Ald. Khalif Rainey
Press Release

Supervisor Khalif Rainey Expresses Outrage Over bill To Allow MPD To Conduct Its Own Investigations When Prisoners Die in Their Custody

Rainey said it was “outrageous” that under the bill other police departments would be investigated by the state Department of Justice or an agency outside the county in case of prisoner deaths.

By - Jan 27th, 2014 02:52 pm

Milwaukee County Supervisor Khalif Rainey today expressed outrage over a bill currently under consideration in the Legislature that would allow the Milwaukee Police Department to conduct its own investigations when prisoners die in their custody, saying the bill could “reduce accountability in cases of prisoner deaths while in MPD custody.”

“I agree with Rep. Fred Kessler, of Milwaukee, who said that an outside presence in such investigations is ‘absolutely essential,’” Rainey said. “To allow the Milwaukee Police Department to investigate itself when a prisoner dies in its custody is like the fox guarding the henhouse. We need to stop this bill before it becomes law.”

Rainey said it was “outrageous” that under the bill other police departments would be investigated by the state Department of Justice or an agency outside the county in case of prisoner deaths. Under the bill, the Milwaukee Police Department would be allowed to investigate itself in cases where a prisoner dies in their custody.

“Once again Milwaukee is being singled out by the Legislature,” Rainey said. “Why does it make sense to exempt the Milwaukee Police Department and allow it to investigate itself while other departments around the state would be investigated by outside agencies?”

Rainey said the bill was an insult to the memory of Derek Williams, who died in Milwaukee Police Department custody in 2011.

“Derek Williams died in police custody and no one was held responsible for his death,” Rainey said. “It was no surprise that no one was found culpable. This bill is out of line with any notion of justice.”

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.

2 thoughts on “Supervisor Khalif Rainey Expresses Outrage Over bill To Allow MPD To Conduct Its Own Investigations When Prisoners Die in Their Custody”

  1. Jack Johnson says:

    I don’t get it: you wrote this dreck but you are quoting yourself in it? Quoting yourself in a lie does not make it true, even with the journalistic standards of the JS and that you are using.

    MPD has a large internal affairs office that no “small town” has. They also have the media and “experts” like yourself reviewing everything they’ve done and are happy to give an opinion. Why let facts get in the way?

    If you believe police are inherently bad, (foxes guarding the henhouse) then you need to get out of public service since you are not smart enough to know right from wrong.

    Finally, Derek Williams did die in police custody and no one was held responsible for his death, because no one was responsible for his death. You want a bill to have MPD investigated by another agency because of a situation that the officers were not at fault for. How many investigations do you want for it? The department, the DAs office, the feds, a special prosecutor, a jury and a judge already looked at Derek Williams. How many layers do you want? Oh, right– as many as you need so you can keep appealing until you win.

    We need the community and government to work to make Milwaukee better, not to create more opportunity for excuses for people to live in sloth.

  2. Dave Reid says:

    @Jack To be clear it is a Press Release (as it is labeled) put out by Sup. Khalif Rainey.

Leave a Reply

You must be an Urban Milwaukee member to leave a comment. Membership, which includes a host of perks, including an ad-free website, tickets to marquee events like Summerfest, the Wisconsin State Fair and the Florentine Opera, a better photo browser and access to members-only, behind-the-scenes tours, starts at $9/month. Learn more.

Join now and cancel anytime.

If you are an existing member, sign-in to leave a comment.

Have questions? Need to report an error? Contact Us