The 2019 proposed budget for the Milwaukee Police Department sees an increase in spending, and an addition of ten police officers.
The 2019 City of Milwaukee proposed budget includes a 23% increase for the Police Department compared to the 2014 budget. The proposed budget for the Police Department, which was presented to the Common Council by Mayor Tom Barrett last month, totals $299.6 million—a $5.9 million increase from 2018. It will also add ten sworn police officers to the force.
The budget will also decentralize the Neighborhood Task Force, assigning more than 100 additional officers to work within specific police districts, essentially putting more boots on the ground. There will be two recruitment classes in 2019, hiring a total of 100 new officers, however this will only amount to ten new officers added, as the budget plans for the retirement of longtime officers from the force.
This comes as the MPD is going through a time of transition as Police Chief Alfonso Morales was sworn in on April 5 following the resignation of Ed Flynn in February. Morales has focused on restructuring the department to promote better communication among the ranks. He has also put an emphasis on training, as he discussed continuing efforts to train more officers at a Finance and Personnel committee meeting Thursday.
“We can discuss implicit bias, we can discuss CIT Training, but at the end of the day those are things that teach a younger population how to communicate to the public,” said Morales. “Training has to remain a constant.”
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Police Chief Alfonso Morales
ACLU Consultant
One area for improvement is the department’s stop and frisk policies. The budget discussed a new consultant that will be added to ensure the department is complying with reforms included in an ACLU settlement the Mayor signed last July. The ACLU of Wisconsin said the department has been using “bias-driven stop and frisk practices,” in a lawsuit against the city.
“The Milwaukee Police Department—like every other police force in the country—must protect and serve everyone, regardless of race and ethnicity,” Nusrat Choudhury, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program, said in a statement.
The independent consultant will evaluate whether the city, the police department and the Fire and Police Commission are making sufficient progress in implementing the reforms and identifying and correcting unlawful stops and frisks, according to the ACLU.
More Additions
The proposed budget also includes $3.9 million for “police vehicle replacement.” This means 50 cars, five prisoner conveyance vehicles and ten motorcycles will be replaced. The budget also includes money for purchasing 25 body cameras for officers through a $35,000 grant. In 2019, the department plans to begin sharing the camera footage directly with the District Attorney’s Office, according to an executive summary of the budget.
Chief Morales noted that the body cameras can help with transparency with the department, something that the public has at times took issue with. Inspector Terrence Gordon said the department will offer “substantial discipline” if an officer turns off their camera.
“We want to have them because it’s going to help us a lot more, we just have to understand how to use them,” he said. “When I say I want to change the behavior, it’s not something that’s going to change overnight.”
The budget will be considered at a common council meeting on Nov. 13. Mayor Barrett has the power to veto any specific items in the budget.
