While Milwaukee investigators continue probing the death of a man in police custody earlier this month, several Common Council members want to make sure the city keeps close watch of cases in which police injure or kill suspects.
WUWM’s Ann-Elise Henzl monitored a hearing on the subject Thursday.
On July 5, a man police arrested after a foot chase died in the back seat of the squad car. The Milwaukee Police Department and Milwaukee County District Attorney are among agencies investigating the death.
Ald. Joe Davis says he and other Common Council members should also follow up on the case. He says they need to ensure that the program that looks for patterns of questionable police behavior, is working.
“Although you have officers that are out there that are doing their job, we know the history within the Milwaukee Police Department is that there may be some that are out there that have to be red flagged for the Early Intervention Program. That’s the reason why we instituted it. So this is not an indictment on the Milwaukee Police Department. It’s to find out factually what occurred,” Davis says.
It could take awhile for the investigation to be complete, according to Fire and Police Commission Executive Director Michael Tobin. He spoke Thursday at a meeting of the Common Council’s Public Safety Committee.
Tobin talked about the other death in police custody during the past year. It involved a man who lost consciousness in the back of a police van. Tobin says investigators found no evidence of officer misconduct.
He also talked about police-related shootings. Officers have shot at suspects 16 times during the past year. Three suspects died.
“Out of all the 16 incidents, 14 of them that have had completed investigations. None of those incidents resulted in charges against an officer, and all those 14 of those 16 incidents were ruled justified by the District Attorney’s office,” Tobin says.
Investigations showed in most cases officers were threatened with a gun, a knife, or by a suspect using a vehicle as a weapon.
Tobin says individual officers were not involved in more than once incident.
Ald. Willie Wade expressed gratitude for the information.
“There’s always two sides to the story, and my feeling is in the city of
http://www.wuwm.com/programs/news/view_news.php?articleid=8851
Milwaukee sometimes there’s three sides to the story, because the media gets a side. The information that a lot of the citizens get they get from the media. Well the media’s goal is to sell advertisements, so they may not be as thorough. They may not be as detailed. They may be focused in on the sensationalism of it,” Wade says.
Several people in the audience wanted to share their thoughts and concerns about police shootings and deaths in custody. But the chairman of the Public Safety Committee, Robert Donovan, said there was no time on Thursday’s agenda. So he urged them to speak at the next Fire and Police Commission meeting later this month.
