News & Commentary

Eighteen community organizations signed the following letter to Mayor Tom Barrett; Alderman Michael Murphy, Common Council President; Alderman Terry Witkowski, Chair, Public Safety Committee; and Sarah Morgan, Chair of the Fire and Police Commission Board about the upcoming replacement of the Executive Director of the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners.

The following letter was sent to the Milwaukee Common Council regarding the Public Safety Committee Agenda Item on the prosecution of individuals for marijuana possession.

The following letter was sent to the Milwaukee Common Council regarding the Public Safety Committee Agenda Item on the Milwaukee Police Department's intent to pilot a program of using police officer body-worn cameras.

Significant racial disparities exist in marijuana enforcement in the City of Milwaukee.  In 2011, African Americans were over five times more likely to get arrested than white people, despite similar rates of usage.  Even as the total number of arrests decreased slightly from 2010 to 2011, the disparity of Black vs. white arrests increased.  Criminal record for simple possession creates a lifetime of collateral damage.  The punishment should fit the crime.

In Wisconsin, heavily-armed SWAT teams are raiding people’s homes in the middle of the night, often just to search for drugs. It should enrage us that people have needlessly died during these raids, that pets have been shot, and that homes have been ravaged.   

The time has come to legalize marijuana in Wisconsin. Colorado and Washington have a

ACLU Executive Director wrote the following letter to the City of Milwaukee's Common Council Public Safety Committee, addressed to the Chair, Alderman Terry Witkowski, to express concerns about the recent officer-involved shooting at Red Arrow Park in Milwaukee.

By Helen Vera, National Prison Project Fellow  

We did not quite make it through the legislative maze to get the 2nd Chance Bill passed this session, but we will bring it back next year. The bill would reverse some changes enacted in 1995, which reduced the age at which a person is considered an adult for purposes of prosecution from 18 to 17. Currently, only about one in 20 arrests of 17-year-olds are for a serious crime, and only about one in 50 arrests are for offenses classified as violent. “The vast majority of arrests of 17-year-olds are for rela