"It's almost a slap in the face to ask that question," Madison Police Chief Noble Wray said. "It's very disappointing as a law enforcement professional that someone for political reasons would question the ethics and the integrity of our (work)."...I'd like to see the specifics of those "concerns about actions of individual officers." In observing the protests nearly every day through the entire period of the protests, Meade and I often tried to figure out what the police were doing, including the Capitol police. There seemed to be a policy of facilitating the protesters, perhaps because it actually was the best strategy for maintaining order when the police were vastly outnumbered. I have video of protesters assuring me that "The police are on our side."
Republicans on the committee urged Walker administration officials to consider carefully the claims by the City of Madison and Dane County before paying them....
"I hope you're aware that the mayor of Madison clearly would have preferred his police officers to stay on the other side of the (Capitol) Square," Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) said.
Committee co-chairman Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester) echoed those reservations, saying he believes there were "legitimate concerns about actions of individual officers."...
Wray, the Madison police chief, said he never denied any direct request for help from the Capitol police or other state officials. He said that Madison police usually stayed off the Capitol Square grounds because of a prior agreement with the state that they would police the areas around it, which are their jurisdiction.
But allowing the protesters to believe that was one way of keeping them calm and under control. It made a lot of protesters willing to wait patiently in lines when they could have rushed doors, and it made them willing — much of the time — to listen to polite requests from police. I don't like the idea of questioning the integrity of the police who were faced with controlling huge crowds of relentless, angry people who felt righteously entitled to occupy the Capitol building and grounds.
Put the specifics out there, or pay up and move on.
As for the protesters, you drained that $8.2 million out of the state treasury. Take responsibility for that.
ADDED: From the Badger Herald:
A statement from the [Joint Finance Committe] said operating decisions of the Madison police during the protests were inappropriately affected by the political leanings of high ranking members of the police department and the Mayor’s office.
“The comments and actions of (then) Mayor [Dave Cieslewicz], Police Chief Noble Wray, County Executive Kathleen Falk and Sheriff Dave Mahoney encouraged the behavior of the siege participants in an attempt to achieve a partisan political outcome in this government crisis,” the statement said. ...
Rep. Steven Nass, R-Whitewater, a member of the JFC, said he believes the police administrators inappropriately relaxed their officer policies during the protests....
“I am concretely certain that’s exactly what they did,” Nass said. “Clearly, [the police officers] were siding with the protesters and they were not going let them help. Quite frankly it was very unprofessional.”
These decisions made the protests a much more dangerous situation and inflated the cost on the taxpayer, Nass said....
Madison and Capitol police were only in the building for a handful of days, Nass said, and remained primarily absent from the Capitol grounds and rotunda for the majority of the protests. He said the city has overfilled the bill in order to get improper state financing.
“[I believe] that the city of Madison has padded this bill,” Nass said. “They saw a way to take advantage of tax payer dollars, and they are taking that opportunity.”
:.
0 comments:
Post a Comment