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Proposed legislation aims at addressing police abuse of power

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Also by Richie Rathsack:

Doyle creates new administrative post (November 29, 2007)
Proposed legislation aims at addressing police abuse of power (November 28, 2007)
State justice's hearing commences (November 20, 2007)
State may insist on fire-safe cigs (November 13, 2007)
Bill would protect doctors who volunteer (November 12, 2007)

by Richie Rathsack

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Law About Fired Policemen Getting Paid

Legislators hope to pass a bill addressing a 27-year-old law allowing police officers in Milwaukee to receive pay after being fired.

Current law permits fired police officers to receive both pay and benefits until the Fire and Police Commission can hear their appeals. The time it takes from when an officer is fired to when the hearing occurs ranges from six to eight months.

Rep. Barbara Toles, D-Milwaukee, who says she has been working on this issue for years, thinks the law is no longer needed and has been abused.

"We're talking about people who are supposed to be protecting others," Toles said. "No one else gets paid after being terminated, and these people have committed some serious crimes."

A high profile case involving three off-duty Milwaukee police officers brought the issue back into public scrutiny. The officers were involved in the severe beating of Frank Jude Jr., who was leaving a party at another police officer's home in October 2004. The men will be sentenced in federal court Thursday. One of the men in the Jude case also called in a bomb threat to the precinct, according to Toles.

Among the crimes officers have been fired for are bribery, drug dealing and sexual assault.

While awaiting trial, Toles said these officers continue to receive pay and have found ways to abuse this law in order to receive even more pay.

"If the court date was tomorrow, the officer could call today and say I am not coming tomorrow — not even have to give an excuse — and the court case would go to the next scheduled date," Toles said. "This could be a few months down the line, and all the while the officer would be continuing to receive pay."

Milwaukee Police Association President John Balcerzak acknowledges problems within present law, but feels the issue stems from the unique powers of the Milwaukee police chief.

"The police chief is the only one that can fire someone. Everyone else has to have a hearing," Balcerzak said. "You could have a chief that is judge, jury and executioner — that is horribly wrong."

According to Balcerzak, other municipalities require an investigation by the Fire and Police Commission before an officer may be fired. He thinks the legislation proposed by Toles would not protect officers found to be not at fault.

"We've had four officers who had been fired get their jobs back," Balcerzak said. "That is a heck of a penalty for someone that gets their job back."

The law was first passed in 1980 because police chiefs in Milwaukee were then given a lifetime appointment and could use their position to abuse power. The police chief serving in 1980, Toles said, was known to fire officers arbitrarily. Legislators realized this was happening and addressed it by creating a police officer's bill of rights.

The legislators, however, did not think about how this might be abused in the future, Toles added.

"They didn't consider how people could abuse the law at the time, but now things have changed. When that chief's tenure ended in 1984, it was changed to a seven year appointment instead of life appointment," Toles said. "At the point when the next chief's tenure ended, they changed the tenure again to four years."

Toles wants the pay to stop when an officer is fired, but Balcerzak thinks that should only happen when an officer is charged with a felony.

"Ultimately I want to resolve this issue," Balcerzak said. "We don't agree on where the pay stops. We feel it is too [grievous] for the ones that fall through the cracks, who are fired for a rule violation."

Rep. Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, and Rep. Mark Honadel, R-Milwaukee, who are also working on the legislation, did not return calls seeking comment as of press time.

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Anonymous (November 28, 2007 @ 8:11am):

What about Madison police? Under Noble Wray, they're terrible.

Anonymous (November 28, 2007 @ 3:14pm):

Yea the Madison PO are some of the most racist in the country (studies have shown we have the worst disparate incarceration rate in the country.) "Progressive" Madison where you want thirty new cop positions when crime has come substantially down just because more 'people from chicago' (direct quote from Mayor's citizen meeting on the West Side) have moved into Madison. Just for people don't know "people from chicago" is the way stupid white-liberals say "black people" without saying it.

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