by Carrie Antlfinger
The Associated Press
MILWAUKEE, Wisc. - Relations between blacks and the Milwaukee Police Department have become inflamed, first over a racially charged beating, then over a $2.2 million verdict this week against the former chief for promoting women and minorities ahead of white men.
A federal jury found that the city’s first black police chief, Arthur Jones, who retired over a year ago, discriminated against 17 white men in promoting officers to captain.
“When you have all these things before you, how do you talk to people and give them hope?” asked Milwaukee NAACP branch President Jerry Ann Hamilton. “The last few events or things that have happened that have attracted national attention to Milwaukee have been a blow to this organization and to the people that we’ve been working with.”
Jones and others said the verdict turned back the clock on decades-long efforts to make the department better reflect Milwaukee’s population. The city of around 600,000 people is 50 percent white, 37 percent black and 12 percent Hispanic, while the nearly 2,000-member police force is about one-quarter minority.
“I believe it’s had a devastating effect on race relations within the department and within this city,” Jones said. He said that the way in which police chiefs picked their commanders was never an issue “until a black man got to make the decisions.”
Distrust between police and minorities ran deep long before the verdict.
For years, blacks have complained of unjustified police shootings and unnecessary use of force, and have charged that police take too long to respond to calls in their neighborhoods. According to census figures, the Milwaukee area has some of the most segregated neighborhoods in the country.
It was in a south-side neighborhood of mostly white working-class residents where Frank Jude Jr., a stripper who is half-black and half-white, was beaten Oct. 24 _ allegedly by white police officers.
The beating took place after Jude arrived with a black friend and two white women at a party at the home of a white member of the police force. A group accused Jude and his friends of stealing a badge, then punched and kicked Jude, removed his pants and stuck a pen in his ears as they hurled racial slurs, according to authorities. Jude was bloodied but survived. No badge was found.
Black leaders were incensed that it was not until Feb. 28 _ four months later _ that the district attorney charged three white officers.
Alderman Michael McGee Jr. questioned why District Attorney E. Michael McCann, a white man, was so quick to prosecute a campaign finance case against former acting Mayor Marvin Pratt, who is black, and an Election Day tire-slashing in which Pratt’s son was among the accused. He also criticized McCann for not filing hate crime charges in the beating.
McCann said that some officers had hampered his investigation and that he could not classify the beating as a hate crime because the attack started over the badge, not race. He said he believes 10 off-duty officers were at the scene and more people could be charged.
In recent years, the police department has tried to mend relations with minorities, appointing a liaison to the black community, requiring “cultural competency training” and creating a commission to discuss police issues. The commission includes the chief and representatives of minority and religious groups.
The head of the city’s black police officers organization, Laverne McCoy, said officers’ jobs have become harder because of rising tensions.
“I think people are looking for a reason to explode because they are angry and it’s been suppressed for all these winter months,” McCoy said.
Police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz acknowledged the department needs to reach out to the community, which current Police Chief Nan Hegerty has done. But she said the public should not punish the entire force for the actions of a few.
Andre Myrick, 24, who is black, said the recent problems deepen his distrust of the police force, which he described as a “gang with badges.”
“It’s nothing new to me,” said Myrick, standing outside a bank in a predominantly black neighborhood. “I just got numb to it and work around it.”
- AP Writer Juliet Williams contributed to this story.
Related Stories:
Lieutenants Who Brought Discrimination Case in Milwaukee Get $2.2 million
White Cops in Milwaukee Win Discrimination Suit Against the City