Milwaukee County’s Chief Medical Examiner will no longer allow timely access to preliminary reports on deaths such as homicides, fatal car accidents and other causes, according to a March 4, 2025 story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The news was met with criticism from a public transparency advocate and the newspaper’s executive editor.
The change occurred amid a broader trend among public agencies in Milwaukee to withhold any preliminary information — which officials say could contain inaccuracies — until final reports are concluded.
“I write to advise that my office will no longer share narrative reports relating to any death my office investigates until after we have concluded our investigation and closed our case,” Milwaukee County Chief Medical Examiner Wieslawa Tlomak wrote in an email to local media. “I understand my decision to hold back these draft reports represents a significant change in past practice.”
Bill Lueders, the president of the of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council — a nonpartisan state group that works to protect access to public meetings and records — said government offices must weigh records requests on an individual basis.
“There is no categorical exemption in our public records law for reports from investigations that have not been completely concluded,” Lueders said.
“This step by the medical examiner’s office is a step backwards for transparency and open government,” said Greg Borowski, executive editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “All this will do is leave the public more in the dark when it comes to vital public safety matters in our community. Public officials should be looking to provide more information, not less.”
In an email, Tlomak said the office made the change in consultation with county lawyers and would continue to assess records requests on a “case by case basis.” She said the office was not creating a new exemption in public records law with the change and framed it as a change in “its handling” of the reports.
The Feb. 27 policy change announcement followed the retirement of office operations manager Karen Domagalski from the office on Feb. 19. Domagalski’s tasks included being the department’s contact for media and sending out records from the office.
“With new leadership comes new practices,” Tlomak said.
