Residents of a Milwaukee neighborhood about a mile from the Republican National Convention gather after a police shooting at King Park. Photo by Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner.

In 2023, grassroots activists led by the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Police Repression (MAARPR) succeeded in their long campaign to win the public release of footage of critical incidents involving police officers.  Almost immediately, Milwaukee Police Association (MPA) initiated a lawsuit against the policy, and a few months later, the Fire and Police Commission (FCP) suspended the policy for the duration of the Republican National Convention.  The police killing of Samuel “Jah” Sharpe during the RNC resulted in a quick release of body camera footage by the police. The next day, the MPA dropped its lawsuit. 

On May 30, 2021, the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (MAARPR) responded to a fatal officer-involved shooting on Milwaukee’s South Side. Roberto “Touch” Zielinski, age 49, was having a mental health crisis when Milwaukee police officers opened fire on him. As with other officer-involved shootings, Zielinski’s family and community members wanted to know what happened and why the police resorted to deadly force. Once the MAARPR met with Zielinski’s family, their demands became quite clear — they wanted the release of footage of the incident and the names of the officers involved. 

Upon investigation into the policies regarding the public release of names of police officers and footage, the MAARPR discovered that Milwaukee had no formal policy requiring the release of that information. The MAARPR, which works closely with and includes the families of victims of the frequent police killings here, began advocating for a policy that would require the release of names within 24 hours and footage within 48. 

When the MAARPR launched that campaign, the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission (FPC), the oldest civilian police oversight group in the U.S., had policy-making power over the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD). Once the path forward was clear, the MAARPR called for and facilitated meetings between the FPC and families of police crime victims. 

The campaign took more than two years. Finally, in April of 2023, the FPC voted to adopt Standard Operating Procedure 575, which mandates the public release of all footage related to officer-involved critical incidents within fifteen days. Moreover, the MAARPR was able to pressure the FPC to include a provision that would guarantee families access to the footage within 48 hours.

The adoption of SOP 575 was a rare victory for the movement against police crimes in Milwaukee, but it was short lived. The day after its adoption, the Milwaukee Police Association (MPA) filed a lawsuit against the city over the SOP. Then,  a month after the victory of this grassroots campaign, the FPC met and declared that SOP 575 would not be effective for the duration of the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee in July, 2024. Rather than provide opportunity for public testimony, as is customary in FPC meetings, the FPC decided to vote on this suspension first. Not only did the decision go against the good faith efforts of community activists to engage with the FPC, but it also sent a message to the people of Milwaukee to anticipate little to no transparency during the RNC. 

In January 2024, the FPC lost its policy-making powers under a shared revenue bill passed by the state Legislature. The commission still has the power to hire and fire police and fire chiefs and advocate for the city’s residents, but civilian oversight was gutted by the state.

As many had feared and actively warned, the RNC brought with it police violence.  Over 4,500 additional police descended on the city, recruited from area officers working in the Milwaukee Area Investigative Team, and from around the country. Gov. Tony Evers declared Milwaukee to be in a state of emergency for the duration of the convention. On the second day of the convention, officers from Columbus, Ohio, shot and killed an unhoused Black man, Samuel “Jah” Sharpe Jr., from a block’s distance, while Sharpe was in an altercation with another person and holding a knife.  Almost immediately, the Columbus Police Department (CPD) released body camera footage, following it up with more extensive video two days later. 

That next day, members of the MAARPR received confirmation that the MPA had dropped its legal challenge to SOP 575. This timing wasn’t a coincidence. CPD’s decision to release the footage within hours of the critical incident contradicted the MPA’s claims and demonstrated the lack of merit in their arguments. Such a quick release of footage made it obvious to the MPA that their arguments would not hold up in court. 

Police body camera footage of the killing of Sharpe Jr. allowed the public to see the event for themselves, and gave Sharpe Jr.’s relatives traction to argue that this was an inappropriate use of fatal force. Against widespread condemnation of yet another unnecessary use of deadly force, Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman defended the police involved, saying that the video indicated that the officers had made difficult decisions quickly, and that there were no violations of police protocol.

But to many in the community, the footage of the killing of Sharpe Jr. clearly indicates that the police shot him from far away, neglecting to attempt to intervene in the situation in less violent ways. What the video does not show is that the Columbus police were a mile away from the convention they were supposedly in town to protect. Their presence in the neighborhood was an invasion that endangered its residents and public safety in general.  

Access to footage won’t put an end to police crimes, but it allows impacted communities to shape the narrative about these incidents and to organize against them. The end of police crimes will come when the community wields the power to have control over the police. Such power would ensure that out of town police aren’t allowed to patrol areas a mile away from the RNC. Samuel “Jah” Sharpe Jr. would be alive today if such resources were available to all.

The achievement of SOP 575 emerged out of the grief, rage, and demand for better from the relatives of those killed by police, and it highlights what diligent grassroots organizing against police crimes can accomplish. As the MAARPR reminds people, the struggle continues. The struggle for greater transparency and accountability from the police in Milwaukee is far from over, and SOP 575’s success marks an important step forward.