Brown County investigators win statewide merit award By Jessica La Plante News-Chronicle Quick to solve a crime, members of the Brown County Sheriff Department's investigative unit were practically the last ones to know they had won a statewide service award last week. The Brown County team was honored at an April 10 awards banquet hosted by the Wisconsin Association of Homicide Investigators with a Meritorious Service Award for solving a large number of high-profile cases in 2002. Brown County did not know it had won because the person representing the department left before the award was announced. Even without the guest of honor, a roomful of WAHI members hailed Brown County's 14-officer unit for investigating a group of high-profile cases with accuracy and efficiency. Among the cases were the Douglas Tappa homicide investigation, the James Profit sexual assault case, the Tyson Kreuscher double homicide investigation and a beating death in Ledgeview. "Those four cases were pretty high-profile," said WAHI board member Steve Daniels. "All were solved, all went to trial, and there was a conviction in all of them." By winning the service award, the Brown County team has earned a spot for itself among the state's top-ranking investigators. A past recipient was a taskforce of FBI agents and Wisconsin police officers who solved 14 gang murders. For a jurisdiction with a low crime rate, the sheriff's department proved that small-town police departments can hold their own against their big city counterparts. Playing into the nomination was "the fact that Brown County does not have a lot of homicides," Daniels said. "They had an unusual number of high profile crimes and brought them through to completion." Of the four high-profile investigations, the Tappa murder case is perhaps the finest example of the team's success, said Capt. John Gossage, public information officer for the sheriff's department. "From an investigative standpoint, obviously when you have a homicide where you do not have a suspect such as the Tappa homicide, that creates great challenges for an investigative team," Gossage said. A combination of teamwork and experience helped the Brown County unit clear those hurdles, Gossage said. "They're working together for a common goal and they're very dedicated to getting a final outcome," he said.