Daily Stormer The Most Censored Publication in History
JS Online
November 1, 2014
Nearly 100% of Milwaukee police officers who participated in a union vote signaled they have no confidence in Police Chief Edward Flynn, the police union announced Friday.
Two dozen officers gathered in the City Hall rotunda Friday morning to reveal the results of the non-binding vote, which union leaders said they hoped would get the attention of Mayor Tom Barrett, the Common Council and the city’s Fire and Police Commission.
After his office was presented with the results, Barrett quickly released a statement saying he has “complete confidence in (Flynn) and the hardworking members of the rank and file.”
The union said 99.3% of members who voted chose no-confidence in Flynn. The union did not disclose the total number of members who voted but indicated it was a higher than average turnout.
Union president Mike Crivello said the average turnout for union elections or contracts is typically between 400 and 500 members. Thursday’s turnout, which included a majority of the membership, “blows away that number,” Crivello said.
The union’s total membership is about 1,600.
The vote was prompted by Flynn’s decision to fire officer Christopher Manney after the fatal shooting of Dontre Hamilton at Red Arrow Park. Manney shot Hamilton 14 times on April 30 during a confrontation at the park.
Flynn has said he fired Manney not for using excessive force, but because he did not follow department rules in the moments leading up to the shooting and engaged in what Flynn described as an “out of policy pat-down.” Manney has appealed his dismissal to the Fire and Police Commission.
Although the Milwaukee Police Association, which represents the department’s rank-and-file, supports Manney and believes his firing was “unjust,” the no confidence vote was the culmination of larger unrest, Crivello said.
“The picture is so much bigger than what took place April 30 and what ultimately led to the Oct. 15 firing,” Crivello said.
The union has long decried the declining detective ranks and overall department staffing levels, including the use of furloughs. The furloughs have reduced the number of two-officer squad cars, Crivello has said.
“If Officer Manney had been working with a partner would we be here today? And would Mr. Hamilton be deceased?” Crivello said in an interview. “And I’ll answer those questions by saying I don’t think so. I think two officers would have been able to address that situation in a different manner.”
The last time the police union voted no confidence in a chief was in 1991 after then-Chief Philip Arreola suspended two officers who had handed over a teenage Laotian boy to Jeffrey Dahmer, who later confessed to killing the teen. Arreola ultimately remained at his post until 1996, but did not serve out his full term, Crivello pointed out Friday.
Barrett and Flynn characterized the union’s actions as political.
“At a time when the citizens of Milwaukee are dealing with the aftermath of the Red Arrow Park shooting, the MPA leadership is trying to stoke a political fire,” Barrett’s statement said.
The union has the right to voice its opinion, Flynn said.
“It’s union politics,” Flynn said. “I’ve encountered no-confidence votes before, any police chief worth his or her salt has. I’m not in the business of pleasing the union; I’m in the business of accomplishing the mission of the police department.”
While chief in Chelsea, Mass. in the mid-1990s, Flynn faced a no-confidence vote. Like this one, it occurred in the wake of a disciplinary decision, Flynn said.
“It didn’t affect me there and it’s not affecting me here,” Flynn said. “No-confidence votes are overwhelmingly about internal union politics not about agency performance.”
