Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression wins policy on police transparency

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

The Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression is ecstatic to announce that the Milwaukee Police Association has dropped their lawsuit in opposition to Standard Operating Procedure 575. The Milwaukee Alliance has been fighting for SOP 575 since Memorial Day Weekend of 2021. This SOP will force the Milwaukee Police Department to release footage, including body camera footage, of critical incidents to the victims’ next of kin within 48 hours and the public within fifteen days. This is a huge victory for the people of Milwaukee and the first step towards true Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression between police and the community. For the first time, Milwaukeeans will have a hard timeline on when they can expect answers about police crimes in our communities.

We would be callous to celebrate without acknowledging how many Milwaukee community members have lost their lives in the last three years to police crimes both in the streets and the jails with no transparency and no footage released. We mourn these community members, and hope that this will force the release of their footage as well.

We would also be callous to celebrate without acknowledging that it took the murder of Samuel “Jah” Sharpe, Jr. at the hands of Columbus, Ohio police on July 16th to force this change. When Columbus police released video footage of Sharpe’s murder in less than 12 hours, it showed how important footage is to families and communities. However, this should have been standard from the beginning—not to mention the fact that Columbus police never should have been anywhere near King Park. Shame on the MPA and MPD for holding up SOP 575 until one of our own was murdered by out of town police. Shame on the City of Milwaukee for letting police murder people with no accountability.

The Milwaukee Alliance reaffirms that our ultimate goal is Community Control of the Police, and transparency through measures like SOP 575 is just the beginning. We continue our fight for justice for Samuel “Jah” Sharpe, Jr., D’Vontaye Mitchell, Brieon Green, Cilivea Thyrion, Jay Anderson, Roberto Zielinski, Dontre Hamilton, and all victims of police crimes. Additionally, we reaffirm our commitment to work with families to get justice for their loved ones and reaffirm our gratitude and admiration for their strength and fighting spirit. We are setting our sights on campaigns to audit the County Jail and to stop deadly police chases in Milwaukee. These campaigns will be successful because as we know from the SOP 575 fight: when we fight, we win!

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #InJusticeSystem #PoliceBrutality #KillerCops #MAARPR