A Milwaukee Police Department patrol vehicle is parked in front of Washington High School of Information Technology. Officers were assigned to MPS in March after a court order required that the district and City of Milwaukee comply with Wisconsin Act 12, a state law mandating the district have at least 25 police officers stationed at schools. (Photo by Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
By Devin Blake
This story was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, where you can find other stories reporting on fifteen city neighborhoods in Milwaukee. Visit milwaukeenns.org.
Police officers used force several times on students in Milwaukee Public Schools from March 17 to June 13, records obtained from the Milwaukee Police Department through an open records request show.
Half the incidents began as school policy violations rather than criminal activity. All incidents ended with force and a request to criminally charge at least one student.
Officers should “use physical force to achieve control” and to accomplish a “legitimate law enforcement objective,” according to a law enforcement training guide from the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
A use-of-force incident can have one or more applications of force. In the six incidents at MPS, there were eight applications of force.
Breaking down the data
Officers were assigned to MPS in March after a court order required that the district and City of Milwaukee comply with Wisconsin Act 12, a state law mandating the district have at least 25 police officers stationed at schools.
The data reflects the time period when officers returned to MPS and when the last school year ended.
All six use-of-force incidents at MPS last school year took place at two North Side schools: Harold S. Vincent School of Agricultural Science and Barack Obama School of Career and Technical Education. Five occurred at Vincent.
All applications of force on students involved the use of pepper spray or bodily force.
Each incident also resulted in MPD requesting at least one student be charged with resisting or obstructing an officer.
The incidents were reviewed by supervisory officers, who determined the force was in compliance with MPD policy, records show.
“While we take each incident seriously and review them thoroughly, this represents a small fraction of the hundreds of positive daily interactions our officers have with students,” an MPD spokesperson said in an email to NNS. “The mentorship and positive engagement our (school resource officers) provide is central to the program’s mission.”
Students walk onto a bus at Harold S. Vincent High School on Thursday, Oct. 11. Five of the six use-of-force incidents last school year involving the Milwaukee Police Department occurred at Vincent. (Photo by Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
School-to-prison pipeline?
These incidents show how the presence of police in MPS schools criminalizes normal school behavior, said Nickolas X. Doherty, confronting mass incarceration coordinator at Milwaukee Turners, a civic education group in Milwaukee.
He calls it a clear hallmark of the school-to-prison pipeline.
School rule violations that led to use-of-force included a student who refused to surrender an iPad; one who refused to leave an unauthorized area; and one who was smoking.
Perhaps what this shows is that being in schools is “not a job the police are suited to do – in the same way that police aren’t suited to do mental health work,” said Krissie Fung, a member of the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission. “It really just seems like it’s hurting more than it’s helping. Fung also serves as the associate director for Milwaukee Turners.
But Shannon Jones, MPS director of school safety and security, said the pattern shown by the records is reasonable.
It’s not unusual, Jones said, for a school rule violation to naturally escalate to a point where police are needed.
“Usually, things start with verbal altercations that maybe escalate to physical altercations and get to a point where it’s out of control, or they (school staff) are outnumbered,” Jones said.
A matter of policy
Fung has been critical of the lack of consistency about when and why schools call MPD, noting that there is no districtwide policy.
MPS instead relies on the discretion of individual principals and a memorandum of understanding between MPS, MPD and the City of Milwaukee about MPD, according to Jones.
MPS did not respond to questions about school-specific policies at Vincent and Obama.
Transparency issues
There is also the issue of transparency and accountability, said Missy Zombor, president of the Milwaukee Board of School Directors.
“How is the board notified if someone has a complaint about what occurred?” Zombor said. “Where do people file that complaint?”
Zombor said she has asked for a draft of a school resource officer policy about police intervention and other issues to be presented at an upcoming meeting of the Legislation, Rules and Policy Committee meeting. She also wants the policy to incorporate student feedback.
Resources
Parents can reach out to their student’s principal with questions, Jones said. Families can also reach out directly to Jones at 414-345-6637.
Individuals can call MPD’s non-emergency phone number 414-933-4444 if they have questions.
People can learn more about filing a complaint against a police officer on Milwaukee’s Fire and Police Commission website.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.