Signed by 35 community members.
Dear Members of the CCOC;
The recent effort to create a mechanism to understand the impact and effectiveness of MPD policies, procedures, culture and training is bold, laudable, and the work to-date is appreciated. We the undersigned Madison residents believe our proposed additions would greatly increase the potential for authentic, transformative change. We advocate for the following:
Table the current resolution until more facilitated dialogue with the community can occur. We request more conversations with the community regarding the structure and make-up of the task force proposal before proceeding with the resolution. There must be a stronger attempt to understand the needs of the communities most impacted by disparities in policing and police use of force.
We wish to see a breadth of leading-edge experts utilized. Few of those most qualified would apply for a contract to review all MPD policy and training, and any single expert or organization would not have the needed depth of expertise in all the relevant areas. A set of experts with appropriate areas of sub-expertise would be much more appropriate and would better facilitate achieving the objectives the community is seeking than contracting with a single expert would.
We want the definition of “expert” to be broadened to include members of the local community who have expertise by virtue of their lived experience being the subjects of racially disparate policing practices or the subjects of disparate policing practices given their mental illness or mental incapacitation.
We wish to see an appointment mechanism to the committees that would be more representative of the community (as opposed to one individual responsible for all appointments) and one that more equitably amplifies the desires of those in our community most impacted by disparities in police contact.
We wish to see a review process that is interactive between community members on the task force and experts (rather than the currently proposed disjunct process of an expert review followed by work of a non-expert civilian task force). Thi would turn the current two-step process into a single interactive process between the set of experts and the ad-hoc committee.
We wish to see “minimization of the use of force” and “civilian control of police” added as criteria for experts sought (criteria currently include only “community policing, law, problem oriented policing, racial disparities and implicit bias”).
Ultimately, we want this process to result in a minimization of the application of force, especially deadly force, by the MPD. In other words, in order to answer the cry “Stop Killing Us!” we want to see a reduction in police involved deaths. Furthermore, we want to see an elimination of the disparities in the policing of communities of color and the attendant negative impacts that increased contact with the criminal justice system brings. We want mechanisms in place that ensure binding civilian authority over the police, not advisory oversight. We want to see a reduction in the interactions police have with the mentally ill, acknowledging that this implies adjunct services would be provided that would fill this gap.
The recommendations that we receive from this process may involve revolutionary ideas that could propel our city’s policing model back to the forefront of national prominence. For too long we have relied on past successes to satisfy the cry for novel solutions to new or heretofore unlistened to demands. What we don’t want is a convenient “expert consulted” check-box to get out of revealing the real problems facing our city. The current resolution risks this as an outcome and is why we respectfully urge you to consider our request.
Thank you;
Stephanie Rearick
Nathan Royko Maurer
Amelia Royko Maurer
Rev. Everett Mitchell
Rob Kennedy
Kristin Forde
Caroline Werner
Marina Kelly
Patricia K. Hammel – Attorney
Kevin O’Malley
James Murray – Attorney
Ted Voth Jr.
Ryan Wherley
Susanne Breckenridge
Ali Brooks – Social Worker
Savion Castro – Student
Brenda Konkel
Wendy Schneider – Musician, Filmmaker
Craig Spaulding
Suzan Grindrod
D. Eric Schechter
Linda Roberson
Erica Case
Laurie Hurckes
Ricky Rumpel
Linda Rumpel
Joanne Swartzberg
Amy Miller
Deb Rogers
Gregory Gelembiuk
Marlene Pearson
Nick Simmons
Bill Dunn
Stephanie Steigerwaldt
Steve Vig
