Barrett nominee disparages police officers in email
Former Milwaukee firefighter Everett Cocroft was all set to be Mayor Tom Barrett’s latest appointment to the city Fire and Police Commission, the panel tasked with overseeing city cops and firefighters.
Cocroft had done his job meeting with aldermen and making his pitch for why he should be confirmed for the part-time job.
But late Wednesday a two-year-old email surfaced in which Cocroft disparaged Milwaukee’s finest in a two-paragraph rant to aldermen.
In the anti-cop email, obtained by the Journal Sentinel via open records, he labeled Milwaukee police a poorly trained force who abuse overtime, are more interested in their “wallets, pension and benefits” than protecting the public and cost the city millions on lawsuits over “excessive force, sexual abuse and killing people.”
“I’m blown out of the water,” said Ald. Mark Borkowski, vice chairman of the Public Safety and Health Committee, which was to vote on Cocroft’s nomination on Thursday morning.
But that vote has been put off while the five-member panel looks into the email, which did not come to light during the background check on Cocroft.
“The incendiary comments made by Mr. Everett Cocroft clearly illustrate he is unfit for service to the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission,” said Michael Crivello, president of the Milwaukee Police Association, the union for city cops.
At a news conference, Barrett said he was unaware of the email until Wednesday. He said he agreed with Cocroft’s support for the residency requirement but added that he thought his nominee went “a little overboard.”
Barrett said he plans to talk with Cocroft about the email.
Reached Wednesday, Cocroft did not dispute writing the note.
He sent the email to aldermen on July 25, 2016, in opposition to a proposal by two aldermen to raise property taxes to pay for an additional 150 police officers. He was also upset with recent actions allowing cops to live outside the city limits.
“I state again that I’m Vehemently Opposed to the proposed referendum to hire additional Police Officers!” Cocroft wrote. “More police who are not required to Reside in Our Great City will burden property owners with yet another tax that won’t make us any safer!” But Cocroft was just getting started. “Police officers are reactionary, not proactive, the only thing they guard is their Wallets, Pension, and Benefits,” he wrote. “They abuse overtime and support a culture of no snitching.
“Until they begin to treat residents with dignity and respect they should trim the FAT, Tighten Their Belts, and Freeze Wages! They already cost us Millions in Law suits from excessive force, sexual abuse and Killing People.”
In an interview, Cocroft said he still believes some of the sentiments he expressed in the note, including his support for the residency rule and his opposition to the no-snitching culture among Milwaukee’s men and women in blue.
As for his more inflammatory remarks about police protecting their wallets and pensions, Cocroft said he wrote that while highly emotional.
“I was in my feelings when I was talking about the wallet, you know what I mean?” Cocroft said. “I may have said something off-color just to give them a jab. That’s all.”
Despite his harsh criticism of officers in the email, Cocroft said he believes he can be objective and fair with them if he wins an appointment to the seven-member Fire and Police Commission.
Cocroft, who retired as a lieutenant with the city Fire Department after more than 32 years with the agency, said he worked as a background investigator for the city police department for a short span.
“I’m fair when it comes to it,” Cocroft said. “If somebody’s wrong, it’s wrong. Wrong is wrong, and right is right.”
Cocroft, who retired from the Fire Department seven years ago, then added that he didn’t seek a seat on the commission. His annual pension is slightly more than $60,000 a year, records show.
“I was appointed to serve, and that’s what I’ll do,” he said.
He ended the conversation by asking that all of his remarks be considered off the record.
No dice.
Read Cocroft’s email and told his remarks, Borkowski said he was stunned.
“I’m sickened by it,” said Borkowski, a conservative council member who is a strong supporter of the Milwaukee Police Department. “I had high expectations for him.”
Borkowski said he didn’t fault the mayor and his staff for not turning up Cocroft’s anti-cop blast, though the alderman is a frequent critic of Barrett.
Late Wednesday, Borkowski said he doesn’t know if the email is enough to knock Cocroft from consideration.
“Everything is in flux to me,” he said. Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.