New Police Grant Approved With Little Scrutiny

What a difference two months makes.

The Common Council spent much of 2020 debating whether or not to accept a $9.7 million federal COPS grant to fund the Milwaukee Police Department‘s allocation of officers to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Operation Legend. It ultimately accepted the grant on a 9-6 vote, with multiple members claiming a bigger conversation on policing was needed. Dozens of community members submitted comments for or against the grant.

Now, with only a couple minutes of discussion, the council voted unanimously Tuesday to accept a new $1.35 million federal grant to fund additional costs related to the federal policing effort.

The grant will fund police overtime pay and a civilian liaison position within the department to coordinate activities between the Operation Legend participants. It also will cover capital costs relating to acquiring a ballistics testing machine ($314,754), four squad cars ($300,000), five unmarked vehicles ($80,000) and “various equipment and software” ($70,000). The grant runs through September 2023.

“Was there a marker or was this simply going through the motion of accepting this grant?” asked Alderman Ashanti Hamilton, the broker of a deal on the COPS grant, on Tuesday.

Finance & Personnel Committee chair Ald. Michael Murphy said the committee did its usual practice on grants that are referred for approval from another committee, leaving policy questions for the originating committee. “I know those discussions were more appropriately held at the public safety committee,” said Murphy. “I think they had a very extensive discussion on it.”

So what happened at the Public Safety & Health Committee? Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic, chair of the committee, had to check her notes. “I did not really have anything additional to add,” said the alderwoman of Murphy’s comments.

But that extensive discussion referenced by Murphy never happened. The Public Safety & Health Committee adopted the grant in less than two minutes, no committee members asked a question after MPD lieutenant Matt Palmer read off the list of things the grant would pay for.

The original COPS grant, one in a series the city has received in recent decades, could become an issue again.

Hamilton expects the Common Council to receive its first report on the police department’s progress with complying with the stipulations in the coming weeks. “We gave them three months to get things going.”

“I think Chief [Jeffrey] Norman has been very committed to achieving those things,” said Hamilton. “At the top of that list has been an articulated plan for addressing traffic safety in the city.” Norman became acting chief after the council accepted the first grant.

In September, Operation Legend made headlines in Milwaukee when then-Attorney General William Barr visited Milwaukee to announce federal charges against 26 defendants in a California-Milwaukee drug distribution network. Through September 22nd, a total of 815 people had been charged with federal offenses, including 47 in Milwaukee, as part of Operation Legend.

On Tuesday, the Common Council also unanimously accepted a continuing state Beat Patrol grant in the amount of $126,714. The grant, which requires a $42,238 local match, funds two patrol officers. The city, under its application, will use the grant to assign two officers to identify threats in coordination with area stakeholders on an interconnected cluster of southside streets: W. National Ave., W. Historic Mitchell St., W. Lincoln Ave., S. Cesar Chavez Dr. and W. Muskego Ave.

MPD didn’t get everything it wanted. Without discussion, the council unanimously rejected a request by the department to be featured on “The First 48” documentary-style homicide investigation show on A&E. The committee spent far longer than two minutes debating that proposal on March 11th.

Related Legislation: File 201460