Clancy stands by comments about police
Critics deride remarks as ‘clueless,’ ‘inane’
MADISON – A Milwaukee lawmaker is standing by his declaration that police officers’ jobs “have neither dignity nor value” — a comment critics slammed as “inane” and “clueless” in a year that 16 children have died by homicide in the city.
Criticizing law enforcement is “a third rail,” Rep. Ryan Clancy, D-Milwaukee,
told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “but … we have a responsibility to have this conversation, and to do better because it’s, especially in Milwaukee, just a terrible drain on our economy.”
“Their profession is deeply rooted in systemic racism and classism, and there’s no 20-hour training course that will change that,” Clancy said. “We really need to look at alternatives to policing in a serious way. And I think the most important of those is investing in our community in a way that reduces crime in a way that policing never, never can and never will.”
Clancy, who is one of two members of the Legislature’s Socialist Caucus and also serves on the Milwaukee County Board, made the original comment while engaging in a back-and-forth on a recent Facebook post. “All work has dignity and value,” he wrote, followed with a footnote: “not cops, though.”
“They may be perfectly fine individuals, but their jobs have neither dignity nor value,” he wrote in another comment.
Clancy serves on law enforcementrelated committees in both of his elected roles. In the Legislature, he is a member of the Assembly Committee on Corrections.
On the Milwaukee County Board, he serves as chair of the Judiciary, Law Enforcement and General Services Committee.
He previously sued the city and county of Milwaukee, alleging law enforcement officers violated his civil rights when he was arrested during a police brutality protest in 2020.
Jim Palmer, executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, said Clancy’s statements were “so inane and grossly disparaging that it’s difficult to take them too seriously.”
“The broad brush with which he