How MPD’s policy compares to proposal

Nationwide protests against police brutality and racism have brought proposals to reform, reshape and re-imagine policing to the front of public policy discussions.

In Milwaukee, Mayor Tom Barrett has announced the creation of a Commission on Police Accountability and Reform. Among the commission’s tasks is reviewing the Milwaukee Police Department’s use-of-force standard operating procedure, focusing on eight areas based on a campaign known as Eight Can’t Wait.

Eight Can’t Wait is a national campaign to ban police chokeholds and tighten police use-of-force policies that has gained traction in recent weeks after the death of George Floyd, who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer who pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes despite pleas from Floyd and bystanders to stop.

The campaign says these are “policies that can reduce the harm caused by police in the short-term” and said the available, but limited, research shows police killings are reduced when departments adopt the policies, according to the group’s website.

In addition, the city’s Fire and Police Commission, which has oversight of the department’s standard operating procedures, has an item on Thursday’s agenda to amend the department’s useof-force policy, but has not provided any details yet on what that could mean.

Here’s a look at those eight policy recommendations and how they compare with MPD’s existing policy:

1. Require officers to de-escalate situations

Milwaukee’s policy does not explicitly state officers must de-escalate situation.

The policy calls for officers not to engage with force until officers are threatened or have force used against them. Milwaukee officers are trained in professional communications and deescalation techniques and are repeatedly told at the Police Academy that they should always strive to get “verbal compliance” from people.

The policy does say officers must “hold the highest regard for the sanctity of human life, dignity, and liberty of all persons. It is the policy of the department to accomplish the department’s mission with the cooperation of the public and with minimal reliance upon the use of physical force.”

“Force that is intended or likely to cause great bodily harm or death, may only be used as a last resort,” the policy says.

2. Stop officers from using chokeholds or other restraint techniques that cut off oxygen or blood flow

The current policy does not explicitly ban chokeholds or other restraint techniques that cut off oxygen or blood flow.

But Milwaukee police are not trained to used chokeholds or other restraints that would restrict a person’s oxygen. If an officer did so, that would be considered deadly force.

If officers arrest someone on their stomach, police are trained to put a shin or knee on the person’s shoulder blade to control them. Intentionally putting a knee on a someone’s neck is never acceptable, a Milwaukee police official recently told a Common Council committee.

In the department’s policy on prisoners and booking, it states “it cannot be overemphasized that members shall continuously monitor and remain cognizant of the condition of a person in custody, especially when he/she is in restraints.” If medical treatment becomes necessary, officers are required to call for medical attention immediately.

That policy also states: “If a person has been controlled and placed in restraints on the ground, the police member shall roll the person onto their side or into a sitting position as soon as possible.”

3. Require officers to intervene and stop excessive or unnecessary force used by other officers and report these incidents

Milwaukee’s use-of-force policy states: “Any officer who personally observes another officer using force, which the observing officer believes to be beyond that which is objectively reasonable under the circumstances, shall reasonably attempt to intervene to prevent the use of such excessive force, if the observing officer is in a position to do so, and if any such intervention does not jeopardize safety.”

“Any such intervening officer shall promptly report their observations, along with his/her own intervening actions to a supervisor. A failure to intervene in any unreasonable use of force, when there is an opportunity to do so, demonstrates a lack of courage, and a violation of the Code of Conduct,” the policy states.

4. Restrict officers from shooting at moving vehicles

Milwaukee’s policy does restrict when officers can shoot at a moving vehicle, saying it can only be done in a limited circumstances and after “all other reasonable alternatives have been exhausted or deemed unacceptable.”

Officers are not allowed to fire at the driver or passengers of a moving vehicle unless “deadly physical force is being used against the police member or another person by means other than a moving vehicle.” Officers are allowed to shoot at the vehicle if it poses an “imminent and ongoing threat” to the officer or bystanders and there is “no reasonable means of escape” and the “risks are outweighed by the need to use deadly physical force.”

5. Limit the types of force and/or weapons that can be used to respond to specific types of resistance and characteristics such as age, size or disability

Milwaukee’s policy states officers should only use deadly force “as a last resort” and that officers should “accomplish the department’s mission with the cooperation of the public and with minimal reliance upon the use of physical force.”

It does not have specific limits on the type of force or weapons that can be used on specific individuals.

6. Require officers to exhaust all other reasonable means before resorting to deadly force

Milwaukee’s policy states officers should have a “minimal reliance upon the use of physical force. Members shall only use the force necessary to perform their duties and in accordance with department policy.” It says officers should only use deadly force “as a last resort.”

The department allows officers to carry department-issued wooden batons, expandable baton, Tasers and cans of Oleoresin Capsicum (pepper spray). Not every officer is outfitted with every piece of gear.

7. Require officers to give a verbal warning, when possible, before shooting, tasing or pepper-spraying someone

Milwaukee’s policy states: “When feasible, a verbal warning should be given prior to the use of force likely to cause great bodily harm or death.”

The firing of warning shots is banned.

8. Require officers to report each time they use force or threaten to use force (e.g., pointing a gun)

Milwaukee police are not required to report when they point a gun at a person or threaten to use force.

Officers are required to report the use of force:

❚ When an officer fires their gun or uses their baton, pepper spray or Taser.

❚ When an officer uses bodily force that “involves focused strikes, diffused strikes, or decentralizations to the ground.”

❚ When a police dog bites someone. ❚ If someone says they were hurt during a blood draw, which occurs during drunk driving investigations, for example.

❚ After “any type of force in which a person is injured or claims injury, whether or not the injury is immediately visible.”

The policy states that if officers are unsure whether they need to report the use of force, they are to contact their shift commander or immediate supervisor for guidance and direction.