By Juliet Williams, Associated Press
MILWAUKEE -- When Arthur Jones became a police officer in this city 35 years ago, black officers like him were banned from riding in squad cars or patrolling white neighborhoods. Jones eventually rose through the ranks to become the city’s first black police chief, promoting himself as a reformer who has fought to integrate and update the force.
But along the way, Jones created critics. He has been called abrasive and authoritarian, and accused of gutting the force of senior officers. The embarrassing public spat between the two sides could soon head to court.
Jones, 56, has filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in June, what is believed to be the first-ever racial discrimination complaint by a sitting police chief.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Jones said city leaders ignored his complaints, forcing him to go to the commission as a last resort to argue that he faces a hostile working environment.
“People say I play the race card, but it’s real,” he said. “When I joined this police department there was no one in the African American community -- or any other color -- or females in the command staff of this police department. It was all white males.”
The mayor’s office says the fight is about poor policing. Milwaukee’s murder rate is largely unchanged since Jones took office in 1996 -- 130 murders that year and 127 in 2001 -- while other cities have seen dramatic drops in crime.
“The mayor does see that policing activity has helped in those communities and would like to see a similar effort here,” said Mayor John Norquist’s spokesman, Steve Filmanowicz.
Jones says Norquist asked him to use “repressive measures,” such as stopping cars in mostly black neighborhoods and seizing guns, which he says violates civil rights.
But others say it’s Jones who uses repressive measures.
After a raid on a Hispanic grocery store and tortilla factory in September, 25 workers filed a complaint alleging police used excessive force when they raided the businesses for antibiotic drugs. They blamed Jones, who says officers followed proper procedure.
Alderman Willie Hines, who is black, says the city holds Jones to a higher standard than his predecessors. He said Jones challenged police department brass and their hiring tactics from day one -- rankling staid city leaders.
“He has challenged the department as well as the city to embrace all races and all citizens at a time when the city was very reluctant, very unwilling, and very divided,” Hines said.
But alderman Mike D’Amato, who is white, wants the chief gone. He said Jones has little patience for others’ opinions and isn’t open to new ideas or cooperation, and it’s hurt the force.
“I think that he has a very difficult time sharing the spotlight with anybody else,” D’Amato said.
The police union has opposed Jones since the beginning, filing several lawsuits alleging discrimination and retaliation against officers. Jones is named in at least eight lawsuits -- one was settled for $31,000. Another is expected to cost taxpayers $690,000.
Jones has gone to court himself in the past. Before he became chief in 1996, he fought for a U.S. Justice Department mandate requiring the department to hire and promote minorities, later filing his own discrimination complaint against the department -- and winning -- when he wasn’t promoted.
The chief calls the mayor “vindictive” and says Norquist has tried to get the fire and police commission -- the only body that can fire the chief -- to oust him. The two men have a long history: Jones was once the mayor’s bodyguard.
Filmanowicz says Jones’ belief is “a strange conspiracy theory.” He says the mayor just wants officers to do more than monitor radios in an effort to prevent crime.
Jones said he’s not giving up. He said he’ll continue keeping detailed logs of promotion by race and gender, diversifying the top brass. And he said he intends to reapply for his job when his term is up next year.