MADISON,
Wis. (AP) — An oversight board demoted Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso
Morales after questioning how he handled multiple incidents, including
ordering officers to fire tear gas and pepper spray at protesters
demonstrating over George Floyd’s death.
The
city’s Fire and Police Commission unanimously voted Thursday evening to
demote Morales to captain after three-and-a-half years on the job.
The
chief’s attorney, Franklyn Gimbel, says Morales’ relationship with the
commission has been deteriorating since he refused the chairman’s demand
to fire an officer involved in the arrest of Milwaukee Bucks player
Sterling Brown in January 2018. Most recently the commission criticized
Morales for authorizing tear gas to disperse protesters. The board has
also raised questions over how the department has policed Black
communities.
Morales joined the Milwaukee department in 1993 and was appointed chief in February 2018.
“His
conduct is unbecoming, filled with ethical lapses and flawed decisions,
making it inconsistent with someone who has the privilege of leading
the Milwaukee Police Department,” Commissioner Raymond Robakowski said.
The board named Assistant Police Chief Michael J. Brunson Sr. as acting chief.
Milwaukee
Mayor Tom Barrett said Thursday night he was angered by the
commission’s action and that Morales should have been given a chance to
respond to directives the panel had issued.
“The
discussion surrounding this decision tonight was completely lacking in
transparency. The action taken by the commission tonight was not good
government,” Barrett said.
The decision comes as Wisconsin’s largest police department grapples with a surge in gun violence and plans security for a scaled-down Democratic National Convention.
A
number of police chiefs across the country have left their jobs as
pressure mounts to rethink American policing following Floyd’s death,
including Erika Shields in Atlanta, Jami Resch in Portland, Oregon, and
William Smith in Richmond, Virginia.
Milwaukee’s
mayor had urged the commission to slow down, but Morales’ attorney,
Franklyn Gimbel, said the odds appeared to be stacked against the chief.
“I’m
unaware of him having any supporters (on the commission),” Gimbel,
said. “There seems like a cumulative sense that they want to dump the
guy.”
Gimbel declined comment to The Associated Press after the meeting.
Morales
is Latino and the majority of the commissioners are Black. His
relationship with the board has deteriorated since it named him to the
post in February 2018.
Gimbel said problems began when officers arrested Brown for parking illegally in January 2018. Officers swarmed the Bucks guard and used a stun gun on him
when he didn’t remove his hands from his pockets. The commission’s
chairman, Steven DeVougas, who is Black, told Morales to fire one of the
officers involved but Morales refused, the attorney said.
“From there it got stressful,” Gimbel said. “DeVougas viewed him as not being a team player.”
In
February, the Milwaukee Police Association, which represents
rank-and-file officers, filed an ethics complaint against DeVougas
alleging he accompanied a real estate developer during an interview with
police who suspected the developer of sexual assault. DeVougas
practices real estate law for the developer’s business. The police
association argued DeVougas’ presence during the interview was a misuse
of his position as commission chairman. A city ethics board is
investigating.
Fast forward to May and June, when Milwaukee police used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse protesters demonstrating over Floyd’s death.
Floyd, who was Black, died on Memorial Day in Minneapolis after a white
police officer pressed his knee into his neck for nearly eight minutes.
The
decision to use tear gas and pepper spray drew criticism from
Democratic Mayor Tom Barrett. The commission in July banned the police
department from using tear gas, prompting a number of departments from
across the state slated to help with convention security to rescind their support.
The commission on July 20 ordered Morales to produce reams of records
related to multiple incidents, including the decision to tear gas and
pepper spray protesters, Brown’s arrest and the June arrest of a Black
activist on suspicion of burglary. The panel also demanded Morales draft
community policing standards, develop a discipline matrix to clarify
how officers are disciplined and draft a policy requiring officers to
wear face masks during the pandemic.
“We
are in the midst of an urgent overdue reckoning on race and policing in
this country,” the commission said in a statement Monday. “Only with
transparency, accountability and truth will we move on as a society.
This discussion may make some uncomfortable, and may bluntly scare
others.”
None of the commissioners, including DeVougas, returned messages Thursday.
The
commission gave Morales a week to respond to some of the requests and
threatened to discipline or fire him if he didn’t comply. Gimbel has
said those expectations are ridiculous; he noted the commission gave
Morales’ predecessor, Ed Flynn, 50 days to respond to a similar request
for information on the department’s pursuit policy.
The
police department Wednesday blasted the orders as vague, invalid and
possibly illegal. The department noted the orders weren’t approved
during an open meeting and the requests seek information from still-open
criminal and internal investigations.
The
orders also could violate a 2018 settlement with the American Civil
Liberties Union over stop-and-frisk policies because the department
would have to release confidential information it has been sharing with a
consultant group monitoring compliance with the settlement, the
department said.
“The
(orders) attempt to paint a picture that MPD has been non-compliant or
outright insubordinate with the FPC,” the department said in a
statement. “The manner in which business is being conducted at the FPC
causes alarm.”
Barrett,
the mayor, dove into the fray on Wednesday, sending a letter to the
commission calling for an “orderly review” of the orders and the
commission to remove DeVougas as chairman since he’s under
investigation.
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Follow Todd Richmond on Twitter: https://twitter.com/trichmond1
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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Jami Resch’s first name.
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