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| Wisconsin State Rep. David C. Crowley, (D-Milwaukee), was pulled over by Milwaukee cops with guns drawn, searched and frisked. Crowley is a black human being. |
This is a fact of American society that remains hidden to many.
In the class-action suit filed in federal court in Milwaukee, Collins v. City of Milwaukee, et al, citizens are pleading their liberties under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. See ACLU press release.
The following piece was first published in The Pontiac Tribune by Isiah Holmes.
By Isiah Holmes, (via Cop Block)
Wisconsin’s ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) just amended their lawsuit against the Milwaukee Police Department. The action, filed at the beginning of 2017 blasting problematic stop and frisks, increased its plaintiff list. Now, Representative David Crowley, (D-Milwaukee), is joining as a victim of harassment in the troubled city.
Milwaukee-local TFC, (The Fifth Column), writers were notified of these developments by Wisconsin ACLU Associate Director Molly Collins. The notification was issued as a press release to TFC, and other local media outlets. According to the release, Rep. Crowley–of Wisconsin’s 17th Assembly District–was subjected to an unnerving MPD stop.
ACLU recounted Crowley’s experience, taking place before he’d been elected to his current position. While walking with his god brother, the pair heard distant gunshots and opted to walked away. Gun violence can be quite common in some parts of Milwaukee, particularly during the summer. "A patrol car stopped in front of us," says Crowley, "and two officers jumped out with guns drawn and pointed right at us. I was terrified."
He then states officers took their wallets and I.D’s as the pair stood with hands up. "The officers drew their guns on us, searched us without our consent, and never explained why," Crowley states. The pair were then asked if they’d discarded a gun in the field they were walking in. Rep. Crowley feels MPD "treated us like suspects, yet we had done nothing wrong." As many with similar experiences feel, Crowley states officers "decided the Constitution didn’t apply to us."
ACLU’s lawsuit also added other new plaintiffs, both with similar tales. 19 year old Jeremiah Oliver says he was stopped without reasonable suspicion, ACLU’s statement reads. Yet another, Jeremy Brown, claims an officer stopped him because he didn’t recognize his face. According to ACLU, Brown was then ordered to drop everything, and stand against a fence for questioning. Upon returning from the police station, Brown was issued a $185 disorderly conduct ticket.
The Milwaukee Police Department has been routinely interfering in the lives of tens of thousands of Black and Latino residents, stopping them, searching them, and worse—all without reasonable suspicion and as if the Constitution didn’t exist – Karyn Rotker, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Wisconsin.
Rotker goes onto state the MPD’s routine harassment of minority citizens has deeply eroded trust. Without it, the department’s ability to effectively investigate crime is inherently crippled. Ultimately, ACLU hopes to help improve MPD’s oversight, and community discourse. Not only that, but–as Collins expressed to the author in March–the nonprofit hopes other departments take notice. In Milwaukee County, this may be necessary, as MPD isn’t the only concerning department.
In a nearby suburb, which borders Milwaukee, officers have long been accused of racially-biased policing. The Wauwatosa Police Department, although largely overshadowed by MPD, has left lasting negative impressions in some residents. Such feelings boiled over last summer, when an officer shot his second person in 11 months.
The circumstances surrounding Jay Anderson’s shooting continue to bounce around the community. Namely, many residents were disturbed at WPD’s lack of transparency in the case, and pushback against protests staged by Anderson’s family. These actions, in fact, were provoked by WPD’s reluctance to disclose any information regarding the killing. Prior to the shooting, which the author covered extensively, WPD’s transparency issues became the subject of a documentary, also produced by the author.
When the lawsuit was first filed in Febrary, MPD Chief Ed Flynn defended his department’s stop and frisk procedure. Specifically, Flynn pointed to a lack of citizen complaints despite increased stops. As Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, most stops don’t produce tickets, or even arrests. That fact, however, does not remedy the level of distrust the policy has generated throughout Milwaukee.
It’s difficult to predict exactly how MPD will eventually respond to any success the lawsuit might have. Last year, MPD consented to a DOJ practices probe during a time ripe with protests and investigations. The move was encouraging, as other departments reviewed at that time didn’t consent to probes. MPD also went the extra mile, with Chief Flynn attending a massive public forum to hear grievances. The audience choked with dissatisfied citizens victimized by stops, beatings, searches, and even more serious offenses like rape.
Confidence in the meeting, however, waned after MPD was then caught using Stingray cell data surveillance to illegally monitor citizens. The surveillance operations were so sketchy, in fact, that they were hidden from courts. Wauwatosa PD also collects and analyzes cell data, though how they achieve this isn’t currently known.
As the lawsuit develops, it’s becoming increasingly clear that something must give. In the last year, Milwaukee has had massive riots, several police shootings, including routine practices. The playing field is primed for ACLU’s lawsuit to make headway of some kind. If not, then the public’s resentment and frustration will simply manifest again.
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Below is the ACLU of Wisconsin press release:
State Legislator Joins ACLU Lawsuit Against MPD Stop-and-Frisk Program
MILWAUKEE
— Last night, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of
Wisconsin, and the law firm of Covington and Burling filed an amended
complaint in their class-action lawsuit against the city of Milwaukee
over its police department’s vast stop-and-frisk program. The revised
complaint adds three named plaintiffs to the lawsuit, one of whom is
Representative David Crowley, a state legislator representing
Wisconsin’s 17th Assembly District. Like the other named plaintiffs and
tens of thousands of other Milwaukeeans of color, Rep. Crowley has been
subject to an unconstitutional stop and frisk by the Milwaukee police
without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity and based on racial
profiling.
One evening before he was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly, Rep. Crowley was walking with his godbrother in Milwaukee. “We heard gunshots in the distance, so we walked in the other direction to avoid trouble. A patrol car stopped in front of us, and two officers jumped out with guns drawn and pointed right at us. I was terrified,” said Rep. Crowley.
He and his godbrother put up their hands. The police frisked them, taking their wallets from their pants pockets and pulling their IDs from the wallets. One officer asked if the two men had thrown a gun into the field where they had been walking.
“The police treated us like suspects, yet we had done nothing wrong. The officers drew their guns on us, searched us without our consent, and never explained why,” said Rep. Crowley. “As young Black men, we were presumed guilty. The police decided that the Constitution doesn’t apply to us.”
Another new plaintiff in the suit is Jerimiah Olivar, a 19-year-old Latino Milwaukeean, who was stopped and frisked by police without reasonable suspicion while riding his bike in the early afternoon. The third new plaintiff, Jeremy Brown, is Black, and a police officer stopped him while he was walking one morning because the officer didn't recognize his face. The officer ordered Mr. Brown to drop what he was carrying and stand against a fence while he questioned him. Mr. Brown was eventually taken to the police station and released with a $185 ticket for disorderly conduct.
“The Milwaukee Police Department has been routinely interfering in the lives of tens of thousands of Black and Latino residents, stopping them, searching them, and worse—all without reasonable suspicion and as if the Constitution didn’t exist,” said Karyn Rotker, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Wisconsin. “The department’s practices have caused Black and Latino Milwaukeeans to deeply distrust and fear police, crippling its ability to investigate crime.”
The Milwaukee Police Department conducts far more stops and frisks in neighborhoods that are predominantly Black or Latino than in other parts of the city.
Collins v. City of Milwaukee seeks reforms of the Milwaukee Police Department that protect constitutional rights through bias-free and evidence-based policing, transparency, and accountability. These reforms include an end to conducting stops and frisks without reasonable suspicion and to stopping people based on race or ethnicity. The lawsuit also seeks improved training, supervision, and monitoring of officers who conduct stops and frisks, and the collection and semiannual release to the public of data on all stops and frisks to permit analysis for evidence of constitutional violations.
ACLU of Wisconsin: http://aclu-wi.org/issue/collins-v-city-milwaukee
For more information about Covington & Burling:https://www.cov.com/
One evening before he was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly, Rep. Crowley was walking with his godbrother in Milwaukee. “We heard gunshots in the distance, so we walked in the other direction to avoid trouble. A patrol car stopped in front of us, and two officers jumped out with guns drawn and pointed right at us. I was terrified,” said Rep. Crowley.
He and his godbrother put up their hands. The police frisked them, taking their wallets from their pants pockets and pulling their IDs from the wallets. One officer asked if the two men had thrown a gun into the field where they had been walking.
“The police treated us like suspects, yet we had done nothing wrong. The officers drew their guns on us, searched us without our consent, and never explained why,” said Rep. Crowley. “As young Black men, we were presumed guilty. The police decided that the Constitution doesn’t apply to us.”
Another new plaintiff in the suit is Jerimiah Olivar, a 19-year-old Latino Milwaukeean, who was stopped and frisked by police without reasonable suspicion while riding his bike in the early afternoon. The third new plaintiff, Jeremy Brown, is Black, and a police officer stopped him while he was walking one morning because the officer didn't recognize his face. The officer ordered Mr. Brown to drop what he was carrying and stand against a fence while he questioned him. Mr. Brown was eventually taken to the police station and released with a $185 ticket for disorderly conduct.
“The Milwaukee Police Department has been routinely interfering in the lives of tens of thousands of Black and Latino residents, stopping them, searching them, and worse—all without reasonable suspicion and as if the Constitution didn’t exist,” said Karyn Rotker, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Wisconsin. “The department’s practices have caused Black and Latino Milwaukeeans to deeply distrust and fear police, crippling its ability to investigate crime.”
The Milwaukee Police Department conducts far more stops and frisks in neighborhoods that are predominantly Black or Latino than in other parts of the city.
Collins v. City of Milwaukee seeks reforms of the Milwaukee Police Department that protect constitutional rights through bias-free and evidence-based policing, transparency, and accountability. These reforms include an end to conducting stops and frisks without reasonable suspicion and to stopping people based on race or ethnicity. The lawsuit also seeks improved training, supervision, and monitoring of officers who conduct stops and frisks, and the collection and semiannual release to the public of data on all stops and frisks to permit analysis for evidence of constitutional violations.
For the amended complaint and more information about the lawsuit:
ACLU:https://www.aclu.org/cases/collins-et-al-v-city-milwaukee-et-alACLU of Wisconsin: http://aclu-wi.org/issue/collins-v-city-milwaukee
For more information about Covington & Burling:https://www.cov.com/
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