Is the decades long era of the (Milwaukee) 'police can do no wrong' coming to an end?!  Are innocent (albeit not always so) citizens finally going to be judged on their present and not their past actions?!  Sure hope so.  (JSonline story regarding Detective John Behning's destruction of evidence incriminating a fellow officer) The text messaged work slowdown request by this Sergeant is the first formal evidence of such seen in at least a couple decades.  Those of us living in the Inner City who are aware of when police are and are not doing their jobs have suspected this for decades - being a de facto way of life for many residents - non-enforcement of various other laws being a common, everyday occurance during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s.  Maybe the present Chief will finally crack down on this misfeasance in office.  (JSonline story) The tip of the iceberg of the chickens coming home to roost has made its initial appearance in the form of the proposed $3 million settlement the City of Milwaukee will pay out to Curtis Harris over his December 2003 abuse at the hands of bad cop Kevin Clark.  Hopefully, these funds WILL COME OUT OF THE POLICE OVERTIME budget so as to send a message to all officers within MPD that this kind of behavior will no longer be tolerated.  Combined with a new attitude on the part of command staff regarding reports of misconduct by one officer against another, it may even begin to change the pseudo-criminal, anti-citizen culture within MPD. (JSonline story)
Cumulative Links:
Oct 2009 - $3 million settlement
Jan 2004 - sledding coverup
Dec 2003 - police brutality Stealing more than a half-million dollars, albeit legally, so to speak, from taxpayers for 'non-service' is okay for those whose life long career has been one to "PROTECT & SERVE" those taxpayers.  The most notable quote (for being redundantly absurd, obvious and self-serving) in the JSonline link is:

"We never want to see this happen again."
[ A better quote would have been:
"We are taking steps to make sure this never happens again." ]

Other TV reports stated that there was a fight and one officer was kicked in the head while on the ground.  Let's see ... they're all close enough to get into fights but nobody notices the 'alleged' gun the victim 'allegedly' has in his waistband during the fight ... and then, that fight breaks up and they separate far enough for the officer doing the shooting to not be able to tell whether there is a gun or not ... and the other officers are seemingly out of sight and no longer participating in the traffic stop.

Or, maybe, two officers were involved in the fight while one was confronting the victim somewhere out of sight.  A circumstance begging the questions:

Just who was in charge of this traffic stop?

Aren't three armed officers enough to handle unarmed people at a traffic stop?

Should backup be called before anyone is allowed out of their vehicles at traffic stops?

Should we only allow highly trained SWAT teams to attempt traffic stops?

Is it possible to train officers to NOT SHOOT UNARMED BLACK MEN?

Why is MPD hiring so many White men who are constantly in fear for their lives when confronting unarmed Black men?   OR

Why is MPD hiring so many White men who are so dumb that they can't tell an unarmed and not dangerous Black man from an armed and dangerous one?  OR

Why is MPD hiring so many White men who are unafraid enough to stop a Black Man Driving but then become so afraid they have to shoot and kill him during that traffic stop?

Why aren't White male officers trained better on how to handle traffic stops - especially regarding Black males who prove to be unarmed but get killed due to White officers thinking they are armed?

Maybe Black men should just demand that the police allow them to remove all their clothing during traffic stops to prove they are unarmed and not dangerous.

This appears to be another instance where an officer supposedly AFRAID FOR HIS LIFE but not afraid enough to have HIS HANDS SHAKING was able to fire just one shot to kill an 'allegedly might be reaching for a gun' Black man.  The 'alleged' gun has yet to be found.  The brother of the victim states on TV that this isn't right.

I agree wholeheartedly!  There are violent, dangerous and armed criminals in Milwaukee but when they are confronted by the police or even trade gunfire with the police, they ARE hardly ever killed, let alone hurt much.  It's only the UNARMED and NOT DANGEROUS Black men (filling this page) who end up dead.  (One might conclude from this that Black men are much safer dealing with police when they are armed - dangerous or otherwise.)

• What's the name of the gang that did the shooting and killing?

• Is this the gang that 'owns' this neighborhood between 27th & 30th (the railroad tracks are immediately west of 30th) and North & Center?

• Given the decades long drug dealing, murders and other crimes within this exact same area, does this mean that MPD is providing security to the unnamed gang that 'owns' this neighborhood and from whom the Murda Mobb is attempting to take it away?

• Given that the Center Street Library, Northcott Neighborhood House, Clarke Street elementary school and (formerly) the Urban League Headquarters are all contained within this neighborhood, doesn't this mean that they were complicit in enabling such criminal activity by NOT DEMANDING THAT THEIR POLICE, POLITICAL and other BUREAUCRATIC leaders do more to eliminate it all.

• Are the current Police Chief Ed Flynn and Sheriff David Clarke the only leaders we have who are capable of recognizing and doing something to stop criminal activity in Milwaukee?

Another article on JS Online on July 3rd, 2008 indicates that the Feds indicted 19 members of the "Trey 8 Mob" for drug related criminal activity in the Sherman Park neighborhood.  Tre-8s gang members may have been involved with the 1988 incidents described above.  Tre-8s stands for 38th street and has long been associated with gangs on ?either? side of Center Street since at least 1987.  STP was another gang which stood for 41st street and was concentrated on the 2400 block thereon at the same time. The bill to stop paying fired, criminal police officers leaves its many years long bottleneck in the Assembly and advances to the Senate where passage and signing into law by the governor is anticipated. One legislator indicated on WMCS 1290 radio that continuing crimes committed by officers helped get the mostly out-of-Milwaukee Republican legislators to change their votes and get it passed - every time the anti-bill legislators would get up to defend the MPA (Milwaukee Police Association) union officers, another incident would occur where an officer abused his or her authority in a criminal way.  [ How non-Milwaukee legislators could control what happens in Milwaukee tells us a lot about Wisconsin and the power of  $ $ M O N E Y $ $  in politics - and helps explain why many of Milwaukee's problems are almost impossible to resolve. ] (JSonline link.) Anti-gang unit officers Daniel Robinson and Adam Zieger return gunfire and kill armed and dangerous Nicholas S. Hunter near 28th & Chambers. Surprise, surprise!!  Ed Flynn is going to be our new Chief of Police.  (JSonline link.) Now, the betting is on on how long he'll last once discovering that we Milwaukeans want to solve all our problems without having to change anything we do - the biggest problem being the slacker work pace encouraged by the various unions supporting the workers keeping our schools, physical infrastructure and policing on a several decade long downward trend.  [ An example of a lack of regard for potentially serious problems at the state level is the inattention the State Police apparently gave to the 911 call regarding the wobbling truck tire identified a hundred miles north of us that may have been the one that came off in our area and killed a well respected doctor and health care leader.  (JSonline link.)  Even if that one wasn't the tire that came off, shouldn't something like that have been given the highest priority in order to keep our roadways safe?! ] A second trip up to the Villard Library computers was thwarted late this afternoon when at least a half-dozen police officers and vehicles had Villard Avenue and the library (but not 33rd nor 34th streets) blocked off with crime scene tape.  The librarian across the street at Wells Fargo Bank didn't know what was happening but said the library wouldn't reopen for the normal closing at 8:00 pm.  The news showed a bomb squad person and a cardboard looking bomb under the after hours book return slot near the main entry door and indicated the bomb scare had occurred at 3:15 pm.

So, a couple hours later the police still had everything closed and were on the scene where they were no longer needed - neither the phony bomb nor the bomb squad were seen at 5:00 pm.  I hadn't though it was a bomb scare when I saw vehicles allowed to traverse 33rd street immediately adjacent to the library - apparently only the vehicles transiting the much busier Villard were threatened and needed to be rerouted or inconvenienced. HOLD ALL BETS!!  The Fire and Police Commission has suddenly allowed a new candidate into the selection process, indicating that there is too much controversy related to the preferred choice of Deputy Chief Brian O'Keefe.  This one is indicated to be a sitting chief, presumably in some city paying less than Milwaukee does - maybe it's former Chief Arreola, eh?! (JSonline link.) White officer Joseph Stromei commits perjury, conspires to obstruct justice (OOJ) and refuses to apologize to the Black victim and only gets 2 out of a possible 10 years, meaning he could get out in 9 months - so much for deterrence when it comes to "OFFICIAL MISCONDUCT" in office.  This slap on the wrist proves why police officers have no fear of being punished for their misconduct when on or off duty.  Although his cooperation warranted some time off, I'd have given him 5 years with an additional 5 years probation were I the federal judge.  Then, after a written apology to all the victims, including the citizens of Milwaukee paid for by Stromei and published in a full back page add in each of the three main (weekly) Inner City newspapers, I'd have reduced his sentence on appeal to what was given here.  He should be paying for his highly anti-social actions for the rest of his life - people paid to 'protect and serve' must be held to a higher standard than everyone else. (JSonline link.) [  Edward Flynn, another outsider, was allowed to enter the fray in September and made the 5 person cut on October 12th. ]

[  Brian O'Keefe withdrew his application for personal reason in late September. ]
It appears Deputy Chief Brian O'Keefe, a 26 year veteran with MPD, will be our new Chief - not that it will make any difference, since there hasn't been any discussion about changing (or even admitting) the violence-prone philosophy of our Milwaukee Police Department - a philosophy shared by most other police departments throughout our highly violent country.  Although there may be a lot of comment in the community, he may be the only choice among the 8 finalists announced on Tuesday.

[  Ball, Galaviz and Supenski made the 5 person Oct 12th cut. ]
Deputy Inspectors Denita Ball and Ramon Galaviz, along with outsiders Louis Vega and Thomas McGuire, look like the 'politically correct' finalists making the list making process look more fair.  Outsider Leonard Supenski looks too much like former Chief Arreola for comfort, although his experience in the Baltimore County (combined city/county) Police Department would be an asset were Milwaukee to combine city and county governments.

34 year Chicago Police Department veteran may look good on paper (or the internet) but probably also makes our Mayor too uncomfortable for being too unfamiliar.

[  Captain Harpole made the 5 person Oct 12th cut. ]
District #3 Captain James Harpole hasn't been on the job long enough but is the only one with whom I'm personally acquainted regarding the outrageously overwhelming response by his officers to a non-violent incident on 8/17/2005 - his actions regarding the officer-thug (a possible 'Punishers Gang' member) who was pointed out to be in need of community relations retraining would be an indication of his regard for Inner City residents.  New District Captain Harpole was involved later in another overwhelming response in the area of 33rd & McKinley where 50 officers ended up on the scene - responses that leave the rest of the city unpatrolled for having so many officers 'out of service' at one location where they were never needed in the first place.  (JSonline link.) Surprise, surprise!!  Some of the THUGS hired by the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission to ?serve? on the Milwaukee Police Department actually have a name for their aberrant and coordinated on and off-duty activities, "The Punishers" - wonder if the name was suggested by their bosses (including some of the commissioners) or whether they were smart enough to think of it all by themselves?!  (Read about it.)
[ All this long time and highly evident rogue activity (especially to those of us in the Inner City witnessing it on a daily basis) makes obvious the fact that the Command Structure of the Milwaukee Police Department is either entirely INCOMPETENT or is complicit in CONDONING illegal activities by their subordinates. ] Another case of overkill by MPD - the TV news reports showed several dozen police officers outside the apartment building AFTER THE FACT and when there was need for them at many other places at this time just after bars had closed.  (Read about it.) Milwaukee County Sheriff's Detective Daniel Carter, a 15 year veteran, represents exactly the kind of police officer Inner Cities throughout the country are crying out for.  As opposed to almost all of the shootings of 'unarmed Black men' detailed at this web site, Sheriff's Detective Danny Carter, WHILE OFF DUTY, managed to apprehend an armed an EXTREMELY DANGEROUS 16 year old Black youth who had just killed a man gassing his vehicle on a Wednesday afternoon at the gas station at Sherman & Capitol.  (Read about it.) Was former MPD Officer James Langer a thug in cops clothing - being protected by a 'thuggish culture' within MPD?!  (Read about it.) Officer Steven Lelinski is convicted and faces up to 60 years in prison - he abused the police powers given to him to intimidate women into sexual acts against their will.  The behavior was perpetrated by him for years - some instances were too old to bring charges -- none of his fellow officers seemed (or cared) to notice --- some detectives they are, hey?!.  (Read about it.) A 19 year old man, armed with two guns, confronted police and was killed during a gun battle with 3 of the responding officers - this yet another obvious suicide by cop incident.  (Read about it.) This may be one of the few times an officer (off-duty, at that) evidences competence during an armed confrontation with several armed and dangerous THUGS.  It's also very noteworthy that THIS officer obviously in fear for his life DID NOT KILL any of the ARMED thugs -- that seems to only happen when other officers who say they are in fear for their lives shoot and kill UNARMED Black men who in almost every case turn out not to be thugs --- meaning that the supposedly fearful officers in those cases were not nervous at all.  (Read about it.) An as yet unidentified 40 year old officer shoots and kills 43 year old unarmed David Boone in an alley between 48th & 49th and Hadley & Locust. (Read about it.) Yet again, MPD officers DO NOT 'Protect & Serve' the African American citizens of Milwaukee's Inner City - instead a dozen or more officers invade the church and disrupt ongoing 'religious' services, including assaulting several church members after they object to the beating of the man who had run into the church while being pursued by officers for some 'alleged' infraction of 'some' law for which he has yet to be charged.  (Read about it.)
        (12/17/2007 Officer Shawn M. Humitz is acquitted) - proving yet again that when it comes to mistreating Blacks in Milwaukee, MPD officers can do no wrong.) An article in Sunday's paper proves how "intentionally disrespectful" MPD is regarding violence in the Inner City - they point to the murder rate, especially when it is lower than the previous year, to prove that they're doing their job; when, in reality, violence is escalating beyond control due to their incompetence at keeping the streets safe.  (Read about it.) U.S. Attorney Steven M. Biskupic charges another six MPD officers in the Frankie Jude Jr. beating - this Republican attorney willing to go where District Attorney E. Michael McCann, a Democrat, refused to venture.  (Read about it.) A knife carrying man is shot to death by officers responding to a call about possible tire slashings - not an obvious suicide by cop.  In another incident, a 17 year old boy was shot by another officer after he had 'supposedly' rammed into their squad car after being stopped in an alley.  (The excuse of his going after the gun of one of the officers couldn't be used since the 17 year was still in his car.)  (Read about it.) Inquest panel prepares to clear Officer Richard Hoffman of wrongdoing in January killing of Joseph Evans.  (Read about it.) Fire and Police Commission audit results. (Read about it.) Three separate motorcades involving several hundred vehicles wend their way through the city to deliver 12 thousand signature petitions to the U.S. Attorney.  (Webmaster's online diary entry about it.  JSonline link.) Police misconduct witnessed daily by Inner City residents is 'officially' deemed improper by the Chief of Police. Officer Richard Hoffman shoots unarmed Joseph Evans once in the back and kills him near 24th & Hopkins.  (Read about it.) The stupidity of our reactionary policing policies is proven time after time when mere children have more control over our public areas than do the Milwaukee Police Department. Ex-officer John Bartlett (he's still on the payroll, though) has done it, again - apparently confident, from past history, that he'll get away scott free with this latest outrage, too.  He's the same officer who killed unarmed Larry Jenkins in September 2002, was accused of punching Karl Edwards in the face in August 2002, was cleared of wrongdoing after punching handcuffed suspect Terrance Ward in July 2002 and, of course, is one of the numerous officers involved in the Frankie Jude Jr. beating that took place in late October 2004.
The Punishers (gang of rogue cops)   Self-policing might be coming next September - too bad nobody can figure out how to do it before then. Officer Jacob Knight shoots and kills Robert M. Agnew at 5th & North. (Read about it.) A rally of numerous local groups coming together to protest and take political action regarding bad cops, police brutality and far too many murders of unarmed citizens by Milwaukee Police was held today.  The group from the north side rallied at Ziedler Park on 4th & Michigan and marched to meet the south side group at 6th and Canal - two-thirds of the way across the new 6th street viaduct.  The Milwaukee Police Accountability Coalition organized this Tenth Annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality. The inadequacy of policing and the criminal justice system, civic government, parenting and community development were all highlighted last night around 5:30 pm when a 62 year old White man was attacked by an ad hoc gang of around nine Black 12 to 15 year old males and females at the corner of N. 37th & W. Meinecke.  The 62 year old man was coming back from shopping at Jewel-Osco.
    A few Black adults were sitting in cars next to the corner house.  There is only one corner house at 2403 N. 37th, the other corners are an empty-lot, the Jewel-Osco building and  .  The kids had been communicating with the people in the car parked (in the wrong direction) along Meinecke 15 minutes prior to the attack - the attack taking place on the sidewalk on the other side of the street after all the kids had moved there from the area of the illegally parked car.  (The people in the cars neither joined in nor did anything to discourage the attack.)

Highlighting the inadequacy of:

• policing and the criminal justice system was the fact that these kids were unafraid of any consequences resulting from a criminal action by them along a busy pedestrian thoroughfare in broad daylight.  A pedestrian thoroughfare made 'relatively' safe only recently since the Jewel-Osco big-box store and several 'neighborhood schools' began operating in the area since June 2001;
• civic government is the fact that the instability of neighborhoods continues unabated due to families not being able nor encouraged (by 'for real' governmental actions) to own their own homes - thereby allowing their children to grow up in and become positively affected by a nurturing environment.  That 'living in the same neighborhood year after year' kind of stability allows neighborhood residents the chance to get to know (and support) each other and their children as they grow up in the area - such knowledge also becoming a natural deterrence to aberrant behavior (in their own neighborhood, at least) by children lured to actuate same by peer group and other 'normal' developmental influences;
• parenting by the mere evidence of the attack itself on an 'elder' of the community - especially by these very young teenagers' lack of respect for the adjacent park as a place where children should play and adults relax instead of being an opportunistic site for vicious violence, lack of respect for themselves as a group in choosing to perpetrate criminal actions rather than sociability toward a stranger and lack of respect for the neighborhood that had been becoming safer over the past couple years.  In other words, that parents are not teaching these kids to respect anyone or anything;
• community development by the fact that in spite of billions of dollars being spent in urban neighborhoods like this throughout the United States over the past several decades, we are more and more becoming distrustful strangers rather than mutual supporters in our own compact, densely populated urban neighborhoods - reversing this societally suicidal trend toward "Lord of the Flies" type survival of the fittest social interaction by encouraging people to remain resident in nurturing neighborhoods seems to be the farthest thing from the minds of those in control of the money being wasted on Block Clubs, community meetings, meaningless surveys and Community Based Organizations that spend more time and resources on fund raising than on community or resident empowerment -- primarily by providing the resources to encourage LOCAL residents to congregate together in the absence of neighborhood schools, churches and other LOCAL civic organizations where networking to resolve LOCAL problems (among other things) becomes a natural byproduct of frequent meetings among LOCAL participants who are, quite naturally, the most efficient monitors of LOCAL conditions.

This Emergency began when Milwaukee Police responded to a non-criminal situation between government workers and businesspeople up on North Avenue - the overwhelming response precipitated solely because the initial, responding police officers were White and the businesspeople Black.  In other words, even though all the Black people involved were upstanding citizens (even heroes in the sense of running a business in a high crime area), they were presumed to be threats to the safety of the White officers.

  The incident began when a man and woman (both White and from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue) came to the business and demanded cash from the register for past due taxes.  When the youngest 17 year old family member objected too much, the revenue people called the police and requested 'back-up'.  (Prior to this at another location several blocks away weapons were found - the responding "day shift" officers, apparently due to their lack of training and experience, confused the two calls and somehow converted the 'back-up' call request from a government bureaucrat into a 'shots fired' request from a fellow officer -- so much for the $60 million plus spent on this new District #3 Communication Center!)
    Two White officers were the first to respond.  With seven people (four government employees and 3 family members) in the very small shop, the police, rather than talk to the two revenue workers outside first to get their facts straight, began treating the family members like criminals, threatening to mace one and eventually arresting her.  She was removed from the scene in an outrageously rough manner considering her youth and small size - this action got the rest of the family and other business owner witnesses who knew the girl very upset.
    In response to the arrival of squads with more White officers (11 marked and 2 unmarked police cars were counted at the scene), and while being surrounded by Black businesses owners in an almost 99% Black business area, the bulkier of the two first arriving White officers made a remark about his "gang" now being in sufficient numbers at the scene to offset the number of Black people - some of whom were ordered to get away from the store - almost every one of them a business owner along North Ave.

  As the first Black officer-sergeant arrived, another officer was attempting to handcuff the oldest Black man who also happened to be the father-co-owner of the business targeted by the WI DOR.  The co-owner-son of the business also arrived and was told to depart by other officers.  The Black sergeant stopped the handcuffing and appeared to calm the entire situation - he apparently being the first police officer to understand that not all Black people (surely not business owners) are criminals or gangsters.  Had it not been for his arrival, the White officers would have escalated the situation, through their outrageously aggressive arrest and intimidation actions into a full fledged riot - some comments from the initial highly aggressive officer even daring the business owners to 'bring it on'.  (I've personally witnessed this type of aggressively escalating demeanor, by a White female officer, toward me when arguing too much with her and her partner while standing at my front door on my front porch.)

The primary fault appears to lie with the revenue people for not having a backup plan (much like what's used for Sheriff's evictions) to call for 'informed' help when needed.  The fault of the police is not having people on the force capable of responding to a "business situation" who can understand what level of response is needed.  In addition, the initial officers (or at least one of them if the other was required to secure the cash register in the presence of the businesspeople) should have at least gotten their facts straight before communication with the businesspeople -- they should especially have available a copy of the law the allows the revenue people (provided by the revenue people) to do what they demanded.  Lacking a copy of that 'legal authorization', the revenue people should have been removed from the what was after all a scene where no apparent crime had been committed and the matter, like most others the police constantly remind citizens about, could be handled through the courts. This is not all the police appear to be clueless about.  The NAACP gets on board the train for a change of policing policies.  For some strange reason Ryan Packard wasn't one of those fired - he also recognizing that fact and choosing not to appeal his meager 23 day suspension for fear of actually getting fired. Finally, the beginnings of progress in changing the culture within MPD toward one where the respect given to citizen-taxpayers is at least equal to that given to fellow officers. Eight officers fired, Sergeant Corstan Court demoted to officer and others disciplined over the Frankie Jude Jr. beating that took place in late October of last year.
    [ What's notable is that there actually was someone supposedly in charge at the scene, the previously unmentioned Sgt. Corstan Court - he having been promoted to sergeant just 9 months before the incident -- a sad commentary on the ability of the MPD to identify people qualified to become sergeants.  Wonder why his testimony wasn't included amongst the others in the charging document?!  Was MPD trying to protect him at that time - just as the other officers were trying to protect each other with a wall of silence regarding the incident?!  Isn't that "protect and serve OURSELVES" mentality the primary problem within the extant corporate culture within MPD?! ] Like, DUH!?  Where are the 'upstanding citizens' who care about any of this?! The first officer, Jon Clausing, has been fired in conjunction with the Frankie Jude Jr. beating on October 24th, 2004. (See the details at January 2004.) This is just one indication that the police are an integral part of the 'Best Judicial System in the World' - a system capable of and far too often convicting the wrong people for very serious crimes -- faulty police procedures being a very large part of those 'railroadings'.  (Even though it could be considered 'poetic justice' that the wrongfully convicted person in this case was himself an ex-police officer, it's still not 'American' to have such travesties occur in a country so much more capable of ensuring JUSTICE FOR ALL.) The next President of the Milwaukee Police Association, the union that represents MPD officers, will be John Balcerzak - one of the two officers who returned a young boy to a be murdered by a serial killer a decade ago -- they joking about the incident afterward. Though these days, what with all the bad behavior, it's hard to tell when a cop is doing the right thing, this may be a case of a good shooting by one officer protecting his fellow officers before the victim had a chance to use his weapon. Should this be called the 'Code of Harassment and Intimidation' - further intimations that there are a lot of people in MPD who should never have been hired in the first place -- indicating that the hiring and training (identifying and screening out of abusive personnel during training) is not working, it may never have worked, there may not be such a process. Nobody should be surprised here - it appears that what Milwaukee police officers are about more than anything else is ABUSE -- all with the backing and encouragement of their official representatives in the police union. Finally, someone is asking questions of the Milwaukee Fire & Police Commission - especially regarding their "supposed" oversight of the MPD. This speaks volumes about both the promotion and training policies of MPD - would Sgt. Court have known what to do were all the lawbreakers Black?!

[ It's not surprising at all that Officer Ryan Packard would put in for 9.7 hours of overtime while at the same time refuse to cooperate with the ongoing investigation - he's obviously on the force to make money and not to 'protect and serve' the citizens of Milwaukee -- the questions is:  How did he ever pass the screening process or does he exemplify the type of 'man' the Milwaukee Police Department routinely hires?!  And, where oh where oh where is the Milwaukee Fire & Police Commission in all this?!  Just who do they 'protect and serve'?! ]

Our Police Chief, Nan Hegerty, keeps saying that bad cops are an aberration within the department, but, based upon the fact that only one (or possibly two) officers have done the right thing in the case of the Frankie Jude Jr. beating - where more than 17 on- and off-duty MPD officers were involved AND all of the killings of unarmed Black men over the past two decades AND numerous other officers involved in off-duty bad acts AND the condition in the Inner City where the fear of crime overrides the desire to make money within our Capitalistic Society, it appears more likely that DOING THE RIGHT THING IS ABERRATIONAL WITHIN THE MILWAUKEE POLICE DEPARTMENT! Off-duty officer Alfonzo Glover kills unarmed Wilbert Javier Prado.  Notable also in the March 6th article is the VERY PROPER SHOOTING of an armed man by a police sergeant with 22 years on the force - he managing to do so without killing the suspected armed robber -- the robber eventually discovered to have only a 'look-alike' semi-automatic B.B. gun instead of a very real and powerful 45 caliber handgun. Another www.JusticeForJude.com rally is held on the street in front of the house where the beating occurred back on 10/24/2004.  The location being at the intersection of  .

Most of the participants gathered at the Black owned IHOP restaurant at Midtown Shopping Center (formerly Capitol Court) and drove to the site in a long caravan - some of us drove there separately -- many more walked to the site from their own homes in the neighborhood.  Bob Braun was there with his anti-abortion van - now newly placarded with anti-police signs.  Nearly a couple hundred citizens participated, the vast majority of them African-American, in this peaceful, focused demonstration - twice as many as had attended the initial rally in front of the Safety Building on February 10th.  The alderman who represents this BaySide district, Bob Donovan, was there and spoke at the end regarding justice for all citizens. A rally is held in front of the Safety Building at 821 W. State St regarding the Frankie Jude Jr. beating by police   It is the latest call for action regarding the highly dysfunctional policies still being implemented by the Milwaukee Police Department - policies that are affecting the African-American community and the rest of us living in the Inner City to a devastating extent.

Alderman Michael McGee Jr. led the rally and introduced the other speakers, including Frank Jude Jr.'s attorney and his very eloquent Aunt, newly elected State Representative Tamara- Grigsby, now senior African-American State Representative Polly Williams, County Supervisor Willie Johnson, fellow Alderman Willie Wade, and others.  There were about 100 people of many races, including Hmong leaders, in attendance - more when counting the TV and other media crews.  ( more & (more coverage ) Mentally ill, armed and dangerous Tou Yang is killed in his house during a standoff where officers were attempting to help a social worker gain entry to check on Yang's three children.  For some strange reason, the social worker knew he had guns in the house and should have known that he was mentally ill - an initial entry should have been made by officers to remove the guns while the children were away at school or elsewhere. () It's amazing to discover that the police were responding to burglar alarms - them never having been witnessed doing so around here over the past decades -- we having them going off all the time over that same period.  A Secret John Doe investigation is launched into the 10/24/04 beating of Frankie Jude Jr. - two months after the fact. Sergeant Mark Wagner, who killed unarmed driver Edward Pundsack back on December 22nd, 2002 won't be charged.
[    10/10/03: The DA's "office almost never charges police officers in on-duty shooting deaths."  ] Bullets fly all over two properties when the police kill a loose dog in the rear yard of a house near   - several holes can be seen in the garage of the house next door -- luckily an innocent bystander wasn't hit by one of the apparently 'wildly fired' bullets -- wonder who trained this officer?! John Balchunas, a WI DOJ agent, is shot and killed at a gas station at 37th & Villard - the killers, Anthony Bolden and Dionny Reynolds, are part of a 'crime crew' whose DNA for other serious crimes was yet to be processed by the state crime lab for lack of resources.  (No mention is made of the number of redundant DNA tests requested for crimes that could be resolved by other means - many needless tests clogging up the system appear to be similar to the needless officers responding to crime scenes AFTER THE FACT that keep them from patrolling the streets to possibly prevent other crimes.)  (Read about it.) Early in the morning, after a Saturday night party, Frankie Jude Jr. is severely beaten in the street.  17 Milwaukee police officers witnessed or participated in portions of the beating) -- 7 officers in uniform and having arrived at the scene in four separate 'official' vehicles --- the other 10 off-duty officers were attending a party at one officer's home where Frankie Jude Jr. and his 3 friends had mistakenly thought they would be treated like the normal human beings.  (Another former MPD officer was also on the scene and was granted immunity from prosecution by the DA in exchange for her testimony - testimony that wasn't referenced in the criminal complaint.

Jul 2008 Bartlett gets no added time
Oct 2006 Six more officers charged
Dec 2005 Bartlett still free and committing crimes.
10/6/2006 testimony by Officer Joseph Schabel.
)








• First officer fired

    [ 2/28/05:  Police Chief Nannette Hegerty, who was on the force in 1981, didn't think the Schoemperlen and Jude cases are comparable because one involved on-duty officers in a chase, the other off-duty officers at a party.
    2/7/05:  "... District Attorney E. Michael McCann, who called Jude's case 'horrendous' and compared it to the 1981 beating of James Schoemperlen, whose skull was fractured by Milwaukee officers after a car chase." ] Even though the murdered man was just visiting his daughter, who was a new resident to the block, there were no further details forthcoming regarding the incident after the initial several hour investigation.  There wasn't even anything more in the newspaper about it after the initial Journal-Sentinel write-up.  (The police want us to communicate with them but don't want to communicate with us.) Officer Milford Adams commits a felony on duty after NOT ARRESTING a woman who had been stopped by him.  (Read about it.) 21 year old Army Specialist Charles Griffin Jr., home on leave from the War 'against terrorism' in Iraq, becomes the victim of some terrorism against him by 'Milwaukee's Finest'.  He is beaten down by at least 4 police officers near N. 12th & W. Wright.  On 3/27/05, Channel 12 Nightly News reports that his complaint filed with the Fire and Police Commission the day after his beating is moving forward with 4 officers named.  Mr. Griffin was never ticketed after the beating - pictures taken after the beating show its severity. Neither the newspaper nor the police appear to have 'officially' recognized the mob beating that took place around   in late June - the sheriff had to respond to it -- that area (N. 35th to N. 40th and W. Vliet to W. North) being another one BENIGN NEGLECTed by MPD for who knows how long.  Good news:  A   is secured via police initiative without having to have a squad car waste its time coming merely to get the address and description from the concerned citizen noticing the need - it was all handled by telephone calls and the internal police communication system!
Bad news:  Moving trucks are still backing up over curbs and sidewalks throughout our neighborhood - another illegal activity detrimental to the physical infrastructure of our neighborhood that's still being ignored by police -- they probably don't even know that it's illegal. Additional proof of the extreme danger regarding police chases happens early in the morning at N. Grant Blvd. & W. Locust St. An indication that the police chase policy may be too cowboyish is evidenced with a car ramming at N. 40th & W. Wright - this in a residential neighborhood full of kids and other human beings who could have been killed at any time during the chase. An analysis by the Washington Post indicates that Milwaukee's rate of "fatal officer-involved shootings" IS LOWER THAN THE NATIONAL AVERAGE!?  (Wonder what our status is for fatalities involved UNARMED, NON-FELONIOUS victims?)  (Read about it.) The newly implemented policing 'crackdown' (on crime in our neighborhood) may be evidenced today up near N. 41st & W. Garfield where up to a half-dozen unmarked squads had stopped an apparent stolen vehicle. Officer Kevin Clark, Sergeant Brian Hinkle and other on-duty officers were sledding in a cemetery while on duty during the 'graveyard' shift -- Clark, previously accused of paralyzing a suspect already in custody is injured and a coverup ensues when a 'typically' fictitious Black man is blamed for a bogus chase leading to the injury.  The initial story also indicates that at another time, other District #3 officers were on duty at   "that had been seized by the city, ...".



Cumulative Links:
Oct 2009 - $3 million settlement
Jan 2004 - sledding coverup
Dec 2003 - police brutality Officer Ryan Heidemann grabs a gun from another officer trying to get his paperwork done inside the Dist. #5 station at 4th & Locust and ends up shooting himself and the other officer in their hands.  (Read about it.)

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