I’m sure the police had this on their agenda for quite some time, but the public was just notified yesterday of the meeting tomorrow. FAIL! A new report with new recommendations (that I don’t think the committee has seen) is out.
LATE NOTICE
This is absurd. Admittedly, me and about 20 people who follow closely had this on their calendars . . . but, ahem . . . this doesn’t seem like a good way to have the community participate.
Yesterday at 2:44:
Additional Meeting
Meeting: Common Council Organizational Committee Subcommittee on Police & Community Relations
Date: Wednesday, April 12, 2017 at 7:00pm
Location: City-County Building
210 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
Room 201
Madison, WI 53703
This is just embarrassing.
AGENDA AND (NO) MINUTES
Here’s what’s on the agenda
– Presentation: Overview of EAP Services for Police Officers – Tresa Martinez, EAP Administrator – Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM)
– Discussion and Drafting of CCOC Subcommittee on Police & Community Relations Report and
Recommendations (Legislative File 44674 – Attachments)
– Discussion: Scheduling Possible Additional Meeting(s) (if needed)
IF NEEDED?!?!?!?! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha . . . .
At the last meeting they talked about . . . nevermind, there’s no minutes for that meeting.
NEW REPORT
There is a new draft of the report, dated yesterday. The new draft says their 5 recommendations are as follows:
Surveillance Policies – The Subcommittee recommends the Common Council develop a policy governing the purchase and use of all surveillance equipment employed by all City Agencies
including MPD. The policies will also address data management and storage.
Safeguarding People Exhibiting Signs of Mental Illness or Intoxication Who Are Resistant to Medical Assistance or Arrest – The Common Council of the City of Madison will request that MPD issue a SOPthat explicitly details the goals, tactics, policies, and procedures to deal with a person in crisis who is resistant to medical assistance or arrest. The Subcommittee would request that MPD consider incorporating Fyfe’s principles for interacting with resistant incapacitated subjects. Those principles include
1) keeping a safe distance,
2) avoiding unnecessary and provocative displays of force,
3) working with back-up,
4) one office should interact with the subject, others should remain quiet,
5) the officer interacting with the subject is in charge, no one else should take unplanned action,
6) make it clear officers are there to help not threaten, and finally
7) officers should take as much time as necessary for an arrest, even hours or days if that is that is what is required.
Use of Force Policies – The Common Council of the City of Madison will request that the MPD issue updated MPD Use of Force and the Use of Deadly Force policies that explicitly incorporate the duty to intercede and de-escalate.
Waiting for Back-Up – The Subcommittee requests MPD to reinstate a back-up policy most recently utilized in November 2016. That policy required officers to wait for backup before physically approaching any involved subject(s), unless an officer reasonably believes there is a substantial risk of bodily injury to any person(s).
“Officers shall not disregard backup, if so assigned by dispatch. Additionally, officers shall wait for backup before physically approaching any involved subject(s), unless an officer reasonably believes there is a significant risk of bodily injury to any person(s).”
Communication with City Council – Chief of Police will provide quarterly written and verbal updates to City Council (verbal as a standing quarterly agenda item at either Council or the Common Council Organizational Committee) to include the following information:
1) any changes to Code of conduct and SOP,
2) any changes in training,
3) any new initiatives,
4) MPD arrest data by reason for arrest and race/ethnicity,
4) parking enforcement revenues, and
5) use of force incidents.
COMMITTEE OBJECTIVES
Is this fulfilling their objectives? Or should we be asking for more?
a) Provide a forum for residents and members of the Council to discuss police and
community goals, priorities and interactions. Build a deeper understanding of policing for
elected officials and members of the public; and,
b) Explore models and options from other communities related to policing and other
police policies; and,
c) Provide a forum for information sharing regarding police training, policies, data and trends including detailed presentations from the MPD related to policing; and,
d) Make recommendations to the Council on short-term policy, procedure and training
while waiting for the results of the Ad Hoc Review of Police Policies and Procedures.
In fairness to the committee – I think they are probably first seeing this draft along with us and will likely have changes . . .
CALL TO ATTEND THE MEETING FROM COMMUNITY MEMBERS
This was written before the meeting materials came out, but I don’t think that changes anything.
Hi All,
We’re asking that everyone possible come to the next meeting of the CCOC Subcommittee on Police & Community Relations on
Wednesday, April 12, 2017, 7:00 pm
Room 201, City-County Building
210 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.This call is going out not only to CRT folks, but also anyone else who recognizes the need for change in MPD.
Alders are formulating recommendations regarding MPD, for the Council to pass. The Council has the power to order MPD to change policies, training, and practices. It has the power to bring about meaningful changes.
However, politicians, including alders, are afraid to do anything that could rock the boat – anything that could anger police “supporters”, etc. Most politicians are invertebrates. So they’ll be inclined to offer totally useless and vague recommendations – such as suggesting that MPD provide them with more reports.
I personally like and appreciate all the alders on this subcommittee. But they won’t do anything useful unless pushed. If a lot of members of the public turn up and speak out, we can get some meaningful measures with teeth. Otherwise, it won’t happen. And this Wednesday is the specific meeting when it needs to happen.
So please come to this meeting. Inform others of it. Get others to come with you. We need major turnout.
As an added motivator (for why this is important), I’m including here an updated version of a graph I’ve provided previously.
– Update of my graph (now including 2016) showing per capita rate of fatal officer involved shootings for Madison Police Department versus NYPD. And yes, the increase in rate for MPD over this time period is statistically significant (and cannot be explained by variables such as violent crime rate, which has remained largely flat).
– From the Mapping Police Violence Project
Data on per capita rate of officer involved fatalities across large U.S. cities from Jan, 2013 through Dec, 2016. The following is per 1,000,000 population.
New York City: 7.34
U.S. average: 14.54
Milwaukee 16.81
100 largest U.S. cities average: 20.79
Chicago: 22.26
Madison: 25.73So come to this meeting. As a community, we will not accept the rising rate of fatal officer involved shootings in Madison. Alders need to take real action to stop this.
