Opinion | How Accessible are UW-Milwaukee Police to Student Media? Not Very

How easy is it for a student journalist to get information from UW-Milwaukee Police? Not easy at all.

It began Oct. 7. At the time, I was working on an assignment for a journalism class, and one of the tasks associated with this assignment was to talk to a school official and ask them questions about themselves and which campus events or issues they were interested in reading about.

I went to Chapman Hall in order to try and schedule an appointment with Chancellor Mark Mone. When I entered the building, I was stopped by a UWM Police officer and Chapman Hall security officer Tammy Johnson.

She asked me why I was there, and I explained my purpose. She then escorted me through the building and watched as I spoke with Michelle Hamberlin, from the office of Student Affairs, about setting up an appointment with the Chancellor.

Afterwards, as she escorted me back to the front door, I began to ask her questions about her role as a security officer at Chapman Hall, all of which she answered. She seemed an ideal candidate for my school official portion of the assignment. At this point, I informed her that I was a student journalist and a reporter for Media Milwaukee and that I had some questions for her about what she was interested in reading about.

The mood suddenly changed; Officer Johnson clammed up and told me she couldn’t answer any more questions. I was confused, because moments earlier she spoke quite freely about her role as a security officer. It appeared the only factor that had changed the dynamic was that I had identified myself as a member of the student media.

Officer Johnson then informed me that the only way a member of the media can interview a UWM Police Department officer is to go to the police headquarters located in the ground floor of Sandburg West Tower, and subject yourself and the entire interview process to being video-taped by UWM Police. She informed me that the purpose of this was to ensure the accuracy of the media and protect the officer’s statements from being “misconstrued.”

A few minutes later, I found myself at Police headquarters. I explained to the officer working behind the front desk that Officer Johnson at Chapman Hall told me to go here in order to get an interview with an officer. I was then told that all police interactions with the media are handled by Tom Luljak, the Vice Chancellor of University Relations and Communications. I asked the officer if there was a member of the Police Department whose job was to speak to the media and he re-iterated the previous statement.

Two days later, I received an email from Hamberlin stating that my request for a meeting with the Chancellor had been reviewed and that I had instead received an appointment with Tom Luljak for Friday Oct. 31.

At this point, it was made clear that if I wished to speak with a police officer, I would have to talk to Luljak first, and my meeting was 21 days away.

Oct. 31 rolled around, and it was time for my meeting with Luljak. At the meeting, I asked Luljak if UWM-PD has a policy of videotaping interviews with the media. He informed me that he was unsure about such a policy and that he would put me in contact with someone at the department.

When asked how decisions are made regarding when members of the department can and cannot speak to the media, Luljak replied, “It is policy that the department not release any information regarding on-going investigations.” He added that, “Speaking about non-official business was a decision to be made between the individual officer and their superiors.”

In order to clarify whether UWM-PD has a policy of video-taping interviews with the media, Luljak asked Chief Gregory Habeck to get in contact with me about this inquiry.

On Nov. 6, I received an email from Habeck saying, “UWM Police do not have a policy to videotape interviews with the media.”

I sent a reply email asking some follow-up questions regarding UWM Police media policies, to which I never received a reply.

I headed down once more to the police headquarters to try to talk to Habeck in person on Nov. 13. The chief was busy, and I was directed to his secretary, who took down my contact information and said I would be contacted about a time to go and speak with the Chief. I have yet to receive this phone call or email.

On Nov. 15, I once again returned to the UWM police station to try and obtain a written copy of the UWM police media policies. While there, I spoke to Sgt. Bryan LaChapelle. LaChapelle was the first officer I encountered willing to answer my questions about UWM police media relations. LaChapelle neither confirmed nor denied whether UWM Police have ever videotaped a media interview.

LaChapelle did say that if a taping occurred, it would be, “for the protection of both the police and the media.”

LaChapelle said the media policy for the department is that, “All media inquiries are handled by University Relations and Communications.” And, “That’s told to us all the way down by our superiors.”

And so the story ends where it began.