FPC to consider removing chokehold ban exception
Months after putting a ban on police from using chokeholds except in life-or-death situations into official policy, the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission on Thursday will again consider removing that one exception.
The proposal, which has been discussed at two of the commission’s meetings in the last month, has the support of at least three out of six commissioners on the oversight board. But it has also received some pushback from the Milwaukee Police Department and the union representing its rank-and-file officers, the Milwaukee Police Association.
Both organizations have made it clear they do not favor the use of chokeholds in general. Neither the Police Department, nor the union, pushed back against the December 2020 policy move that banned the technique unless used in a life-or-death situation.
Officers had not previously been trained to use the technique, either.
But Acting Chief Jeffrey Norman, who is a lawyer, has argued a ban with no exceptions would be difficult to enforce since it would conflict with self-defense rights guaranteed to all citizens in state law. And union officials want to ensure officers won’t be penalized criminally or internally for defending their lives.
“I don’t believe in chokeholds,” said Dale Bormann Jr., the president of the Milwaukee Police Association. “I’m not trained in chokeholds so I’ll probably never use one. But I think an officer needs to be protected if that is his or her last resort to save his or her own life.”
For years, chokeholds have been a focus of protests against police brutality across the U.S. and have drawn comparisons to the lynching of Black people. The technique received added scrutiny after Eric Garner died after being placed in one by a New York City police officer in 2014.
The issue has also recently been felt in Milwaukee, where, last year, Joel Acevedo died after being placed in a chokehold by Michael Mattioli, an off-duty Milwaukee police officer who has since resigned from the department. Mattioli has been charged with first-degree reckless homicide.
Asphyxiation accounted for less than 1% of deaths involving police in the U.S. in 2019, lower than that of Tasers, at 1.8%, according to FatalEncounters.org.
Many police departments in the U.S., especially after George Floyd died in Minneapolis last year after an officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes, have banned chokeholds.
But it’s not clear how common complete bans are, with no exceptions for self-defense, according to Nancy La Vigne, the executive director of the Council
“I’m not trained in chokeholds so I’ll probably never use one. But I think an officer needs to be protected if that is his or her last resort to save his or her own life.” Dale Bormann Jr. president of Milwaukee Police Association
on Criminal Justice’s task force on policing, and Justin Nix, an associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Nebraska Omaha.
Still, such a proposal has support nationally and locally. The national Eight Can’t Wait campaign, which advocates for tighter use-of-force policies, recommends complete bans on chokeholds.
The proposal is also backed by the local NAACP chapter, Voces de la Frontera and the Community Collaborative Commission, which provides community input in Police Department operations and policies.
“It is time that we begin to re-imagine public safety by supporting prevention strategies that help lift the city of Milwaukee rather than harm it,” Fred Royal, president of the local NAACP, said in a statement. “Allowing the use of chokeholds, regardless of the arguments for justification, is not the way.”
In the event of a complete ban being passed, police and union officials have suggested inserting language into the Police Department’s use-of-force policy that reference Wisconsin statutes affirming officers’ general right to defend themselves.
But at the commission’s March 18 meeting, commissioners Amanda Avalos, Everett Cocroft and Fred Crouther pushed back on the idea.
“The whole thing pretty much says you are not allowed to do chokeholds; at the same time, you are allowed to,” Avalos said. “That just doesn’t make much sense to me.”
In an interview Tuesday, Bormann said if a total ban was passed without the suggested language, “I think at some point there potentially could be some issues down the line,” including litigation, he said.
How to watch the meeting
The meeting will be held virtually at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. The proceedings can be watched on the City of Milwaukee’s livestreaming service, city.milwaukee.gov/citychannel.
The commission is also encouraging members of the public to email their thoughts on the proposal to fpc@milwaukee.gov.