Barrett, McBride lament lack of control over police chief. Law insulates police from elected officials. //end headline wrapper ?>Police Administration Building, 951 N. James Lovell St. Photo by Christopher Hillard.
Since this summer, calls for nationwide police reform have grown ever louder. But meaningful change has been slow to follow.
Standing in the way in Wisconsin is a system where police departments are often insulated from accountability. And it has been that way for more than 100 years.
A state law passed in 1885 gives volunteer citizen boards authority to hire and fire police and fire chiefs. These police and fire commissions are also tasked with disciplining members of police and fire departments when issues arise.
We do not know how many, if any, sworn police officers from Southeastern Wisconsin were among the MAGA mob who stormed the Capitol to try to overturn a free and fair election.
Unlike many police departments across the country, the Milwaukee Police Department will not investigate whether its members traveled to DC for Trump’s “Save America” rally, participated in the violent attack on Congress, or made inciting or supportive statements on social media. Neither will the Kenosha Police Department, nor others in the area. But with on-going investigations into more than 32 members of law enforcement for their role in the rampage, we know that some police officers have been so radicalized by Trump and the MAGA movement that they are hostile to multiracial democracy. They put their bodies on the line to reject the outcome of a democratic process, rejecting Black votes as fraudulent and stolen.
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Wauwatosa Police Chief Barry Weber. (Photo by Isiah Holmes) ((Photo by Isiah Holmes))
WAUWATOSA, WI Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride was identified as a higher value target by his own police department, according to an internal PowerPoint presentation created by Wauwatosa police. The PowerPoint, sent in an email on Sep. 1, 2020, was forwarded by a member of the department s Special Operations Group (SOG) to a supervisor in the department s Investigative Division.
Wisconsin Examiner exclusively obtained the internal presentation as part of an open records request filed on Oct. 19, 2020. It s unclear when exactly the document was originally created, and whether it was used as briefing material by the Wauwatosa Police Department (WPD). What is clear is that the PowerPoint was created in the wake of protests that flooded the suburban city after fatal police shootings involving police officer Joseph Mensah, who resigned in November.