Battle brewing over how to handle Milwaukee Police Department's budget in the future
MILWAUKEE -- Leaders in the Milwaukee Common Council talk about reforming the Milwaukee Police Department. Among the items up for consideration -- cutting the department's budget by 10 percent.
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Milwaukee Police Department
The current MPD budget is $297 million. The Common Council voted 13 to 2 to ask the budget director to cut the 10 percent when he puts together a model budget.
The council will not actually debate and vote on the budget until the fall. So some council members referred to Tuesday's motion as starting a study into what could be cut.
"The Health Department, for example, getting a small fraction of the budget. And they are the most important. Public health is a crisis across the board," said Alderwoman Chantia Lewis. "And if we'd don't get that under control, we are going to see more chaos and more destruction."
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"There is no hostility towards law enforcement and police, except in these instances where it's absolutely clear where there has been misdeeds," said Alderman Ashanti Hamilton.
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Alderman Mark Borkowski
Two aldermen voted "no" -- Mark Borkowski and Scott Spiker.
"I have many police officers, many retired police officers, and I've heard from them. They feel like it's been piling on. I want them to know even if it's just via perception that I support them," Borkowski said.
The Milwaukee Police Department criticizes budget cuts. They tweet that 10 percent of the police budget equals 375 police officers-- the equivalent of shutting down two police districts and sensitive crimes.
Milwaukee police say budget cuts this year led to a loss of 60 officers -- and the homicide rate has doubled.