Prairie du Chien Police Officer placed on leave for investigation has now resigned his position

On October 17, 2025 the Prairie du Chien Police Department received an anonymous Crime Stoppers Tip that reported alleged misconduct by one of our Police Officers. The Police Department promptly commenced an Internal Investigation utilizing internal data sources including Global Positioning Systems (GPS) data from squad cars, City-Wide Camera systems, Automated License Plate Readers (LPR’s) and interviews with department staff.

The Department’s investigators quickly determined the officer who was accused by the anonymous tipster had not been involved in the conduct described. However, police department investigators did identify evidence suggesting a different police officer may have been engaged in the alleged behaviors described by the anonymous tipster. As a result of the new evidence, department investigators further investigated the tipster’s allegations.

Based on the evidence discovered by department investigators during the investigation, Officer Dwight Kussmaul was placed on paid administrative leave on October 21, 2025, pending completion of the internal investigation into the alleged misconduct. Although Officer Kussmaul has since resigned prior to the completion of the Police Department’s Internal Investigation, the Investigation was reviewing whether the alleged conduct occurred and, if so, whether the following policies and expectations of conduct were violated:

1. Mobile Body Video Recording (S19) – based on the Investigation and identified data in Evidence.com that an issued body camera was deactivated and/or shut off by Officer Kussmaul allegedly in violation of this department policy.

2. Evidence Collection (S42) – the Investigation identified statements that suggested potential violations of this policy.

3. K9 Unit (S54) – the Investigation identified statements provided that suggested a potential violation of this policy.

4. Code of Ethics – Patrol Officer (S57) – the Investigation contained an interview that suggested this policy was violated.

5. Compliance of Orders (S58) – the Investigation found that agency directives provided in June of 2024 were potentially violated with regards to communication with the District Attorney’s Office.

6. Job Description – Patrol Officer (S67) – the Investigation identified interviews and physical evidence that suggested improper handling of Confidential Informant information

Based on the November 18, 2025 resignation of Dwight Kussmaul, further internal investigation was ended as the Department cannot take formal disciplinary action to the extent it would have deemed warranted. Due to the timing of Mr. Kussmaul’s resignation, the Department did not reach any formal findings or conclusions. Regardless, our department strives to be as transparent as possible with the public, especially with regard to issues of alleged officer misconduct, so I felt it was important to provide a brief update.

The Platteville Police Department continues to review the actions and circumstances for any criminal acts that may have been committed. This investigation is being done at my request, it is ongoing and is separate from any internal review of policy violations.