Evers unveils 9 police reform bills
Proposals ban no-knock warrants, chokeholds
- Gov. Tony Evers in a Juneteenth announcement Friday called for banning police chokeholds and no-knock search warrants and making it harder for overly aggressive officers to move from one job to another.
But the Democratic governor rejected a request by the Legislative Black Caucus to convene a special legislative session to take up the proposals.
Evers said Republicans who control the Legislature would likely immediately end such a session, as they have on other matters. The decision not to hold a special session likely puts off consideration of his legislation until 2021 at the earliest.
“Our country promises the opportunity of justice and equity, and it’s time for us to deliver on that promise,” Evers said in a statement. “This legislation is a first step toward dismantling the systems we’ve created, but it can only be a first step. Racism and racial disparities can’t be solved with any single bill or package of bills, or person — it’s on all of us, together.”
None of the bills will go anywhere without the support of Republicans who control the Legislature. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau didn’t say whether they backed any of Evers’ plans.
Sen. Van Wanggaard, a Republican from Racine who formerly worked as a police officer, said he supports some of the ideas, such as making it easier for police agencies to check the work history of officers they are considering hiring.
But Wanggaard said he opposed some of the other measures Evers proposed “because they perpetuate false impressions of law enforcement and jeopardize the safety of officers and the public.”
Evers made his announcement shortly after attending a ceremony to raise the Juneteenth flag over the Wisconsin Capitol for the first time in its history. The holiday recognizes the end of slavery.
Evers and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes unveiled drafts of nine bills, including ones that would ban police chokeholds and no-knock warrants.
Those measures come in response to the deaths of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, and Breonna Taylor, an emergency room technician who was shot to death by Louisville police officers when they executed a no-knock warrant on her apartment.
Another bill would make it easier for people to sue those who unnecessarily call the police in attempts to harass them or get them to leave a place they’re allowed to be. The proposal comes after officers were called for “BBQing while Black” and “birdwatching while Black” incidents.
Also in Evers’ package is a bill that would require those seeking jobs in law enforcement to turn over their employment files from previous policing jobs. That’s meant to prevent officers with troubled histories from moving from one agency to another.
The requirement for employment files would also apply to workers in jails and juvenile detention facilities.
Another bill would require law enforcement agencies to have use-of-force standards that say their primary duty is to preserve life and allow the use of deadly force only as a last resort. The policies would require officers to use the least amount of force necessary to counteract a threat and would require officers to try to prevent their colleagues from using unreasonable levels of force.
That proposal is identical to another bill that Evers recently announced he was backing — and an idea vociferously opposed by Wanggaard.
Other bills announced Friday would require all use-of-force policies to be available online and would require an annual report on all police encounters involving the use of force.
Another bill would require officers to complete eight hours of training a year on de-escalation techniques.
In addition, Evers wants the Department of Justice to hand out $1 million in grants to violence-prevention organizations.
Bills get mixed reactions
Reggie Moore, director of Milwaukee’s Office of Violence Prevention, said it’s great to see the city’s Blueprint for Peace and its strategies elevated on a state level. Among the blueprint’s six overall goals is to strengthen the coordination of violence prevention efforts.
This is an opportunity, he said, for communities to understand how Milwaukee is taking a public health approach to violence prevention and consider how they might implement something similar.
The proposed $1 million grant program is a step in the right direction, Moore said, but more support is needed from the state and federal levels.
Moore said he hopes that legislators will “decide to be on the right side of history.” “I’m glad to see the state is being responsive to the demands both locally and nationally to address racism and systemic violence,” Moore said. “I think this is a step in the right direction, and I look forward to additional proposals both at a local level and at a federal level to address these issues.”
Evers’ bills came a day after Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett asked the city’s Fire and Police Commission to ban the use of chokeholds.
“Eliminating the use of chokeholds by Milwaukee’s police officers is an important step to increase responsibility and reduce risk for citizens and police officers,” Barrett wrote in a Thursday letter to the commission.
In response to Evers’ proposals, the Milwaukee Police Department issued a statement saying it supported improving police-community relations and making police activities more transparent.
Jim Palmer, executive director of a statewide police union, said many of Evers’ proposals were already well established in Wisconsin. But he added that he didn’t anticipate that his organization, the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, would oppose any of them.
Palmer highlighted the “tremendous” importance for lawmakers and the law enforcement community to respond to the protests that have swept the country since Floyd’s death.
“As tragic as the death of George Floyd was it has certainly highlighted the issue of systemic racism and policing in America. Many of these things (in the reform package) are important steps we need to take,” Palmer said.
The police association has long supported an expanded collection of useof-force data. It is the only entity in the state that does so, he said.
“The best way to have an informed discussion about these issues is to have information,” Palmer said. “To a large extent, in Wisconsin and this country we simply don’t have it.”
Accessing that data would help guide public policy on policing for years, he said. It would also provide more transparency on how departments hire law enforcement candidates, a place Palmer said has room for improvement.
“It’s important for us to be responsive and strengthen the things law enforcement does well,” Palmer said. “Anything we can do to improve the transparency and the awareness that people have relative to how law enforcement decisions are made will only benefit the public discourse.”