Council rejects grant for 30 more cops
It may reconsider measure in January
The Milwaukee Common Council on Tuesday morning rejected a nearly $10 million, three-year grant for 30 new police officers, following months of grappling over financial and philosophical considerations.
But it’s not over. Long after the 9-6 vote to reject the measure, Ald. Nikiya Dodd made a motion to reconsider, meaning the measure will come before the council again in January. Dodd was among those who voted to reject the grant.
The federal grant became a proxy for the larger debate about policing in Milwaukee, which was roiled by protests this summer after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
In years past, such a grant would have been accepted unanimously with little debate.
“The only reason that we’re having this discussion about a grant that we have received numerous times before with unanimous support is because the time period that we are in is requiring us to demand more and to request more from those that have the responsibility of enforcing the law in our communities,” said Ald. Ashanti Hamilton.
The council and nation are at a crossroads at which they must decide whether to make changes, he said.
Hamilton sought to amend the measure to include seven conditions with which the Police Department would have been required to comply to receive and spend the grant. However, after a long debate he withdrew the amendment.
The vote came as the city is facing significant financial pressure that led Mayor Tom Barrett to propose and the council to approve a drop of 120 police officer positions through attrition in 2021. If Tuesday’s decision stands next month, the Police Department will instead lose 150 police officer positions through attrition next year, and its budgeted sworn strength will fall to 1,652.
Barrett said after Tuesday’s vote that the council’s rejection of the funding makes it harder for the city to seek financial assistance from the state and federal governments.
“What makes it even more troubling is that this is money for public safety,” he said in a news conference. “Here we are in a year where we are seeing a record number of homicides, where reckless driving is a serious problem throughout this community, where we are seeing break-ins and robberies, and our council is saying, no, we don’t want that money.”
The city, he said, should be able to have a debate about policing in Milwaukee and the country “without literally turning our back on $9.7 million.”
He said he was pleased by Dodd’s motion.
Council members earlier this fall
did not cut the Police Department’s budget, nor did they come up with workable proposals to divert responsibilities away from police to other service providers, as community groups had pushed the council to do.
The Peoples Revolution Milwaukee, an activist group formed out of demonstrations here, has pushed for rejection of the grant.
“This grant is clearly a step back from steady movements to defund the police within Milwaukee and a slap in the face to a community that has decided we do not need more officers,” the group posted on Facebook in connection with a protest planned for Dec. 12.
Hamilton’s effort to add conditions to the federal funding at times led to tense exchanges between council members and Police Department leaders.
Acting Police Chief Michael Brunson said although the department agreed with the goals in the amendment, it would struggle to commit to some of the measures given the drop in sworn strength next year.
As the conversation over policing continues at the city, it will be with new leadership in key positions.
Brunson is preparing to retire Dec. 23, and the Fire and Police Commission’s efforts to select the next permanent chief have resulted in ties. On Tuesday, the council approved Leon Todd to be executive director of the Fire and Police Commission.
In November, the council put off a decision on the grant, citing additional questions about the impact of accepting or not accepting the funding.
The council ultimately rejected the funding Tuesday on a 9-6 vote. The six who backed accepting the money were Council President Cavalier Johnson and Alds. Robert Bauman, JoCasta Zamarripa, Michael Murphy, Mark Borkowski and Scott Spiker.
The $9.7 million three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Justice was aimed at allowing the department to participate in Operation Legend, a federally backed program to address violent crime. It would facilitate the department’s assigning of experienced officers to task forces related to the operation.
Police said previously that it was unclear what effect not accepting the grant would have on the department’s participation in Operation Legend.
The Police Department previously cleared a hurdle to receive the funding after the DOJ said the city could still receive the grant despite police no longer agreeing to an element related to immigration enforcement.
Dodd’s motion means that at the council’s next regular meeting on Jan. 19, if none of the nine who voted against the measure makes a motion to reconsider, Tuesday’s action will stand without further deliberation, City Clerk Jim Owczarski told the council.
If any of the nine members does make that motion, it would be put to a vote, he said.