Capitol Report
By State Representative, Leon D. Young
Leon D. Young
I came across a most-engaging article last week in the Isthmus (Madison’s free weekly publication that’s very similar to the Shepherd Express here in Milwaukee).
The cover story that caught my eye focused on the mounting criticism calling for the Madison Police Department to change its deadly force policy, and the response by its Police Chief Mike Koval in the aftermath of Tony Robinson shooting.
Getting straight to the point: Chief Koval went on public record in saying “it can’t happen.” However, what I found to be even more disquieting than Chief Koval’s basic refusal to consider a policy shift on the use of lethal force was the rationale he used to justify his stance.
Koval stated unequivocally that he has no interest in changing the standards for when officers are allowed to use it.
He then goes on to advance the argument that if his department were to adopt new deadly force guidelines “then Madison would be the only city in the entire country that would be held to a different standard,” and Koval believes “that’s imprudent.”
Koval attempted to bolster his case further by asserting, “I don’t want them [his officers] to hesitate wondering whether they are going to be held a different standard than officers from a neighboring jurisdiction.”
However, what I found to be the most disconcerting was Koval’s contention that “if you hold yourself up to a different or higher standard [on deadly force], you might put the city at a greater sense of liability because you’re doing something no one else is being asked to do.”
Of course, this statement can be interpreted in many different ways; however one could reasonably infer that Chief Koval seemed more concern about exposing the city to greater fiscal liability rather than taking steps that might curtail the loss of life in the future.
In reality, the use of deadly force has never been static in this country.
In the early ‘70s, the accepted practice was to fire once at a dangerous suspect and assess the situation. By the end of that decade, the training was to fire two quick shots, then reevaluate. Now the accepted