Group Founded By Jay-Z Calls For Wauwatosa Officer's Firing

WAUWATOSA, WI — A social justice group founded by rapper Jay-Z is calling for the ouster of a Wauwatosa police officer involved in the separate fatal shootings of three people while in the line of duty.

On Thursday, Team Roc — a part of Jay-Z's Roc Nation — posted an open letter to Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm calling for the immediate firing of Wauwatosa police officer Joseph Mensah.

Mensah was involved in the shooting death of 17-year-old Alvin Cole outside Mayfair Mall in February, in addition to the shooting deaths of Jay Anderson in June 2016 in Madison Park and Antonio Gonzalez in July 2015.

"We are calling for your office to prosecute Mensah to ensure that he never kills anyone again and to immediately outfit all of our police officers with body cameras," they wrote in a letter to Chisholm. "It is your responsibility to do the right thing, hold Mensah accountable for his actions and protect Wauwatosa citizens from further tragedy. Mensah must also be de-certified and fired from the police force immediately."

Wauwatosa Police Chief Barry Weber issued a six-paragraph statement in June, reaffirming that Mensah's actions were determined to be justified in two shootings, and that he is waiting for the legal process to run its course regarding the third.

"In each of the cases involving Officer Mensah, those Mensah encountered were armed with weapons," Weber said in the statement. "Each incident happened very quickly and verbal commands were given and not complied with. He defended himself with deadly force."

Representatives from Team Roc disagree, saying that Mensah's actions stand out as the only three fatal police shootings in Wauwatosa in recent years.

"Outside of the three tragedies associated with Mensah, no other fatal shootings by police have taken place in Wauwatosa since Mensah joined the force in 2015. Doesn't that tell you something?" they wrote. "The law demands that each shot fired from a police officer's gun is carefully and thoroughly scrutinized. Nineteen shots and three deaths in five years are not a pattern of accidents."

Team Roc's public statements regarding the shooting deaths of three people of color in Wauwatosa come as city officials figure out what to do next after an attorney filed a formal complaint with city officials.

Attorney Kimberley Motley is representing the Anderson and Cole families.

Motley is calling for Mensah's firing, and a requirement that all Wauwatosa police officers be issued body-worn cameras while on duty in a complaint that's being brought before the Police and Fire Commission.

Commissioners say they want to consider hiring a third-party investigator to look into the complaint — a move that concerns Motley. In an interview with Patch, Motley said she's concerned that a third-party investigation could keep aspects of the investigation away from the public eye.

"This is the job of the Wauwatosa Police and Fire Commission. If they are going to hire a third party, I want to know the details as to who these people are, because we are entitled to a fair and unbiased investigation," she said. "If they're going that way, we should be entitled to have a say as to who that investigator should be."

The first meeting of the Police and Fire Commission will be in open session at 4 p.m. July 15, officials in Wauwatosa said. During this meeting, commissioners would consider hiring a third-party investigator and define the scope of the investigation.

If hired, the third-party investigator would conduct the investigation into the complaint and present findings during another meeting of the Police and Fire Commission.

The investigation and hearing would likely happen over a series of Police and Fire Commission meetings, city officials said.

As all of this is happening, Wauwatosa police say they are one step closer to having a mandatory body camera requirement after police Weber told city officials he supports purchasing the cameras for all officers.

"The time is right for our city to move forward on body cameras, in addition to the squad videos," he said before members of the Wauwatosa Committee of the Whole in late June.

In his recommendation, Weber said he supports the city buying 100 body cameras while also updating the police squad cameras.

In a presentation before the committee, Weber made several camera model recommendations. A Panasonic Arbitrator body-worn camera, an Axon Body 3 camera setup and an Axon Fleet 2 police squad camera system.

Under a proposal by Wauwatosa police regarding the use of body-worn cameras, officers would activate the camera:

• During all traffic stops.
• As directed by a supervisor.
• During any other contact or call the officer deems appropriate.

In addition, Wauwatosa police said officers "should try to start recording, provided they are able to do so safely, whenever operating in emergency operation mode; as defined in the current Emergency vehicle operation policy or whenever operating in vehicle pursuit mode."

City officials have been authorized by the committee to begin preparations for body-worn cameras.

Officials are also researching federal grant opportunities to help defray the cost of the cameras and data management.