Milwaukee Police Department Second Statement Regarding Allegations of Fake Vaccination Cards

MILWAUKEE, WI – Recently, a television news station aired a story titled, “MPD lieutenant under investigation for fraudulent vaccination records may avoid discipline.” This is a follow-up piece to a story by that same television news station, titled, “I-Team: 3 MPD officers to face discipline for creating fake COVID-19 vaccination cards.”

On February 16, 2022, the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) issued a press release regarding the first piece clarifying a false statement that three individuals “will be disciplined” for allegedly creating and using fraudulent COVID-19 vaccinations records to attend out of state training. Because the investigation was, and still is, under investigation it was, and still is, inaccurate to declare any member “will be disciplined.”

Traditionally, MPD does not address open internal investigations, let alone on two separate occasions. However, once again due to the nature of the reporting on this case and the seriousness of the allegations, it is important to once again clarify the record.

First, the new story asserts that the Inspector General cannot complete the Inspector General’s investigation because MPD cannot serve an internal investigation related document on a member who is on a leave of absence. This is inaccurate. There are limited circumstances that a member may be served while on leave of absence. That information had been relayed to the Inspector General three days prior to the release of this news story. In fact, MPD has attempted on several occasions to serve this member while on leave of absence.

Second, MPD’s internal investigation and any investigation by the Inspector General are governed by separate rules, overseen by separate bodies and maintain their own unique timelines. There is nothing that precludes the Inspector General from completing that investigation without receiving the work product of MPD’s internal investigation and vice versa.

Third, while it is true, the investigation includes an allegation that a member falsely created a vaccination card, as of the release of this press release, MPD is not aware of any evidence to support that allegation.

Finally, the Milwaukee Police Department takes all of our internal investigations extremely seriously and holds our members to the highest level of integrity. If a member violates the code of conduct they will be held accountable.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.