Bill signed to require officers to report excessive force
MADISON - Gov. Tony Evers on Friday signed into law a bill that would bar police agencies from disciplining officers for reporting colleagues’ use of excessive force and require officers to report when they use force or when they witness their colleagues using force.
The governor also vetoed a bill that would cut state aid for municipalities that reduce funding for police departments for any reason.
“I am vetoing this bill because I object to the onerous restrictions it imposes on the ability of Wisconsin local governments to set their budgets,” Evers said in a veto message.
“Due in no small part to actions at the state level over the course of recent years, local governments across the state have had to cut funding for public safety as levy limits and expenditure restraints have limited their ability to increase revenue. Rather than help with the fiscal constraints that local governments are experiencing, this bill seeks to micromanage local decisionmaking.”
Republican state Sen. Van Wanggaard, a former Racine police officer and the lead sponsor of the measure, said the move means Evers wants to “defund the police.”
“Otherwise, he would have signed the bill,” Wanggaard said. “There are cities where it takes over 36 minutes to respond to a 911 call. And Evers is OK with cities cutting these vital services more? Does he want a 45 minute response time? There are areas of the state with virtually no EMS service. All across the country, cities that cut their police departments are seeing skyrocketing crime.”
Evers said last summer he opposes slashing funding for police but supports overhauling policing practices.
Wanggaard’s bill was introduced in response to calls in the months following the police killing of George Floyd to “defund the police,” or change the way local governments respond to calls for help or alleged crimes in an effort to reduce the risk of police shootings amid a national reckoning over deaths of Black men by law enforcement.
Under separate legislation signed into law by Evers, police officers would be required to tell supervisors if they see colleagues use unnecessary force and to intervene when they see colleagues use excessive force if it is safe to do so. It also bans agencies from disciplining whistleblowers.
The bill was amended by Republicans on a party line vote to remove language that also would have required officers to intervene if they observe, or reasonably should have observed, use of force that is not considered reasonable under the legislation.
State Rep. Shelia Stubbs, a Madison Democrat who co-led an Assembly task force on policing, expressed anger at Republicans in June when the legislation was amended over agreeing to make changes requested by Milwaukee’s police union without broad discussion. A union representative sat on the task force but sought changes outside of the panel’s meetings.
Wanggaard, one of the bill’s authors, said at the time the criticism was an overreaction.
Evers also signed four other bills that increase penalties for crimes against elderly residents; require the Department of Natural Resources to create a general permit for hydrologic restoration activities; and make changes to the state’s environmental compliance audit program and the state’s electronic waste recycling program.