Council Approves MPS Police Officer Agreement, But Money Still An Issue

Milwaukee City Hall. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

With the threat of a $1,000-per-day fine looming, the Milwaukee Common Council approved a formal agreement Tuesday to send 25 Milwaukee Police Department officers into Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) buildings. But not without substantial debate, including how to spend the money from MPS.

“I think it’s kind of short sighted and comes with a lot of costs in future years,” said Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic of the agreement, which calls for MPS and the city to split the estimated $1.6 million annual cost evenly. “These are not new officers. These are officers that will be leaving the beat to be inside schools.”

The approval is one of four items the city must complete by March 15 to avoid a $1,000-per-day fine for noncompliance that Judge David L. Borowski levied on Feb. 27. The judge, known for his heated rhetoric, already broke a stalemate on cost-sharing on Feb. 17. Last Thursday, he chastised the city for failing to comply with the state law, imposed as part of the 2023 sales tax bill, by its January 2024 deadline and accused the city of trying to drag out implementation now that the key cost issue is resolved.

The other three items the city and school district must complete, under Borowski’s contempt order, are identifying the 25 officers, identifying which of the 150-plus MPS schools they will be assigned to and the city providing proof that the 40-hour training with the National Association of School Resource Officers has been scheduled or occurred.

Some council members are advocates for restarting the school resource officer (SRO) program, even if they disagree with how it was imposed as part of Act 12.

“Police are already in our schools,” said Ald. Peter Burgelis, citing the more than 1,200 calls for service for trouble with an individual during school hours that occur each school year. “But I think it’s important that we have dedicated, specialized, trained school resource officers in our schools, not whomever happens to be nearby.”

Ald. Mark Chambers, Jr., who voted against adopting the city sales tax provided by Act 12, said it’s a key issue for his constituents. “The first thing they talk about is when the police are coming back into schools,” he said. Chambers said he didn’t agree with the SRO provision of Act 12, among others, but it was the law.

Dimitrijevic led the opposition to the proposal.

“Let us not forget how we got here. It was not the children or the teachers that asked for these 25 taxpayer funded police officers, it was Republicans that think they know what’s best,” said the alderwoman.

She said if the policy was such a good idea it should apply not just to MPS, but all schools in Milwaukee.

The council passed the agreement on a 10-4 vote with Dimtrijevic, Andrea Pratt, Milele A. Coggs and Larresa Taylor in opposition.

What To Spend The Money On

The nature of the agreement and city budgeting does create one quirk: a one-time chance for the council to spend the cost-sharing payment that must be made by MPS.

Estimated at approximately $600,000 for the remaining school days in the 2025 calendar year, council members are already floating ideas.

Dimitrijevic introduced an amendment on the floor to dedicate it to Milwaukee Recreation‘s Twilight program, which provides evening activities at MPS buildings.

But she withdrew the amendment after several council members said more debate was needed.

“That is a significant sum of money that should be discussed in committee,” said Burgelis.

“We basically will be giving MPS back the money they are paying,” said Chambers of providing the funding to the MPS division.

“I do not think it should be included in today’s vote,” said Coggs. Ald. JoCasta Zamarripa echoed that concern.

Chambers said he would be offering an alternative: traffic safety improvements near schools. “We need more traffic calming,” he said.

The council will need to decide at a future meeting how to spend the proceeds. The cost of the future SRO officers are already covered in the 2025 budget, though any overtime incurred by MPD as a result of reallocating the officers is not.

“I’m sorry, but if we think we are going to use this funding to be put back into the police department, I’m not going to support that,” said Dimitrijevic.

In future years, the mayor would be able to include the cost sharing proceeds in his budget proposal.

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