Grieving Mothers Pack Fire and Police Commission City Meeting Over New Police Body Cam Footage Release Bill

In the City Hall public hearing room the night of April 20, the powerful words of grieving mothers were caught in the thick, humid air, leaving the room so quiet that you could hear their tears strike the public comment table. 

“If it was your child that was killed, wouldn’t you want answers?” said Jacqueline Ratzel, mother to Earl Dean Lawhorn III, who was shot and killed in a police pursuit on Aug. 26, 2021. “We love our family even if we live in a poor neighborhood.”

Ratzel has had her heart ripped out of her chest since then. Following the death of her son, her husband and herself went to identify Earls body, where her husband, a Vietnam Veteran, after seeing what had happened to their son he had a heart attack and eventually died on Sep. 4, 2021, just three days before their sons funeral.

Ratzel had to wait over seven months to see the footage of her son’s death, shown to her by District Attorney John T Chisholm after getting no response from either the Chief of Police or the Mayor, according to her.  

“What they said would take 45-days took them seven months, and I called every day,” she said. “I’ve been upset about the whole process. I’m still waiting to see all the footage from all the officers cameras, they’ve only shown me what they wanted me to see.”

In the tense armed pursuit, her son Earl Dean Lawhorn III was shot and killed with his hands raised in the air. “I’m not saying he didn’t have a gun, he did. I’m saying he wasn’t shooting,” said Ratzel. “The first bullet went through my sons head. He shot four more times before my son hit the ground. He is not a threat if he’s got his damn hands up!” Ratzel exclaimed to the Commission. “You don’t chase my child and shoot him and turn the video camera on when it’s convenient for you.”

With her voice shaking, she concluded her statement, “If this law passes, I am requesting to see the full footage from every officers cameras that were there that day.” 

Jacqueline Ratzel during her public comment

photo by Jackson Minshall

The testimonies of Mrs. Ratzel made it feel almost inappropriate to breath in that room. Everyone was stunned still with compassion and sadness.

At City Hall around 8:24 P.M. the Fire and Police Commission (FPC) of the city of Milwaukee finally passed SOP 575 that would mandate the Milwaukee Police Department to release police body camera footage after officer-related deaths or other critical incidents to the families of the victims within 48 hours of the incident and release the footage to the public within 15 days of the incident, if not expressed otherwise by the family. 

The first line of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) 575 reads “The purpose of this standard operating procedure is to foster greater public trust in the Milwaukee Police Department by increasing transparency with respect to department operations involving the use of deadly force.”

The bill was introduced almost two years ago by the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression(MAARPR) and the 24/48 Campaign following the death of Roberto Zielinski in an officer-involved shooting, according to Omar Flores of the Milwaukee Alliance. 

“We’re all volunteers, we don’t get paid to do this,” said Omar Flores. “It shouldn’t have taken two years to get a commonsense policy passed regarding footage.” 

The MAARPR and the 24/48 Campaign sought to establish a simple accountability standard for officers in Milwaukee that, put simply, feels it is necessary to have body camera footage after critical instances released to the family within the first 24 hours of the incident and to the public within the first 48 hours (hence 24/48). After several policy changes were applied to the bill, changing the times of release from 24/48 hours to 48 hours and 15 days. 

In a memorandum from FPC Executive Director Leon Todd to Chair Edward Fallone states, “MPD’s current unwritten practice is to release selected portions of critical incident footage as a part of community briefings that are held within 45 days of the incident. No SOP or formal written policy, however, requires such disclosure, either within 45 days or any amount of time.”

“We’re asking a lot of the Milwaukee Police Department,” said FPC Chair Edward Fallone. “We’re not sure how well this transition is going to go.”

In light of this new bill passing, the mother of recently departed Officer Peter Jerving, Patty Ann Jerving, released a statement the following morning. “A period of two weeks or fifteen days certainly was not enough for my family or myself before that video might have gone public,” she said. “Those body cam videos can literally rip the heart out of families all over again as they did me. With the realization that the body cam video would be release publicly shot my family back to the night of Feb. 7 where our whole world fell apart.”

Mrs. Jerving states she was able to see the footage on Sunday Apr. 2, “I cried not just throughout the viewing of it but for the rest of the day and night. Please take into the consideration how such body cam videos can affect the families of all those who appear on such, and to not just attempt to satisfy the curiosity of the public or those critical of the police.”

It was believed to be that the intention and purpose of SOP 575 from the MAARPR and Campaign was to get a just sense of truth to grim situations that seems to be plaguing families of victims across Milwaukee, not of the intent of curiosity or gossip. 

The following morning, on Apr. 21, the Milwaukee Police Association (MPA) released an official statement titled ‘FPC CONCEDES TO ACTIVISTS RATHEN THAN LISTEN TO EXPERTS’  that stated, “Last night the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission decided to create a reckless new MPD (Milwaukee Police Department) policy. We have no choice but to file for a Temporary Injunction with the Milwaukee County Circuit Court to stop this illegal and dangerous action.” 

President of the Milwaukee Police Association, Andrew Wagner, continued his statement, “They have failed to consider in almost of all situations the Police Officer is the victim and guaranteed privacy protections under Marsy’s Law.”

The MPA filed a lawsuit against the city, which will be bring order to a judge in an attempt to prevent the new policy from being practiced when implemented starting May 1.

However, section 575.25 C, that video footage may be withheld upon requests from any victims depicted in the video or family members of a deceased victim depicted in the video. It also states in 575.25 D line 8, that video footage may be redacted or edited where there is a particularized, specific risk that release would endanger the safety of a person, including a department member. So, to a degree, the bill has considered the victims of the incidents and their rights, including officers. 

“I think that this is an important opportunity. There is resistance to change and I understand that. I have listened and I have reflected on it,” said Bree Spencer of the FPC, appointed just last Apr. “I think this is an opportunity to set an important precedent that transparency is a central concern of the Fire and Police Commission, a central concern for the Milwaukee Police Department, and it is responsive to what is clearly a central concern to the community.”

In recent history, it has taken the Milwaukee Police Department several weeks to months to reveal any footage of critical incidents, according to William Schroeder of the Young Workers Committee. “The resistance of FPC has shown is a clear indicator that Milwaukee Police have something to hide,” said Schroeder. “This allows them to develop a narrative and edit the footage to support that narrative.”

24/48 Campaign and the MAARPR outside City Hall

Photo by Jackson Minshall

Mrs. Jacqueline Ratzel was not the only mother of a lost child to speak to the commission. Cynthia Greenwood, Janice Brown and Iris Miranda who’ve also lost their children, either directly or indirectly from MPD neglect, according to their experiences.

Maria Hamilton, mother of Dontre Hamilton who was shot and killed at Red Arrow Park in downtown Milwaukee after being woken up while sleeping on a bench in Apr. of 2014, got up to speak.

Mrs. Hamilton begins her testimony by first turning her back to the Commission to let the words on the back of her shirt speak for her. It read ‘SUFFOCATING MY HOPES, SUFFOCATING MY DREAMS, SUFFOCATING MY FUTURE.’ She turns back towards the council for them to read the front ‘STOP SUFFOCATING ME.’

“I’m still suffocating because I know there’s a video of Dontre’s murder, and I know the Milwaukee Police Department has it,” Hamilton said. “I’m still suffocating because I have no knowledge of his last moments.”

Mrs. Hamilton has spent the last 9 years seeking the truth of her son’s death found in the video footage. Full, untouched video footage has no potential to lie to your face, paraphrased words of the 24/48 Campaign.

Activist, Samuel Alford, defends Mrs. Hamilton’s grievances, “Before cameras were put on officers chests, god put mirrors in our hearts, and 9 years later we can’t get footage of that very public act.”

“Nothing has changed,” said Hamilton. “Officers go out into the field and are not transparent because when they do wrong it’s covered up. We as a community cannot continue to live under the leadership that’s put in place.” Again reiterating the narrative of not finding trust in the Milwaukee Police Department when action is taken to actually prevent footage from being released instead of being open with the people. “I know for a fact that ‘Protect and Serve’ is a myth.”

“That alone should help you make up your mind,” said activism personality who went by the name of T-MAN. “You have a mothers tears, what else do you need?”

“You’re making the police unlovable,” said 70-year-old activist Jill Ferguson, who has been protesting and fighting for advocacy since she was 12-years-old, pronounced “Shits gotta change. You don’t protect and serve the people anymore,” she said. “This all happens because of your qualified immunity. It’s the same reason a dog licks its balls, because it can.”

This instance was the only one of the night to have mentioned ‘qualified immunity,’ which is the grant of immunity to government officials, such as the police, if their conduct was believed to be in good faith, the conduct was lawful, and their conduct was objectively reasonable. 

The Milwaukee Police Association (MPA) seems to also believe that SOP 575’s goal is to invoke a narrative to change the ideology of the people to feel that they must not trust the police, when the real goal is just the opposite, according to supporters.

“We have all seen where these false narratives have been put out into the public to incite riots,” said the MPA. “These false narratives have destroyed cities and when the truth comes out the damage is already done.”

Brian Verdin, a Professor of sociology at Milwaukee Area Technical College and a firm advocate of the 1^st Amendment Right to Petition the Government for a Redress of Grievances, said to the commission, “We are not domestic terrorists, we are protesters,” he said. “Trust me, we are all freedom fighters in this town trying to make Milwaukee a better city.” 

When it was time for the commission to vote on the new policy, there were several concerns of the bill and several arguing benefactors as well. One of them being the concern for the bills extension of time policy in 575.35. Commission body member Bree Spencer motioned to strike this section from the bill, seconded by Vice-Chair, Amanda Avalos.

“This is new. This is unlike anything we’ve done before,” said LaNelle Ramey of the Commission, calling the new policy a “systems change.” Ramey stated his respect to the work of the activists, mentioning he had begun his first protest when he was 13-years-old. “To me, the most important thing is help for the families.”

“Lets do it for the whole community so we’re looking down the road for the betterment of the community, the transparency and integrity of the MPD,” said Dana World-Patterson of the Commission. “I see this as a win-win.”

Miriam Horwitz of the Commission counters, “This is the first time that such an undertaking has happened. There’s very few cities that are taking the step of having a written policy. We’re still on the cutting edge,” she said. “We control this SOP. If we were to find that these extensions were being abused in 6-months to a year, then we can do something about it.”

“We need to make sure this policy is flexible, adaptive and universal so it can be moved forward with the Department,” said Commissioner Ruben Burgos. “There probably won’t be a lot of abuses of this policy, and if there are we can do something about that down the road.”

Once all the Commission members spoke, it was time to vote, leaving Chair Edward Fallone with the deciding vote in a 4-4 split cast. “As Chair of the Commission, I don’t want my vote to prevent this policy from being as substantial a step forward as my fellow Commissioners want. Since my vote has becoming the determining vote, the Chair votes ‘I’,” said Fallone as the room erupted into cheer and joyous tears slide down the cheeks of the mothers who are all hoping no one has to go through the pain they’ve felt again.

Protesters celebrate after bill passes

Photo by Jackson Minshall

This is a mighty hop forward after Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill “guaranteeing public access to most police body cam footage” in Feb. 2020. The 2020 bill just recently mentioned had countered a previous proposed bill in Nov. 2017 that would withhold most footage from police body cams from the public. 

“The 24/48 Campaign is the first step in a long line of accountability measures that the police must abide by, and the Milwaukee Alliance is leading the charge against these crimes,” said Schroeder. 

In the time to come the public will find out if the bill will survive the lawsuit process put upon it by the union. The MAARPR and the 24/48 campaign are already forming pickets and creating petitions to try and protect SOP 575 from being removed after it just finally passed law after two years of fighting.