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.