Earlier this month, the death of 19-year-old Tony Robinson shook the Madison community to its core. Throughout this tragedy, Madison’s clear racial disparities have once again been in the spotlight. Several columns, including from our columnists and our editorial board, have highlighted these disparities and rightly pointed that Madison is indeed the best city in the country, but not for those who are black.
But I want to take a moment and comment Madison Police Department Chief Michael Koval for his response to the shooting and his leadership in the community as a whole.
Koval has always been known as a community advocate, and since he started as police chief last year, he has taken on everything from gang violence to marijuana policy. Perhaps one of his most notable community achievements came to fruition in February as he significantly changed how MPD deals with those who are mentally ill. In fact, he even added five new mental health officers to his department to ensure proper handling of mental illness cases.
In this way, it seems Koval would be the perfect police chief to help Madison overcome this period of racial tension. He truly cares about the community and wants to improve the lives of all Madisonians, not just those who identify with the majority.
When the tragedy first occurred, Koval’s message was right on point. In an open forum in Sun Prairie, where Robinson graduated from high school, Koval admitted that he was “desperately seeking forgiveness” for what he called “the tragic loss of a life left unfulfilled.” He also visited and sent a letter expressing his condolences to the family of Tony Robinson. And instead of immediately declaring that MPD officer Matt Kenny was only doing his job, Koval realized that the community needed a different message, a message of sympathy and condolence. In doing this, Koval promoted healing within the community instead of further division.
As the protests mounted, Koval again showed his deep knowledge of the needs of the community. Instead of shutting down the protests, he promoted healthy demonstrations. His officers performed with distinction during the protests. The officers made sure that all of the protesters remained safe, supported them and even closed down major streets for them. Even more impressively, they managed to do all of this without arresting a single protester and further agitating the situation.
Despite all of this community leadership, some are starting to criticize Koval for the recent change of tone in his message. This change of tone is stemming from both a blog post that he published Monday and an email that he sent to the Common Council.
In the blog post, Koval defended the man that is Kenny, not his actions. He felt that it was unfair to question Kenny’s background — or Robinson’s for that matter — when attributing blame for the tragedy. In this way, Koval was able to support his officer without taking a side on the issue and dividing Madison even further. Even though many would criticize Koval for jumping to defend Kenny this early, should Madisonians really expect Koval to throw his officer under the bus? Personally, I would lose respect for him if he did.
Koval further solidified his defense of MPD this Wednesday in a public letter to the Common Council. In this letter, he scolded Madison’s elected officials for not publicly defending MPD. While Koval still maintains that everyone needs to wait for the verdict before passing judgement, he urges the public to still support the department. Yet he does this while still remaining open to the possibility for reform, saying that he is open to the idea of the Public Safety Review Committee reviewing department policies. Yes, the language in this letter may seem a bit harsh at times, but he is understandably frustrated. While everyone is attacking the organization that he loves, he maintains his cool — for the most part — and this is admirable.
Throughout this entire tragedy, I have developed the utmost respect for Koval. Even though he may not resolve every situation perfectly, Madisonians can clearly see how much he cares about this community. Many may still disagree with some of his actions, but it’s easy to critique the actions of a leader when you are not walking in his or her shoes. Protesters should look to Koval as more of an ally in this endeavor, rather than an adversary. Madison is a divided city, and we will need strong leadership like Koval’s to help fill in the gap.
Zachary Walters ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in business and Spanish.
