MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee County judge is expected to issue her decision in several months involving a lawsuit over the Milwaukee Police Department’s video release policy when people are injured or killed involving police officers.
Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission Executive Director Leon Todd was questioned on the witness stand Thursday morning, as a part of the Milwaukee Police Association’s lawsuit against the city and that release policy. The city wants the lawsuit dismissed, while the union wants a judge to issue a permanent injunction and prevent implementing new policies without collectively bargaining with the union.
The FPC passed that video release policy in April 2023, which formalized a standard for releasing video of incidents where a person dies or is seriously hurt during an encounter with police. The standard operating procedure requires MPD to show video of an incident to family of a person hurt or killed within 48 hours, and release the video to the public within 15 days.
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The MPA sued shortly after the policy was implemented, arguing the city is required to bargain with the union over the policy. Judge Frederick Rosa, who first heard the case, issued a temporary restraining order. The case is now assigned to Judge Brittany Grayson.
MPA attorney Steven McGaver argued Thursday morning that the MPA had no issue with the original policy put forward by Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman, but the union takes issue with the policy that was changed and ultimately implemented by the FPC, and signed off on by the chief. The MPA said that it’s bad legal policy as it can affect an officer’s employment if released, ongoing investigations, and the release of such records might be non-compliant with open records of victim’s rights laws.
Assistant City Attorney Lisa Gilmore argued the city had an open door to meet with the union about the policy, but said the MPA’s position was that it was premature. Gilmore said the opportunity to meet with the city over the policy always belonged to the union, but it chose not to exercise it.
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Additionally, the city argued rule creation related to management is a right that the city, the chief and the FPC have exclusive authority over. Therefore any bargaining related to the video release policy is limited to the impact of the rule only.
Judge Grayson said she will issue a written decision by mid-March.