Protesters marked the ground in front of Wauwatosa City Hall with chalk with various messages written on it. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)
Growing concern over Wauwatosa Police Department (WPD) tactics during the 2020 protests has reached senior Wisconsin government officials. On Wednesday, Congressman Gwen Moore and Senator Tammy Baldwin petitioned the WPD for a civil rights inquiry. The couple’s concerns were set out in a brief letter sent to Assistant Attorney General Kristin Clarke of the Federal Department of Justice (DOJ).
Moore and Baldwin sent their request after receiving information from attorney Kimberley Motley, who has taken several legal actions against the city of Wauwatosa since last year. Her letter to Baldwin and Moore summarized the problems uncovered over the past few months.
Congressman Gwen Moore
“The request comes from three families, each of whom has a loved one shot dead by a department officer,” wrote Baldwin and Moore. “These Wisconsin families have made serious allegations of wrongdoing, including police practices allegedly targeting individuals because of their race and / or involvement in activities protected by the First Amendment.”
The final piece is particularly timely as more details have recently emerged on a list the department kept last year. Although the WPD crime analyst who created it was originally referred to as the “Demonstrator List,” WPD has since withdrawn the label. WPD said it was a list of suspects, victims, witnesses or potential sources of information related to the protests. It documents the names and personal details of elected officials, activists from several Milwaukee and Wauwatosa groups, and even people who rarely participated in the protests. That includes this reporter, the only known journalist on the list. WPD shared the list with the Milwaukee Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).
The role of the police in our society has been under scrutiny since the Minneapolis Police Department’s assassination of George Floyd in May 2020. Local Policing is an on-going series that analyzes the culture, tactics, and actions of departments large and small across Wisconsin. If you’d like to tell a story about your local police force, reach out to reporters Isiah Holmes and Henry Redman at [email protected] and [email protected]
Motley’s letter highlights a variety of tactics the division used against protesters last year. As the marches through Wauwatosa lasted into August, the department began issuing juicy tickets totaling more than $ 1,300 to protesters. While some were sent to protesters identified through video and social media, others were delivered in person by officials.
Inquiries about open records published by the department in January also showed that some people who had never been ticketed or arrested were listed as “arrested” with booking numbers on different days. The “ghost arrests,” as protesters sometimes called them, raised concerns that people were being subjected to fraudulent arrest records. WPD countered that the entries were the result of the report management software.
During the curfew in October, the WPD used some of its most persistent tactics. On the second night of curfew, the mother and sister of one of the people killed by a Wauwatosa officer were arrested by members of the WPD’s Special Operations Group (SOG) and a task force of US marshals. Unbeknownst to elected officials, including Baldwin, the marshals in Wauwatosa and Kenosha had been installed in a manner similar to that in Portland, Oregon earlier that year. Tracy Cole was hospitalized for injuries sustained in her arrest. Her daughter Taleavia was arrested and her phone was confiscated by Wauwatosa officials.
Senator Tammy Baldwin
Photo by Senate Democrats via Flickr 2016 CC BY 2.0
SOG has several functions in WPD including cellular data extraction and analysis operations. Many phones were stolen during the curfew, but few were held for as long as Taleavia’s. Her phone was only returned from Motley after 20 days of legal proceedings. Taleavia said her phone showed signs of tampering. The department said it did not analyze any data on the seized phones.
Subsequent emails requested through open documents indicated that the phones had been taken to WPD’s so-called nerd lab or computer forensics unit. The emails were sent between SOG detectives who discovered Taleavia’s phone had been disconnected from a number of other WPDs who were about to return. It remains unclear what exactly the department did with the phones it said were originally used as “electronic evidence”.
A number of officers in riot and militarized gear are blocking a street in Wauwatosa during the curfew in October 2020. Tear gas was still thick in the air. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)
Members of the SOG also drew up a list of “higher value targets,” which included Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride. This document was later denounced by WPD, however, and the detective had a written reference on his file after the Wisconsin Examiner reported its existence.
Baldwin’s office told the Wisconsin Examiner that the allegations against WPD “deserve a thorough scrutiny by the Department of Justice” so that they can determine whether a civil rights investigation is warranted. Motley’s letter to the two congressmen also raised other concerns. This includes another email in which an WPD detective and union president said the union’s lawyer suggested increasing the cost of open records to prevent information about officials from getting out.
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Wauwatosa is an area haunted by a history of redlining, segregation, and housing contracts that prohibit the sale of individual homes to black residents. Wauwatosa, a city of 49,000 people, has a black population of less than 6%. However, Motley’s letter indicated that over 82% of the WPD’s arrests in 2018 and 60% of its traffic stops between 2015 and 2017 were African American.
Lawyer Kimberly Motley speaks to the press after the meeting outside Wauwatosa City Hall. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)
Moore, who was recently elected to a new special committee on redlining and racial differences, explained why she believes a civil rights investigation is important. “The federal government plays a positive role in ensuring our nation’s citizens are protected from police misconduct and abuse,” Moore told the Wisconsin Examiner. “So, along with Senator Baldwin, I asked the Justice Department to look into inquiries from local residents about several alarming allegations of wrongdoing by the Wauwatosa police force. These allegations deserve a thorough review. “
Another elected official with growing concern about WPD is Senator Lena Taylor, whose district includes parts of Wauwatosa. Taylor was particularly concerned about the impact of the list of protesters. “The only way we can know what is going on – quite frankly – is if there are people involved in the media,” she said. “And I’ve been in protests so that you can uphold the right of people in America to have dissenting opinions. That makes us America. ”She called the list” a little worrying, “but said she was encouraged by the tone of the WPD’s new chief of police.
Wauwatosa Police Unit. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)
The new boss, James MacGillis, starts on Monday. He is aware of community concerns regarding the WPD’s collection and dissemination of intelligence reports on demonstrators over the past year. MacGillis wants to focus on mending the department’s relationship with the community. His approach and tone are a far cry from MacGillis’ predecessor, Barry Weber, who was boss for over 30 years and ended his time as a target for protests and their supporters.
Commenting on MacGillis’ statements, Taylor said, “It’s a mindset that seeks to encourage creating something different.” Still, she added, “Talk is cheap. So we have to wait and see. … But I have to say, I think it’s a good thing to hear leadership talking about wanting to grow into something else. “
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