Police from outside Wisconsin seek arrest powers during DNC
City officials are working to ensure that police coming from outside Wisconsin for the Democratic National Convention will have arrest and other police powers — but that doesn’t mean they’ll be expected to use them.
Milwaukee police had previously said that law enforcement officers from outside the state would function as security, with arrest powers remaining with Wisconsin law enforcement.
The plan in terms of who will make arrests hasn’t changed, but outside agencies had expressed concerns because Wisconsin law doesn’t specifically give arrest authority to out-ofstate officers coming to assist at the convention, Deputy City Attorney Mary Schanning told the Common Council’s Public Safety and Health Committee on Friday.
Milwaukee police don’t necessarily want these officers to use their arrest powers, she said. Rather, this is to make the out-of-state agencies comfortable in case their officers should need to make arrests or use force. The concerns have primarily come from state police, other states’ equivalents of the Wisconsin State Patrol.
The plan is still to have out-of-state police work with Wisconsin officers who have arrest powers, she said.
About 1,200 Milwaukee police officers, augmented by thousands from across the state and nation, will be tasked with providing protection for tens of thousands of people who will attend the convention that is scheduled to take place in downtown Milwaukee from July 13-16.
Agreements with out-of-state police agencies had to be revised to give the out-of-state officers arrest and other police powers to “provide the same liability protections that out-ofstate agencies have come to expect when providing assistance in another
“To me, it’s just appropriate preparation. The plan is that if everything goes well, that it never occur. But in the case of an emergency, it makes sense to me that they do have arrest powers. Otherwise, why the hell do you have a cop out there if he can’t take appropriate action?”
Ald. Bob Donovan Committee’s chairman and the measure’s sponsor
state under the nationwide Emergency Management Assistance Compact,” the resolution that was before the committee states.
Assistant Police Chief Michael Brunson told the committee that putting outside officers in a position where they have to make arrests creates complications and that most agencies that host a convention don’t have outside state agencies in those positions.
Ald. Bob Donovan, the committee’s chairman and the measure’s sponsor, said he didn’t have a problem giving out-of-state police arrest powers.
“To me, it’s just appropriate preparation,” he said. “The plan is that if everything goes well, that it never occur. But in the case of an emergency, it makes sense to me that they do have arrest powers. Otherwise, why the hell do you have a cop out there if he can’t take appropriate action?”
If an out-of-state officer were to make an arrest that results in a citation or criminal proceeding, that officer would have to return to Wisconsin for court proceedings, according to Nick DeSiato, chief of staff to Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales.
“Having our own officers who are trained under our standard operating procedures, familiar with our law is just a more efficient means for that process,” he told the Journal Sentinel.
The full Common Council meets on March 24.