With the start of 2022 many new laws state laws went into effect. The duty to intervene law is one of them that will try to change police behavior. The law states if a police officer observes another police officer using excessive force, they should intervene to stop it. In addition, if you do intervene you will have whistle blower protection for your act. Officers who do not report when they see misconduct can be fined up to $1000 dollars and/or 6 months in jail. In Milwaukee you can also be terminated from your job for the incident. If you hear of an incident you are required to report it to a supervisor.
The Milwaukee Police Association President Andrew Wagner states “I think having a standard policy throughout the state only helps to engage that community trust that we ‘re looking for.” He continues the union backs this policy which Milwaukee already had for the past 9 years. The new thing for Milwaukee will be the whistle blower part that protects officers who report misconduct.
Community advocate Tory Lowe states the law is a good first step. He continues “if they see corruption, they have to tell it just like if we see crime out here, we got to help.” He fears the code of silence could prevent officers from acting. “The ‘blue wall of silence’ is real and sometimes when you try to step up and make things right, you are met with a lot of force inside the culture. So, if this can help those officers with more protection, this is a great thing.”
I know from my 30 years on the job that Tory Lowe is correct when it comes to officers reporting misconduct on the job. It takes good supervisors and strong discipline from the Police Chief to monitor officers. There was an officer at a work location who told officers they were being a little rough with suspects. After work one night he came out and had a large dead rat on top of his personal vehicle. A second officer at a different location was a wagon driver who came and conveyed arrested suspects to jail. He stood up in roll call and stated I am tired of coming to scenes where suspects have been roughed up. The next time I come I will take the subject straight out to Internal Affairs. That did stop the incidents for a while, but they later transferred him to a different work location.
The Chief of Police can control what the officers do on the job by stating he will not tolerate any forms of misconduct and you will be fired if it happens.
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