Glimpse of life as a cop in time of unrest
Riding along with officers overnight as Milwaukee stirs
For just a few minutes, this is what it’s like to be on the other side of the protest line, to stand still and take all that comes your way.
It’s around 11 o’clock Friday night in front of the Milwaukee Police Department District 2 station at 245 W. Lincoln Ave. on the city’s near south side.
On one side, Milwaukee police, helmets on, face shields down, batons at the ready, backed by members of the Wisconsin National Guard.
On the other, about 400 demonstrators along with scores of honking cars that form a caravan. They’re protesting the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police and the wider issue of police brutality.
For a few minutes, the crowd kneels and a chant goes up directed at the officers, “Kneel with us.”
Several protesters come close to the police line and shout.
“On our f---ing dollar they will hurt you,” a woman yells. “How many of you have real bullets? You’re going to kill your citizens?”
A man with a bandanna curses. Another man, wearing a helmet, aims a blinking flashlight into the faces of officers.
The officers stand there. And take it. Khalil Coleman, one of the leaders of the march, hands his bullhorn to a 4year-old girl, who belts out, “Black lives matter.”
“(Community members) have told me ... about the anger, and how it is deeply rooted in the historical mindset of some of the community members because of some of the things they have endured.”
Lt. David Feldmeier
The crowd cheers. The demonstrators and the car caravan eventually pull away.
A few minutes later, the police officers begin to relax.
And some reflect.
‘I signed up to help the community’
Officer O’Neal Stamps III said he supports the peaceful protesters yet laments that after the sun sets problems can develop.
“But this right here, that was peaceful in my mind,” he said. “They didn’t antagonize us. They were able to have their voices heard.
“There’s a lot of anger right now and it’s being directed towards us,” he said. “I think at the end of the day we all signed up to do this job, we all signed up for our own personal reasons. I signed up to help the community.
“I signed up to make change for the better,” he added.
For four hours late Friday night and into early Saturday morning, a Journal Sentinel reporter and photographer rode along with Milwaukee police officials, Inspector Alex Ramirez and Nick DeSiato, chief of staff.
It provided an admittedly narrow window into the cops’ world amid protest.
Given all that has happened in the last week — including the looting of more than 100 businesses, according to U.S. Attorney Matthew Krueger — the night was calm.
Since the marches began May 29, there have been several flashpoints between police and demonstrators. In several instances, police have dispersed crowds with tear gas and rubber bullets.
Protesters have decried the tactics. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett sent a very public message Friday when he told the Common Council: “I do not believe that using rubber bullets to disperse crowds is appropriate. I don’t think we should be using tear gas unless it’s a very, very, very, very serious situation, but certainly not with peaceful protesters.”
Police said they don’t use against peaceful protesters.
Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales
force
defended his officers and made an analogy to the crucifixion of Jesus.
“Law enforcement throughout our nation, law enforcement is being crucified. That’s what they want. That’s what these angry mobs are doing,” he said.
DeSiato said during the day there is “generally lawful and appropriate protest. And then what’s happening at night is very different. But it’s a very common message against the police and then having elected officials both locally and nationally speaking out that’s going to wear on you at just a huge level.
“That being said, police departments around the country have a sworn duty to uphold the law and to allow for peaceful and lawful assembly and protest. That is just quintessential America.”
Ramirez condemned the actions of the four former Minneapolis police officers who now faces charges in Floyd’s death.
“Whatever they got coming, they got coming,” he said.
“For the most part, here in Milwaukee, we have a lot of peaceful protests,” he said, adding that if people “want to send a message that’s how you do it.
“It’s when the criminal behavior comes into these protests and all of a sudden things start changing and criminal behavior stars occurring,” he said. “That’s obviously what we focus on. We understand they can blend in real easy.”
Conflict centers on District 5 station
Milwaukee Police District 5 station in the city’s Harambee neighborhood has been the scene of two major clashes, both in the early morning hours.
On May 30, one clash led to looting and arson of nearby businesses and later spread.
“You could take a bag of marbles and throw it at a map to try to figure out where the looting was,” one deputy commander said. “It was a free-for-all.”
The deputy commander said there was gunfire, and rocks and bottles being thrown at police, and the crowd charged toward the officers.
“There was a point where I actually thought we’d lose the security lines around the building,” he said.
A police officer was shot and suffered a minor injury.
Lt. David Feldmeier leads District 5.
He has been acting captain for about a month. Around midnight, seven National Guard vehicles parked out front along with garbage trucks that could be swiftly moved to block traffic.
“I stepped into everything,” he said, including the unrest, the coronavirus pandemic, and the devastating shooting deaths of five people in a north side home.
Why has the District 5 station, near the corner of West Locust and North King Drive, been an epicenter of conflict?
“It is a microcosm of some of the social ills that we have happening in a much broader sense across the country,” he said.
Feldmeier said he knows “the Police Department and the community have had a history and not all of it is good. And some of that has come out of this district as well, and I think people remember that, hold on to that, and it’s hard to move past.”
Four former officers were convicted of crimes in connection with illegal strip and cavity searches in district stations and on the streets of District 5 from 2008 to 2012. The city agreed to pay $5 million to 74 African-American residents to settle suits.
Feldmeier said every day he has been walking in the community to try and reach out to people to gain an understanding of what is occurring.
“They have told me about the mistrust, about the anger, and how it is deeply rooted in the historical mindset of some of the community members because of some of the things they have endured,” he said.
Asked if he has spoken with protest leaders, he said, “Well, that’s a good question, like who are the protest leaders. If we knew that maybe we could sit down at the table with them.”
Several people have emerged as leaders of the main protest group and they have been in contact with Reggie Moore, director of the city’s office of violence prevention.
Feldmeier said the crowds that have shown up at the police station include those who are simply against the police, “others who really want change, want their voices to be heard,” and “individuals in the crowd who were trying to keep it peaceful, tone down the rhetoric.”
He said he understands “how quickly and how big” the protests grew in Milwaukee and nationwide in the wake of the video that showed a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck.
“Everyone I’ve conversed with shares the same opinion. That was 100% unacceptable,” Feldmeier said. “It just was. It was a murder. We watched it. And there’s no other way to put it. Our officers watched that and thought, ‘here we go.’ That was a decision made by an officer in a whole other state, but it’s going to affect us here. And it did.”
Early Saturday morning, Assistant Chief Regina Howard sat in her police vehicle at North 27th Street, a few blocks from where protesters marched. Fireworks were being set off. Horns blared.
“It’s one thing to see things from the command post; it’s a completely different view of things to see things from the street,” she said.
She’s running on five hours of sleep, coffee and adrenaline.
Howard said Floyd’s death has affected police departments across the country, “set many agencies back many years.”
“Police-community relations, especially within communities of color, have always been strained, have always been challenged,” she said. “One misstep, one mistake, one willful act, destroys all of that for departments across the nation.
“I believe people are fed up with what they believe is law enforcement’s ability to act with impunity and have no consequences,” she added. “And certainly, as a law enforcement officer and a woman of color, you straddle both fences.”
She said she’s “fed up with cops doing things they shouldn’t do,” and also “tired of the lack of support for law enforcement as a whole.”
Asked about the mayor’s criticism over police use of rubber bullets and tear gas, Howard said, “I wish that we had other options available to us that we could use that would help disperse crowds, that would help quell some of the negative and violent behavior that the crowds are engaging in.”
She said she’d like those with other ideas to come on the ground with the police to “show us how to do it.”
“I certainly won’t criticize the mayor’s thoughts. Of course, if there is a way for us ... not to use gas, I’m all for it. But I also think that it’s important for us to try and ensure that we protect those members that are on the front line being hit with those projectiles.”
It was around 2 a.m. Howard was optimistic that the night would end peacefully.
“It is OK,” she said. “It’s better than prior nights. There aren’t as many gunshots. There hasn’t been an attempt to breach a police station, which is huge. No projectiles thrown. So I think tonight is a good night.”