charges. It is interesting reading about an issue all departments are forced to handle at one time or another with varying degrees of success:
Appleton city and fire department leaders knew Lt. Scott E. Schmidt was grappling with personal and legal problems and had offered counseling through an employee program that protects a person’s anonymity, Mayor Tim Hanna said.
“We were well aware of and were monitoring his situation,” Hanna said.
Schmidt, a decorated 15-year fire department veteran, was off-duty when police say he shot and killed his estranged wife, Kelly Schmidt, 39, and wounded his mother-in-law, Barbara Wing, 66, on Friday in the driveway of the Grand Chute home the couple once shared.
He was arrested moments later by an Appleton police officer who was nearby when 911 dispatchers received a call reporting possible shots fired.
Schmidt is in the Outagamie County Jail on preliminary charges of first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide.
Hanna said Schmidt was referred for counseling after he was convicted in September of a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct stemming from a domestic abuse incident. Court records show that Schmidt had threatened to kill his wife.
Hanna said late Friday that the city knew that Schmidt had been charged with causing injury by drunken driving. He was due May 11 in Calumet County Court on the charge.
“We were monitoring that very closely,” Hanna said, noting Schmidt had nothing in his criminal or job performance record to prompt disciplinary action, particularly because Schmidt does not drive fire department vehicles and has not been convicted of the drunken driving charge.
Sandra Niesen, the city’s human resources director, said employees can be forced to enter assistance programs “by our policy only if they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol while at work or there are issues with workplace violence.”
Generally, unless a criminal conviction is related to job performance, the city has no reason to take disciplinary action, Niesen said.
“We can’t take any action,” Niesen said. “The fire department union has its own employee assistance program and a chaplain. The assistance program can help firefighters if they have work-related, marital, alcohol, financial and other personal problems.”
Hanna said the same assistance programs are offered to all city employees. Ultimately, he said, it is up to the employee to take advantage of counseling, provided through Employee Assistance Center, a private counseling service.
Niesen said the referral process generally begins with the employee’s supervisor discussing the situation with the employee.
Once the employee enters an assistance program, the situation becomes a private matter between the employee and counselors.
“We only get very general statistics about the number of employees seeking assistance,” Niesen said.
Mike Woodzicka, president of Appleton Firefighters Local 257, confirmed that the union has an employee assistance plan, but would not say if Schmidt, a union member, participated.
“We can refer people but we don’t know who accesses the program because of confidentiality reasons,” Woodzicka said.
