Was The Mayor’s Order Necessary?

The Wauwatosa Common Council held a special meeting on Tuesday to discuss Mayor Dennis McBride’s Emergency Proclamation for a city-wide curfew held in the city.

The debate continued, and questions emerged about the emergency order.

McBride signed the order for a city-wide curfew on Sept. 30. This occurred one week before Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm announced his decision not to charge Wauwatosa Police Officer Joseph Mensah in the shooting death of 17-year-old Alvin Cole earlier in the year.

Some of the alderpeople expressed concerns that they weren’t able to discuss the proclamation or the curfew in advance of Chisholm’s announcement.

Some council members didn’t agree with the decision to enact a curfew and bring the National Guard in to help quell potential protests.

Ald. Nancy Welch said she didn’t understand why the council wasn’t able to discuss the general tactics related to the curfew before it was enacted.

“I’d like to say that we really blew it on this one, ’cause we basically allowed law enforcement, authorized by the city, to overwhelm peaceful protests, and I don’t ever want to see that happen again,” Welch said.

Ald. Craig Wilson said he understood why the support of the National Guard wasn’t unreasonable during the October curfew. But he called the curfew “shortsighted.”

“The idea of outlawing people, in order to manage things, is fundamentally discordant with our principles under the United States Constitution and the Wisconsin State Constitution that we all look to uphold,” Wilson said.

McBride told the council that the “specific timing and planning were required to be confidential.” It had to be confidential in order to keep strategies of the Police Department to keep citizens safe.

He also said he signed the proclamation a week early because Gov. Tony Evers needed an emergency order to be in place before the National Guard could mobilize in the city.

“We do not know what would have happened if I had not issued the emergency declaration,” McBride said.

McBride said he put the curfew in place based on a request from the Wauwatosa Police Department and because of what happened in Kenosha after a Kenosha police officer shot Jacob Blake in August.

“I don’t like curfews. Nobody likes curfews,” McBride said. “We would bend over backwards to not have another curfew.”

The curfew began at 7 p.m. Oct. 7 and lasted until the morning of Oct. 12.

Ald. Meagan O’Reilly said she was concerned that no social service agencies or violence prevention groups were involved in the response by the city after Chisholm’s decision.

“We have a period of time in which we may be facing continued unrest in our community and another significant event that could cause another,” O’Reilly said, referring to the pending decision regarding Mensah’s employment within the department.

Ald. Jason Kofroth said he supported the proclamation, and thought the mayor and Police department acted in “good faith” to prepare for any and every circumstance.

He said many residents in the Seventh District, which is where the Wauwatosa Police Department is located, asked him about what the response would be if there were protests in the community after the decision.

“I think it would have been neglectful for us to not to plan for those types of instances,” Kofroth said during the special meeting.

“But it was overwhelming in the Seventh District that I represent, that they were supportive of the emergency order, they were supportive of the police being prepared,” Kofrtoh added.

A former U.S. attorney hired by the Wauwatosa Fire and Police Commission has recommended Mensah be fired after his third fatal on-duty shooting, according to an independent invesigator’s report released Oct. 7.

There were members of the community who sent emails that were also listed in the meetings agenda.

“The Police Department’s focus on violently arresting peaceful marchers for curfew violations while ignoring rioters proves law enforcement is not there to protect the community, but rather to silence dissent.” said one Wauwatosa resident.

“I am a tax paying Wauwatosa resident and I demand that you call for the immediate firing of Officer Mensah and that you address the issue of police brutality and excessive use of force in our community”said another Wauwatosa resident.

Most of the emails were demanding that Officer Joseph Mensah be fired and condemning Mcbride’s order.

The Council voted on a resolution 10-4 with two abstentions to table any possible action of the order.