Wauwatosa Officials To Take Up Police Reform Questions

WAUWATOSA, WI — Wauwatosa officials say the're taking up a number of police reforms over the next two months as protesters and civic leaders push for changes to the police department.

Members of the Wauwatosa Common Council met in a special meeting on June 10 to take up the topic of police reform, and oversight by the Police and Fire Commission. Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride came out strong in his support for local police, saying they've had to take up more and more responsibility over time.

"Our police are now required to be experts in mental health, addiction, family counseling, Social work, education, access to government programs, etc." he said. "We should never defund the police. If anything, the cops are the only ones consistently out there, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, working hard out in the world. If those other parts of society and our government want to step up and do their jobs too, that's great. But with the track record those other government agencies have, I wouldn't trust them with another additional nickel from the taxpayers."

Yet, in a June 10 letter to Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride and members of the Wauwatosa Common Council and Police and Fire Commission, members of Tosa Together uncovered several issues with local police, including:

• No clear and confidential system for people to report concerns about police behavior.
• No publicly available data on complaints and outcomes.
• Lack of public information on race/ethnicity dimensions of police calls, stops, and arrests.

• Five shootings in police-public encounters in five years (three by the same officer).
• The apparent lack of culture of policing that focuses on de-escalation strategies, anti-bias thinking and behavior, mental health awareness in interventions, and effective ways to engage with youth.
• No clear sanctions and apparent positive recognition of officers involved in shooting that led to the death of a person.

• Limited authority of the Police and Fire Commission and lack of transparency about their impact on holding police accountable to humane and effective standards and expectations for police.
• Inadequate technology for recording a 360-view of situations such as offered by body cameras.

"Our work on eliminating racial bias in our community has uncovered disturbing accounts of negative interactions with Wauwatosa police officers. Just last week a White man told of how two Black women leaving a protest were questioned by police for heading toward their home near 91st and Center, while he was allowed to walk in a similar direction without question," Tosa Together members wrote in a statement. "As a dominantly White community, Blacks in Wauwatosa too often are seen as outsiders and suspected by neighbors and police of unlawful or harmful motives or behavior. Police should set a tone for our community by challenging and not reinforcing biased views that Blacks are outsiders."

Below are the topics that will be discussed at future public meetings in the coming months.

Equity and Inclusion Commission will discuss the following on Thursday:

• Requesting police demographic information from encounters the public has with the police.
• Use of body cameras in the police department and funding for them.
• Ban of no-knock warrants.
• Ban of chokeholds under any circumstances.

Committee of the Whole will discuss the following on June 29:

• Body cameras in the police department, including a policy discussion, budget discussion, and deployment options.

Community Affairs will discuss the following on June 30:

• Draft a communique about the police department and their oversight.
• Creating a citizen oversight committee for the police department.
• Government Affairs will discuss the following on June 30:
• Request by the Equity and Inclusion Commission for the City of Wauwatosa to consider joining the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) pledge.
• Allocation of non-safety related services of the Wauwatosa Police Department.

Government Affairs will discuss the following on July 14:

• Creation of a different complaint or commendation process for the Wauwatosa Police Department.
• Overview of communications staffing and processes of the Wauwatosa Police Department.
• Government Affairs will discuss the following on July 28:
• Union negotiation overview. By state law the police and fire department are allowed to have unions. In 2011 there were several changes at the state level that impacted how cities negotiate with unions. The committee will have an overview of union negotiations and what the city is obligated and not obligated to bargain.
• Police Department training. The committee will receive a report on the types of training and frequency of training that police officers receive. This is to include what types of implicit bias training they have had in the past and the plan for future training.