(File photo by Edgar Mendez)
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Markasa Tucker is the director of the African-American Roundtable, a coalition led by and serving the African American community in Milwaukee, including the LiberateMKE campaign.
During a recent Common Council meeting, eight of the 15 alders (Ald. Milele Coggs, Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic, Ald. Nikiya Dodd, Ald. Ashanti Hamilton, Alderman Nik Novak, Ald. José Pérez, Ald. Khalif Rainey and Ald. Russell Stamper) rejected the COPS grant, a $9.7 million federal grant to support 30 additional officers for three years. The community believed that the Common Council listened to the countless voices demanding that no additional money be added to the Milwaukee Police Department, not just through the COPS grant, but overall.
Later in this same meeting where they voted “no,” Ald. Dodd made a motion to reconsider the grant, meaning it will go back to the Common Council in January.
Hundreds of voices that spoke at budget hearings over the past two years said they don’t want the COPS grant today, tomorrow or next year! The community wants something else, and it’s not more police.
The vote to deny additional funding to an already bloated and unaccountable police department speaks volumes not just to LiberateMKE’s demand to defund MPD but to the greater community as a whole. Several alderpersons suggested reforms that some community members support, but LiberateMKE does not support, through an alternative resolution presented by Ald. Ashanti Hamilton. In response, MPD made it disappointingly clear it was not willing to bend in the direction of new ideas and accountability.
We will continue to ask people to reach out to their alders, asking them to support the hundreds and hundreds of their constituents who have called for a divestment, not reconsiderations of resourcing MPD.
We hope the Common Council will hold the “NO” vote and reject this grant once and for all in January. Then, it can focus on community safety strategies like non-police responses to mental health, a priority we presented in a letter signed by over 80 community organizations and community leaders, with a similar resolution being unanimously adopted by the Common Council.
We will LiberateMKE!
What if the police were to develop a specially trained, unarmed unit for first response to non-violent calls? I think it might be hard to coordinate calls amongst multiple agencies.
Does anyone know any practical details about using “non-police response to mental health” calls?
I’m all for that in theory, but what’s the plan? Where are the facts? How many of these calls are there? Can anyone who’s ever responded to a call like this (someone on the already existing MUTT team I think it’s called?) talk about their perspective? Can we hear from a 911 operator about their perspective, after all they’d be the ones taking the call, doing the dispatching and decision making (do I send x or y)?
The general public is not going to go along with the defund movement until real facts and people with relevant experience (this does not intend to discount the experiences of those on the receiving end of police activities, who are already leading this and including their perspectives) can lay out an actual plan with actual details. The Mayor isn’t going to do that. The FPC won’t be ready to for years in a best case scenario. Do we have capable Alders to lead this, get data and relevant expert input (911 operators, mental health professionals, etc.), lay out the plan, fund a pilot, find the right employees, evaluate the program, develop the infrastructure…?
As I type all that it’s clear that this can’t be led by an Alder, it has to be a Mayor, they’re the ones who have the power over getting all that kind of stuff done and directing staff to do it. And our Mayor is literally not going to be able to do this. Nobody who could do it will be even allowed by him to do it. The MKE $$ stream doesn’t want this and he doesn’t want this.
And it’s our fault. We’ve had many chances to vote him out but we haven’t.
How are advocates going to pressure him to hire someone who can do this and let them do it? We could have some hope in the new FPC Director, but remember who he works for – it’s not the FPC it’s the Mayor. So even if a FPC Commissioner wanted this, or the whole board, it still can’t happen without the Mayor.
I’m not writing this to say this should or shouldn’t happen. I’m writing to encourage a realistic and fact-based strategy based on the reality of the people who hold office and their capability. An actual plan needs to be developed – how’s it going to get made?
Lolo,
You’re asking a lot of really good questions here. I believe this website is a news website staffed by journalists, and it sounds like you are asking for an investigative journalism story. Do you think they are up to it?
Steve Baldwin
“ What if the police were to develop a specially trained, unarmed unit for first response to non-violent calls? I think it might be hard to coordinate calls amongst multiple agencies.”
They kind of have this already in the MPD, they’re called Community Service Officers. Good question- how are they being used? What do people already in those jobs think about what their mandate could and should be?
Where’s the data on how many times a “non violent” call turns out to be violent and dangerous? That might be good to know, wouldn’t it?
No, I’m not critiquing the news source. I’m happy these issues get covered. My questions are more like activism – these are the things I’m hoping local leaders who have power to do so ask and find out so we can make progress. I figure local leaders probably read this stuff, but maybe not?
As violent crime,reckless driving and traffic fatalities soar, I simply do not understand the councils way of thinking. I have lived in the city of Milwaukee for 10 years and have watched my neighborhood slowly deteriorate until 2019….then as Covid hit everything has accelerated. I guess the council will reimagine and defund their way until living here is untenable.You cannot send social workers to deal with violent crime like we have here in Milwaukee. It is clear to me that they are completely out of touch with how to keep us safe. Refusing the grant promotes their radical agenda to allow criminals to rule the streets….as we are seeing with the crime wave that has engulfed our city. I was saddened by this decision.