FPC to probe cop charged with homicide
Commission rarely uses authority to initiate, take over investigations
In an unprecedented move, the city’s Fire and Police Commission has ordered the Milwaukee Police Department to stop its internal investigation of an officer charged with homicide so the commission can take over the probe.
Officer Michael Mattioli was charged last week with reckless homicide in the death of Joel Acevedo, who was critically injured during a fight with Mattioli while the officer was off-duty at his home.
The criminal investigation that resulted in the charge was led by investigators from the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office at the request of Milwaukee police.
Mattioli still faced a separate internal investigation within the Milwaukee Police Department to determine whether he broke department rules and, if so, what punishment he would receive as a result.
Griselda Aldrete, the commission’s executive director, said she was acting on direction from the commissioners when she issued a memo Tuesday ordering police to turn over all records related to the investigation.
“As I have stated before and I will repeat it again — the residents of the city are looking for transparency and trust in the process and I am committed to making sure this happens,” Aldrete said in a news release. “I have complete faith in my investigator to gather all of the facts needed for the Board to review.”
The news release said a bilingual investigator will be assigned to the case, but did not identify that individual. It’s unclear how many investigators are currently employed by the commission, which has been hit with high staff turnover. Aldrete and Commission Chairman Steven DeVougas did not respond to interview requests Tuesday.
The Police Department is cooperating with the commission and turning over the materials, said Nick DeSiato, the department’s chief of staff, in a Tuesday interview. The department later released a statement saying it was “pleased” and “grateful” for the commission’s decision.
At a Common Council committee last week, DeSiato said the department would “gladly recuse themselves” from the internal investigation if the commission wanted to take over.
Such investigations have typically been handled by internal affairs, a process that has drawn criticism for failing to lead to discipline in some high-profile cases.
For example, although a special prosecutor recommended criminal charges against three officers after the 2011 in-custody death of Derek Williams, none were disciplined by the Police Department. The Fire and Police Commission could have undertaken its own investigation but did not.
Commission using its authority more often
The commission has long had the authority to initiate independent investigations into misconduct at either the Fire or Police departments but has rarely used it until recently.
Two months ago, the commission hired a retired federal prosecutor to investigate a series of ethical concerns relating to a sexual assault investigation involving a prominent local real estate developer.
The Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission has been recognized as one of the most powerful in the country. It is responsible for the hiring, firing and promotion of the city’s police and fire personnel, reviewing police and fire policies, investigating citizen complaints and disciplining employees for misconduct.
Those responsibilities — particularly hiring, promoting and investigating complaints — require the commission to function like other city departments with a full-time staff, which includes the executive director.
The commissioners themselves work part time, serve overlapping five-year terms and receive an annual salary of $6,600. The board of commissioners can have up to nine members. It currently has seven.
Typically, the police chief decides on discipline after an internal investigation concludes. That decision then goes to the board of commissioners, which can accept the chief ’s decision or overrule it. If an officer is suspended for five or more days without pay or is fired, the officer can appeal the chief ’s decision to commissioners.
During an appeal, a panel of three commissioners hears evidence, similar to a trial, and decides whether the officer did break department rules and, if so, whether the punishment was appropriate.
Under state law, Milwaukee’s commission can hand down discipline without input from the chief, but it rarely has done so and typically only after a citizen complains.
Time frame varies for internal investigations
At a meeting last week, Common Council members questioned the amount of time the department was taking on the internal investigation.
In the past, the Police Department typically has waited for the district attorney to decide on criminal charges before completing its disciplinary review. Internal investigators often cite the district attorney’s decision within their reports.
For example, then-Police Chief Edward Flynn fired Officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown in October 2016 after Heaggan-Brown was charged in a sexual assault case that occurred while the officer was off-duty.
Heaggan-Brown was the officer who shot and killed Sylville Smith in August 2016, setting off several nights of violent unrest in the city’s Sherman Park neighborhood.
But sometimes the department concludes its internal investigation before the criminal investigation wraps up — usually when an outside agency is leading the criminal probe.
In the high-profile police shooting case of Dontre Hamilton, Flynn fired Officer Christopher Manney in connection with the shooting before a charging decision was made. The district attorney later decided not to charge Manney with a crime.
At the committee meeting, some council members seemed surprised to learn officers continue to draw their salaries while under investigation.
When a police officer is accused of misconduct, the department places the officer on paid administrative suspension. The officer is no longer actively policing during the investigation.
If the police chief hands down a suspension for discipline, that suspension is without pay.
For years, former Milwaukee officers continued to receive pay even after they were fired while they appealed their termination. The law was changed in 2008 to immediately stop paying officers who were fired if they were charged with felonies or serious misdemeanors.
Lawmakers went further in 2009 and ended pay for all Milwaukee officers as soon as they were fired, regardless of the reason for their dismissal. An effort in 2011 by Republican state lawmakers to revert the rules back to the 2008 standard was vetoed by then-Gov. Scott Walker.