Sheriff Gary Caruana says Tactical Unit image promotes brotherhood and team unity; ACLU says it's meant to 'frighten and intimidate'

ROCKFORD — Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana said today two deputies were ordered to stop handing out unofficial business cards featuring a human skull logo that a black woman they arrested considers racist and scary.

Caruana said the deputies won't be disciplined and the image will continue to be displayed in the department roll call room, even though the Rockford Police Department does not and would not display such imagery, and the American Civil Liberties Union is calling for its use to be discontinued.

Laverne Huggins, 56, of Rockford, said deputies Wesley Ganz and Thomas Warmoth gave her the business card on Dec. 1, 2015. The skull logo images appear on both sides of the card, taking up the entire card on one side. On the other side, the sheriff's office name and address is printed with the officers' handwritten last names as well as a sheriff's office phone number.

The deputies knocked on Huggins' Henrietta Avenue door about 11:30 p.m. that night looking for a relative of hers they suspected may have been involved in a crime. The deputies gave her the card before charging her with resisting arrest and obstructing justice. The deputies said Huggins lied about her relationship to the person they were looking for. Huggins said they didn't have a warrant.

Huggins and her attorney, Kunal Kulkarni of Rockford, want the charges dropped. He plans to introduce the skull business card as evidence when they appear in a county courtroom Friday, with the trial scheduled to start Tuesday. He said use of the symbol is "improper," and he is "disgusted" with police treatment of his client.

Huggins said the skull image "reminds me of death, hatred, poison and danger," and looks like a skull symbol associated with Nazis. She said she finds the image and her treatment by police scary.

Caruana said members of the department's 10-member Tactical Unit, which handles gang, narcotics and human trafficking details, came to him around the time the unit was formed about two years ago and asked if they could use the image. He said OK.

Their intent is to promote brotherhood within the unit, and to honor military veterans who work for the Sheriff's Department, he said. Two of the unit's members are serving overseas.

The Tactical Unit symbol is nearly identical — with some embellishment and lettering changes — to a registered trademark created years ago by Brian Wilson, the founder of Lake Worth, Florida-based UM Tactical.

Wilson said the skull image is similar to one worn by the fictional comic book character, The Punisher, a former U.S. Marine who, after his family is slain by criminals protected by corrupt police, employs murder and violence in a war on crime. It also is reminiscent of what Wilson had noticed some U.S. special forces personnel wearing.

Wilson said he created the logo for his company after inventing a handgun scope universal mounting bracket. The razor wire on the outside of the logo represents the cutting edge of technology. The gear inside the wire represents Wilson’s origins as a “tool and die maker.”

“The skull is because what it's on could kill or harm you,” Wilson said.

The Punisher logo became popular among U.S. military members following the 2014 movie American Sniper, about Navy Seal Chris Kyle, whose team sprayed the logo on their apparel and buildings in Iraq.

A Marine Corps spokesman said in an email that, "while there may be instances of individuals or units creating insignias containing skulls in an unofficial capacity, these are not endorsed or approved by the Marine Corps."

Caruana said he does not think the logo the Tactical Unit uses resembles The Punisher's costume, which he said is a negative image.

Caruana said Tuesday, after he was provided the images by the Register Star, that the business cards the deputies gave out were "not official" and "should have been cleared with their deputy chief."

"We'll get them official cards if they need them," he said. He said he knows of no other deputies using the image on business cards.

"I don't know that there was intent or any malice. ... They are young guys," he said. "When we find out (something like this), we have to stop them."

Even so, the skull image will continue to hang on a wall in the roll call room at the Justice Center, he said.

"I don't have a problem with it," Caruana said.

Jim Webster, a Republican Winnebago County Board member, said he hadn't seen the skull logo nor heard about any issues regarding it. He said, though, that some people are too easily offended.

"If they had a clown on the card, there'd be someone with a phobia for clowns," he said.

A spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois said use of the image is inappropriate and should not be used.

"This image is an attempt to frighten and intimidate, rather than protect and serve," Ed Yohnka, ACLU director of communications and public policy, said in an email.

"This misguided attitude frightens the very communities the police are supposed to serve," he said. "It embraces a 'warrior' mindset of policing based on controlling members of the community, rather than a guardian mindset based on building trust with the communities the police serve. We encourage the Sheriff’s Office to end the use of such imagery."

Rockford Police Chief Dan O’Shea said nothing like the Sheriff’s Department logo is used by the Rockford Police Department's specialized units.

“I will not allow anything other than the department patch to be utilized,” O’Shea said. “Our SWAT team has the department patch, just in (olive drab) green."

Viewing the logo left Mayor Tom McNamara wondering what message the Tactical Unit and sheriff’s office was trying to convey. Rockford police are working to improve relationships between officers and residents and partner with them to reduce crime rates.

Alderwoman Venita Hervey, D-5, said the logo raises questions about what kind of culture is being cultivated within the sheriff's Tactical Unit. It's the kind of insignia Hervey would expect a military unit at war could adopt, but she said it's the wrong message for law enforcement.

"At best, it’s juvenile and inappropriate," Hervey said. "At worst, the imagery suggests that violence is a part of the unit’s values, purpose and tactics."

Winnebago County Board Chairman Frank Haney said he was unaware of the use of the skull image.

"I have every confidence that the sheriff will take a hard look at it," Haney said.

Huggins said the deputies gave her the card as she opened the door after telling them she didn't want to talk with them because she'd had previous bad experiences with police. She said Ganz then pushed his way inside, knocked her to the floor and called her a name using a racial slur.

Ganz said in an arrest report that Huggins shut his foot in the door after he told her she was under arrest, and she fell to the floor before being handcuffed.

Huggins has contacted a Chicago attorney who intends to file a lawsuit claiming excessive use of force.

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit in May against the county and Caruana, as well as deputies Andrew McCullough, Ganz and Warmoth for excessive use of force.

The deputies in the Tactical Unit were involved in a high-speed chase in downtown Rockford in November. A squad car struck a vehicle driven by Joshua Lavika, who said McCullough kicked him as he exited his vehicle. McCullough said in a report he mistook Lavika for a suspect who didn't comply with instructions to lie on the ground.

Staff writer Kayli Plotner contributed to this report.

Georgette Braun: 815-987-1331; gbraun@rrstar.com; @GeorgetteBraun

Jeff Kolkey: 815-987-1374; jkolkey@rrstar.com; @jeffkolkey