Mayor Calls On MPS To Add Police, Fulfill Agreement
Milwaukee schools have defied state law requiring district to put 25 police officers in city schools
Lynde and Harry Bradley Technology and Trade School, 700 S. 4th St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson is joining legislative Republicans in calling on the city’s public school district to put police officers back in high schools.
Milwaukee Public Schools began removing police officers, known as school resource officers or SROs, in 2016. It ended its last contract with the Milwaukee Police Department in June 2020.
But that decision became controversial, and state lawmakers in a bipartisan law to overhaul local government funding required that the school district once again contract for school resource officers. That deal unlocked more than $200 million in shared revenue from the state.
Johnson has been an advocate of putting officers back in schools since he was an alder for the city. He renewed his calls for police presence as three teens are facing felony aggravated assault charges for allegedly attacking three adults.
“I am appalled by the actions of the young people involved in (Thursday’s) assaults in the Bradley Tech neighborhood,” Johnson said in a statement. “It is also well past time for the restoration of police officers at schools. I ask MPS to address this with urgency.”
According to police, the alleged attack took place at 4 p.m. Sept. 11 about three blocks from Bradley Tech High School, just south of downtown.
District spokesperson Nicole Armendariz said the district is aware of the incident, but pointed out it did not happen at a district school or on school property.
“The district also became aware of threatening messages shared online about one of our schools,” Armendariz said. “Out of an abundance of caution, law enforcement was contacted. The safety of students and staff is the No. 1 priority of the district.”
During a July appearance at the Milwaukee Press Club, Milwaukee Public Schools board vice president Jilly Gokalgandhi was asked if the district planned on complying with the terms of the shared revenue law.
“We’re going to continue to work on restorative justice as the main lever serving our kids. I’ve said that,” Gokalgandhi said. “I’ve gone on record of saying that over and over again, and so that is what I will focus on.”
She added that she isn’t worried about the Legislature attempting to claw back shared revenue funds from Milwaukee because of MPS ignoring the police mandate.
Her comments prompted state Sen. John Jagler, R-Watertown, to contact MPS. In an Aug. 22 letter written to School Board President Marva Herndon, Jagler asked why the district hadn’t put school resource officers in place by Jan. 1.
A week later, interim Superintendent Eduardo Galvan updated the school board, telling them the district has been working with the Milwaukee city attorney to draft a memorandum of understanding between the school district and the Milwaukee Police Department to establish a framework for how the entities would collaborate moving forward.
Financial details would be negotiated separately.
The district’s 2024-25 budget does not include funding for school resource officers.
In an interview, Jagler told WPR incidents like what happened outside of Bradley Tech are going to continue.
“Would officers in schools have prevented it? I don’t know. We’ll never know, but the fact is, it couldn’t have hurt,” Jagler said.
Jagler, chair of the Senate Education Committee, noted that the city of Milwaukee has already spent its shared revenue dollars. But he says it will be difficult to convince his colleagues in Madison to support Milwaukee Public Schools.
“The fact is, the law that was passed didn’t have any teeth in it, because we assumed MPS and the city of Milwaukee would follow the law,” Jagler said. “But the fact is, as chair of the education committee, how can I say MPS needs this or that, when they’re not even following the law? I don’t know how this doesn’t sour any negotiations going forward.”
Opinions vary on the presence of armed officers in schools.
In 2022, the Wisconsin Professional Police Association surveyed 1,119 adults and found two-thirds believed police officers increase safety in schools.
But a 2018 report from Leaders Igniting Transformation, or LIT, and the Center for Popular Democracy found police presence in Milwaukee schools disproportionately impacted Black and Brown students and students with disabilities.
The report found Black students make up about half of the district’s population, but 84 percent of police referrals were for Black students.
Milwaukee mayor calls on schools to add cops following teen arrests was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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What the hell does an absence of police resource officers in Bradley Tech have to do with this awful attack on these three individuals. If a group of youth attacked several elderly persons in Sherman Park, would Mayor Johnson be blaming the attack on Washington High school for not having police resource officers? Mayor Johnson is starting to sound more like the conservative Republican legislators he disdains. He needs to fix the mess at the Housing Authority and not worry about MPS and police resource officers. Disappointing.
Mayor Johnson–please stop pushing for putting police in our schools! They belong on the outside patrolling the neighborhoods where these incidents happen. Since when have police really done anything positive to support and protect students–particularly students of color–as their focus is on locking up students–not the counseling and support students need.
Many of us are very disappointed in your position on this. PLEASE STOP–FIGHT FOR THE REAL NEEDS OF STUDENTS.
Although having the officer in the school would not have prevented the attack you would think that the police would have been patrolling the area. And MPS does need to carry out its part of the bargain that got the city more revenue to pay for services. The sooner they execute a contract the better things will be.
Yes, the funding has been committed and the agreement needs to be fulfilled.
I know so little about what cops do in schools but I know I have seen occasional incidents on the news with cops restraining unarmed students and it looks awful. My hope is that cops in schools are there to help address specific life threatening or endangering incidents or those where harm is a real possibility. Anything else should be death with by another professional like a social worker with skills in dealing with out of control kids who are not threatening.
I am under no illusion that every kid in school is an angel and fully understand the personal, familial, community, and even generational trauma that underlies anti-social behavior. I also get that it can be difficult at times to parse what is threatening or not. That said, we see time and time again how cops on the street and in schools escalate situations to the point of violence. Cops should not bear the responsibility for dealing with all problems that happen in schools. It is unfair to everyone involved.