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Wearing his Milwaukee police uniform, Gregory Carson Jr. stepped into the witness stand, raised his right hand and swore to tell the truth.

Two years earlier, a man had been shot in an alley. His girlfriend said police pressured her to allow a search of the duplex as she held her infant. That search had turned up five guns, and now her boyfriend faced a federal charge.

On the stand that afternoon, a public defender asked Carson if he recalled making inappropriate statements to the girlfriend. Commenting on seeing her underwear on the floor? Reaching out to her hours later? Texting her?

Carson’s answer under oath to each question was the same.

No.

A few witnesses later, the girlfriend swore to tell the truth and read screenshots of text messages she had received.

Hey, it’s me. Honestly it was seeing your thong on the floor that had me like damn lol.

The woman replied to ask who was contacting her. She read the response in court: Hey it’s Carson from yesterday and I understand.

The officer had been caught in a lie.

At the time, Carson already was on the Milwaukee County district attorney’s list of officers with a history of credibility, integrity or bias concerns, commonly referred to as a “Brady/Giglio” list.

He also was under internal investigation for those same text messages. None of that was known to the defense attorney who questioned him. 

After that court hearing, Carson remained on the Milwaukee Police Department payroll for more than two years. In that period, he came under internal investigation three more times.

His nine-year career illustrates the risk of keeping such officers on the force and interacting with the public after their credibility and integrity have come under question. At least a dozen officers, including Carson, kept their jobs after landing on the Brady list, then ended up on the list again for another incident, an investigation by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, TMJ4 News and Wisconsin Watch found.

Reached in April, Carson declined an interview request. 

Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said Carson faced several allegations that overlapped in time and that the officer had due process and collective bargaining rights. Internal investigations can take months or even years to complete, the chief added.

“But we still have to remember, just as a court case, you are innocent until proven guilty,” Norman said in an interview in January.

Officers’ rights are important, but so is protecting public trust, said Justin Nix, associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Nebraska Omaha.

“Officers can arrest us, they can use force on us, and along with that comes a lot of responsibility to uphold certain values and to be honest,” Nix said in June. 

“When officers fail to meet those standards, in my mind, it’s unacceptable.”

Officer lands on Brady list after domestic violence arrest but keeps his job

Carson wanted a long career with the Milwaukee Police Department.

He started as a police aide.

He had relatives who were cops and he wanted to make a difference in his community, “busting down drug houses, getting guns off the streets,” he wrote to a supervisor in 2015.

“I am striving for success, and 25 years plus on the job,” he added.

He became a sworn officer in 2018. Two years later, his own department arrested him on a domestic violence allegation.

A woman had called for help, saying she wanted Carson to leave their shared residence. She had confronted him over infidelity suspicions, and then he held her against the couch and bit her cheek, she said. 

Police separated the two. Officer Roy Caul asked the woman about domestic violence incidents that had occurred at any time, not just that night in 2020.

“Just because he’s a cop doesn’t mean that he’s free to do this to you,” Caul said, according to transcripts from body camera footage. 

The woman said she just wanted Carson out of the house.

The officer asked if anything occurred that night or within the last 28 days to cause her pain or make her fear for her safety. The woman replied no.

Officers arrested Carson, already in uniform for his next shift, and took him to the training academy for further questioning. He denied hurting the woman.

The department referred the case to the district attorney’s office. Assistant District Attorney Nicolas Heitman declined to charge Carson. In a recent email to the Journal Sentinel, Heitman said the office did not feel it could meet the burden of proof with the available evidence.

Three months later, the woman told Internal Affairs she had not feared for her safety. Carson told Internal Affairs nothing physical happened.

“I feel that I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said, according to department records.

Norman, the chief, disagreed and gave Carson a three-day suspension. 

The arrest resulted in the district attorney’s office placing Carson on its list of officers with credibility or integrity issues, often called a “Brady/Giglio” list, named after two landmark U.S. Supreme Court rulings. 

These lists are maintained to help prosecutors fulfill their legal obligations to share information favorable to the defense. Often, criminal cases come down to the word of an officer against a defendant. Judges and juries must weigh the credibility of both.

With Carson’s name added to the list, prosecutors would need to disclose his criminal referral and integrity violation to defense attorneys if he appeared on their witness list. 

Then it would be up to a defense attorney, and later a judge, to determine if it was relevant to bring up in court.

Carson kept his job, his badge and his ability to testify.

Wisconsin does not have statewide standards for Brady lists, leaving it to each county to track material

Until recently, the county’s full Brady list was kept secret.

After months of pressure from media organizations, the district attorney’s office released the entire list last September. It was inaccurate, inconsistent and incomplete, an investigation by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, TMJ4 News and Wisconsin Watch found.

As a result of reporters’ questions, District Attorney Kent Lovern removed officers and added others. His office released a corrected and updated list of nearly 200 officers in February, which was published by the Journal Sentinel and media partners.

Who gets on a list – and whether counties even have a list – varies widely in Wisconsin, where there are no statewide standards. Officers can testify in multiple counties or in federal court, depending on the case and where an investigation leads. 

Federal prosecutors, however, have standardized U.S. Department of Justice guidelines. Prosecutors are supposed to ask law enforcement witnesses directly about potential Brady material and check with officers’ home agencies. 

“This process is designed to identify information that is even broader in scope than what is legally required and what might trigger being on a list in another jurisdiction,” said Kenneth Gales, a spokesman with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Milwaukee, in an email.

Gales maintained the office followed all proper procedures prior to Carson’s testimony in the federal hearing.

Even if a formal list is not shared by prosecutors, state and federal public defenders in eastern Wisconsin often exchange information between their offices about the credibility of law enforcement witnesses.

Criminal defense attorneys in Wisconsin say inconsistencies in disclosing Brady material can lead to injustice and wrongful convictions.

Such information is crucial for an effective defense, said Bridget Krause, trial division director for the State Public Defender’s Office.

“Our clients have liberty at stake,” she said.

In shooting case, a witness says officer made inappropriate comments in person and through texts

In late 2021, the Milwaukee Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division received a letter from a prisoner at Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution.

In it, a man accused officers of illegally searching his house during a shooting investigation. 

It was the call involving Carson. 

Internal Affairs opened an investigation and notified Carson, saying he was accused of taking part in an illegal search and failing to activate his body camera. 

A third allegation read that “while on scene, you made inappropriate comments to a female citizen as well as sending her an inappropriate text message,” according to paperwork served on Carson on March 1, 2022.

Seven days later at the court hearing, Carson denied knowing anything about the texts.

He also defended his decision to turn off his body camera, saying he had switched off the device to speak with other officers, who did the same. No one recorded the conversation detectives had with the woman about searching the home.

“My role in the investigation was over once the detectives were on scene inside the residence,” Carson said, according to a court transcript.

When the man’s girlfriend testified, she said she felt pressured to allow the search after an officer mentioned child welfare. She feared her baby would be taken away. She also said that Carson had flirted with her in the house.

When the prosecutor asked her to elaborate, she quoted Carson as saying: “Oh, you might as well kiss your man goodbye, because you ain’t never going to see him again.”

She also remembered this comment: “I’m going to come back and see you later, okay? You going to let me in? It’s just going to be me and you.”

As the hearing closed, Joshua Uller, a federal public defender, sharpened his argument that officers had acted improperly and their search was not lawful.

Carson and others violated department policy when they didn’t record their interaction with the woman as she signed the consent form. They treated a shooting victim as a suspect without evidence to do so, and Carson had acted completely inappropriately, he said.

“Turning a woman with a newborn child whose boyfriend was just taken away in an ambulance into a romantic objective is really beyond the pale,” Uller said, according to a transcript.

Later that month, Magistrate Judge Stephen C. Dries issued his report and recommendation. Though he chided officers for failing to record the woman signing the form, he concluded they had properly gotten her consent and the search was legal.

Carson’s testimony on the text messages, he said, was not credible.

Officer, already on the Brady list, tries to dissuade a woman from filing a complaint against another officer

Two days after the hearing, an internal investigator questioned Carson about the text messages.

He admitted to sending them, contradicting his testimony. 

He said he had a “weakness” and had contacted the woman in “romantic pursuit,” department records say.

“In no way shape or form did I ever intend to be inappropriate or disrespect her in that manner,” he said, according to the records. “It was honestly me trying to shoot my shot and that was it.”

He denied making inappropriate comments to her in person and denied using his position as a police officer as an advantage. He said he regretted it and had learned a lesson.

He never mentioned his false testimony. At this point, federal prosecutors had not notified the police department of any concerns.

About three months after that interview, Carson had another troubling interaction with a woman he met on duty when she and her ex-boyfriend walked into District 7 on the city’s north side.

The former couple had a heated property dispute. The woman also said the man had intentionally hit her head while closing a car door. The man said it was an accident.

Carson was one of four officers dealing with the situation.

The woman grew frustrated with an officer who implied she was lying about the car door injury and refused to write a report about the incident. Police cited the man for battery.

Hours later, the woman received a call from a blocked number. 

It was Carson.

He explained who he was and said he was off-duty. He pleaded with her not to file a complaint against his co-worker who had implied she was lying, according to police records. All of the officers involved were “good guys” who could only do so much, she remembered him saying.

She also recalled Carson saying that he hoped she would leave her ex-boyfriend alone because he did not want the ex “popping up at her house” while Carson was there, which she believed to be a flirtatious comment.

The next day, she filed two complaints at District 7: one against the officer who implied she lied and one against Carson.

In a recent interview with the Journal Sentinel, the woman called the actions of the officers that day “extremely disheartening.”

“When you’re going through one of the toughest times of your life, the last thing you should have to deal with is them approaching you in a sexual manner or accusing you of lying when you’re literally crying out for help,” said the woman, who asked not to be named publicly for privacy and safety reasons.

Internal Affairs classified her complaint against Carson as potential misconduct in office and assigned a detective to investigate.

A federal prosecutor tells the Milwaukee Police Department an officer gave false testimony in court

That summer, the federal case involving the shooting victim and Carson’s texts continued.

The defense attorney asked another judge to weigh in on the legality of the search. 

As prosecutors prepared for another hearing in July 2022, Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan Paulson reached out to Carson about his prior testimony. 

She then wrote a memo summarizing their conversation, in which she said Carson admitted to sending the texts and not being truthful in his testimony, adding: “I’m human and I’m attracted to women.”

On July 6, 2022, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Funnell emailed Internal Affairs with concerns about Carson’s credibility. He followed up the next day with a transcript from the March hearing, the earlier judge’s report and the defense motion for a second evidentiary hearing. 

Asked about the case and the length of time it took the U.S. Attorney’s Office to contact Milwaukee police, a spokesman for the office said prosecutors acted appropriately.

“The United States also timely satisfied all legal disclosure obligations to the Court and to the defense in the matter you have referenced,” Gales said in an email. 

Carson was on the county’s Brady list of officers with credibility issues — he had been since 2021 — but Uller, the federal public defender, said he had never seen the county’s Brady list until the Journal Sentinel and other media partners published it in February.

“While I cannot comment on this particular case, I am not aware of any instance in which, prior to the publication of this list, a lawyer in our office was notified of an officer’s inclusion in this list,” he said.

The Journal Sentinel tried to contact the woman who received the texts but was not successful. Her then-boyfriend charged in the case died in a shooting two years ago.

After hearing from the federal prosecutor in July 2022, Internal Affairs opened an investigation into Carson’s false testimony.

Carson was now the subject of three pending internal investigations, had previously received a three-day suspension and was on the county’s Brady list.  

Still, he remained on patrol.

“At the time, it’s an allegation,” Norman, the police chief, said in an interview.

“We have, again, due process,” he added. “And so we need to make sure that there is, you know, the fairness of ensuring that there is credibility to everything, even from a prosecutor.”

A domestic violence victim calls for help, and an officer under internal investigation responds

Bobbie Lou Schoeffling called 911 for help on July 11, 2022.

Over the previous months, Schoeffling or her sister had repeatedly called police to report violence from Schoeffling’s ex-boyfriend, Nicholas Howell. Howell had not been arrested despite the multiple reports, having an open warrant for fleeing and being under the supervision of correctional agents for a past robbery conviction.

That night, Schoeffling called police twice to report threats from Howell. On the second call, she said he had threatened to burn down her house on Hampton Avenue. She had left the area, fearing for her safety, she added.

Carson and his partner were dispatched to the second call. They did not drive to her house. Instead, Carson spoke to her over the phone and failed to activate his body camera to record their conversation.

Carson and his partner — and the two officers who responded earlier that night — did not file any reports or make any arrests.

Schoeffling was found shot to death two weeks later, on July 26. 

On Sept. 4, 2022, police leaders finally pulled Carson from patrol, stripped him of his police powers and assigned him to the stolen vehicle desk in the forensics division. 

He did not routinely interact with the public in the role, and the job limited him from having to testify, a department spokesperson said in an email to the Journal Sentinel.

As internal investigations conclude, officer faces a suspension, then termination

As Carson sat at his desk job, his discipline piled up.

In February 2023, Norman suspended him for six days for the inappropriate texts and for failing to activate his body camera at the shooting scene.

Two months later, in April, the Journal Sentinel published an investigation into Schoeffling’s death. The article prompted Norman to order a review of every contact she had with the department, including the one involving Carson. The chief later suspended Carson for eight days for how he handled the call.

That same month, Internal Affairs interviewed Carson about the complaint filed by the woman at District 7. That investigation had slowed, in part, because it was difficult to reach the woman for follow-up interviews, records show.

The woman told the Journal Sentinel that she recalled speaking to an investigator once after filing her complaint and said she received several letters from the department.

Carson told the investigator, Sgt. Adam Riley, that when he called the woman, he did not say anything suggestive, only that she was worth more than her ex-boyfriend, according to department records. He acknowledged urging her not to make a complaint.

Riley pointed out the officer appeared to have a “pattern.”

Riley asked about Carson’s court testimony in the earlier case, pointing out he knew about the allegation related to the texts before his testimony. Carson said he thought he was truthful on the stand because he did not remember the text at the time.

Carson also said the federal prosecutor who wrote the memo had “misinterpreted” their conversation. Riley asked if Carson would have done anything differently. 

No, he said.

Federal and state prosecutors declined to file criminal charges of perjury or misconduct against Carson.

But the district attorney’s office did add him to the Brady list for a second time — and the false testimony cost him his job.

Norman fired him for lying under oath and for discouraging the woman at District 7 from making a complaint. 

Carson’s discharge date was Aug. 28, 2024, three years after he was first placed on the Brady list in the aftermath of his domestic violence arrest.

The woman who filed the complaint against Carson and the other officer at District 7 knew Carson had been fired. Still, she has concerns about how the department investigates misconduct allegations.

“I think it’s not handled appropriately or quickly enough,” she said.

Tia Schoeffling, Bobbie Lou Schoeffling’s sister, called it “ridiculous” that an officer arrested in such a case could then respond to domestic violence victims.

She thought of Carson on desk duty for two years, collecting nearly $80,000 in annual wages while he was the subject of several ongoing internal investigations.

She questioned if it would have taken that long to investigate a regular citizen for similar allegations. 

“It’s mind-blowing that he was even allowed to respond to her call,” she said.

This story is part of Duty to Disclose, an investigation by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, TMJ4 News and Wisconsin Watch. The Fund for Investigative Journalism provided financial support for this project.

Already flagged for integrity concerns, a Milwaukee police officer lied under oath – and kept patrolling is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Last week’s storms destroyed Sabrena Henderson’s Milwaukee home, leaving her family displaced. 

Not only did the basement of her Garden Homes rental unit flood, destroying her washer, dryer and freezer, but the heavy rains collapsed her ceiling.

While she does have renters insurance, she said, it’s been a long process of trying to apply for assistance, file claims and figure out next steps. 

“It’s only thanks to my family that we are not homeless,” she said. “But we can’t stay in our house, and we are waiting for the landlord to do their part.” 

Additionally, Henderson is a breast cancer survivor who is still in cancer care and should not be anywhere near her home. Mold buildup could be dangerous for her immune system, she said, making cleanup another major concern.

Henderson’s family is one of thousands trying to put their lives back together.  

Impact

Two American Red Cross shelters have been set up in Milwaukee at Holler Park, 5151 S. 6th St., and Washington Senior Center, 4420 W. Vliet St., to assist temporarily displaced individuals.

Jennifer Warren, the regional communications director with the Red Cross, said on Sunday, Aug. 18, the shelters housed 39 people. 

She said since the shelter has been set up, the Red Cross has served over 1,400 meals and snacks. Workers handed out 3,400 emergency relief supplies.

Vickie Boneck, the director of marketing and communications with IMPACT 211, a central access point for people in need, said her organization is supporting local emergency management offices by collecting reports of property damage caused by flooding.

Days after the storm, calls for flood-related assistance continue. 

As of the afternoon of Aug. 18, over 16,500 flood-related service requests had been made to 211 from Milwaukee County and the surrounding counties of Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington. About 85% of those requests originated from Milwaukee County alone.

According to 211 data, the highest concentration of service requests came from Milwaukee County’s Northwest Side and the West Milwaukee area, particularly from ZIP codes 53218, 53209 and 53216.

ZIP code 53218, where Henderson’s home falls, reported the most significant impact, with 1,851 damage reports. It also led in utility disruptions, with 2,562 reports, and had over 850 reports of structural damage.

Of the data collected, approximately 6,000 referrals were for storm-related assistance, helping connect residents to county emergency services, disaster food programs, cleanup supplies and other recovery resources.

What’s next

Milwaukee County’s disaster teams are assessing damage. The Salvation Army has teams out handing out water and snacks to those impacted. 

Benny Benedict, the emergency disaster services director for the Salvation Army of Milwaukee County, said people are still trying to understand the full impact of the floods. 

“It takes a while to figure out basically what you’re dealing with, and it seems that this flood is definitely very significant,” Benedict said. 

Teams from partner agencies are also on site to help residents clean homes and basements. 

Both the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross are accepting monetary contributions to help those impacted as on-site donations are too much to manage at the moment. 

“Today it might be the masks that everyone needs, and then we get thousands of them, and next thing you don’t know, the need is baby formula, and all we have are masks,” he said. “So the monetary donation, we don’t have to sort it, it’s very fluid, and the Salvation Army takes great care in making sure that we’re just meeting the critical needs.” 

Benedict said in his experience, this will be a case of long-term recovery for many of those impacted. 

“Preliminary numbers are showing that there is a significant number of destroyed homes,” he said. “So, we know that the unmet needs are going to be quite large. 
That could be everything from just cleanup kits, flood kits, help getting the house mucked out, basically rebuilding, and then there’s going to be needs for household items that were destroyed.”

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How to get help

Residents who wish to report property damage may contact IMPACT 211 and speak to a community resource specialist. That is also the best way to access information and referral to programs and services that may help in the aftermath of this storm. If people just want to report property damage, the best way is to complete the online form 211 Wisconsin.

Thousands of Milwaukee residents still feel effects of storm wreckage is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Nasal Narcan, used to reverse an overdose, stock the inside of Milwaukee County's first harm reduction vending machine. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley is proposing to utilize over $9 million in opioid settlement funds to support seven initiatives aimed at expanding treatment and reducing opioid use disorder. Crowley said in a statement that his administration “continues to deploy opioid settlement dollars across Milwaukee County.” 

“These upstream investments are proving to be effective,” Crowley said, “but we know there’s more work to do in expanding substance use prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery efforts.” 

The Milwaukee County Board Committee on Finance unanimously approved Crowley’s proposal during a meeting Thursday. Next week, the full county board will vote on whether to approve the plan. The projects, proposed for the 2026-28 fiscal years, include providing outreach to older adults with disabilities through door-to-door canvasing and  funding community-based organizations which partner with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Providing more staffing to the medical examiner’s office, funding residential room and board programs for people struggling with addiction and enhancing the county’s publicly available data analysis of the overdose crisis are among the other proposed initiatives. 

“Through these proven initiatives and by working together, we will keep leading the way to change the lives of individuals affected by substance use disorder and reduce the likelihood of overdose-related fatalities in our community — because lives depend on it,” Crowley said in a statement. 

Shakita LaGrant-McClain, executive director of DHHS, said the funding will allow the department to “continue the life-saving work that began with the initial round of opioid settlement funds…We are seeing promising trends and look forward to continuing our prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery work, including ensuring residents have access to harm reduction supplies, targeted community outreach, and collaboration with community partners.”

A publicly available dashboard illustrates the toll the overdose epidemic has taken on Milwaukee County. It provides information on both fatal and non-fatal overdoses, which communities are most impacted, how much anti-overdose Naloxone has been utilized, and more. Across Milwaukee County, over 4,500 people have lost their lives to an overdose between 2016 and 2024. The deaths peaked in 2022, which saw 674 people lose their lives to an overdose. Non-fatal overdoses are even more common; more than 5,400 occurred during 2022. There have been 1,061 non-fatal overdoses so far this year and 124 people have died of an overdose in 2025. 

The data shows that so far this year, 14% of fatal overdoses have been people between 55-59 years old and 11% were  60-64. People aged 35-39 made up 13% of the fatal overdoses this year. The lowest percentages came from young people 15-29 years old, and much older people aged 75-85 years or more. 

Over 18 years, Milwaukee County will receive a total of $111 million in opioid settlement funds. So far, $34 million has been allocated across three cohorts of funded projects focused on breaking cycles of addiction, advancing racial equality and improving community health.

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It’s tempting to begin a story about Emily Sterk with an anecdote about her advocacy around mass incarceration. 

Or with her reflections on how her privilege plays into that work. Or with an exploration of how her religious faith intertwines with her concern for those caught up in the criminal justice system. 

But she also loves musicals – and is a little embarrassed to admit how much she enjoys “Wicked.” She has a beloved tortoiseshell cat named Stevie and is fond of puzzles. 

Having said all that, people are starting to notice how good she is at what she does, said Krissie Fung, associate director of Milwaukee Turners, the state’s oldest civic organization, where Sterk is completing a fellowship.  

“People have heard her speak in public, and folks are beginning to look to her opinion,” Fung said. 

This ability to gain trust within criminal justice reform circles is especially valuable as the organization grows, said Emilio De Torre, executive director of Turners.

“Having someone who can help us build stronger networks, have an informed leader in these different rooms – it expands our ability to educate others who don’t understand this and to empower people who are impacted but unsure of what to do,” De Torre said.

From the academy 

During her final year of graduate school at Pennsylvania State University, Sterk – in her spare time – taught in two correctional institutions. 

“That was one of the first times I felt like, ‘Oh, well, I should be doing something about this,’” she said. 

Sterk arrived in Milwaukee last fall as a Leading Edge Fellow with the American Council of Learned Societies, a national program that places Ph.D. graduates at justice-focused nonprofits.

At Turners, she conducts research, participates in advocacy and develops policy ideas geared toward confronting mass incarceration.

‘Watching the watchers’

One area Sterk has focused on is civilian oversight of law enforcement. 

At an April 15 meeting of the Milwaukee County Board’s Judiciary, Law Enforcement and General Services Committee, Sterk testified in support of a civilian board that would oversee the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office. 

She told committee members that, in order to be effective and independent, such a board must have the authority to hire and fire law enforcement officers – including the sheriff – and have policymaking authority. 

Sterk pointed to a 2024 audit of the county jail that, she said, “unearthed deeply troubling policies, practices and procedures that have long since been ingrained in the facility and its staff.” 

She highlighted an instance in which an officer accused of misconduct was assigned to respond to the grievance filed against them.

With emotion in her voice, Sterk reminded supervisors that the audit devoted just three sentences to a suicide attempt that auditors personally witnessed during their visit.

Two weeks after this committee meeting, Sterk presented to the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission the findings of a six-month monitoring period of the commission’s activity – “watching the watchers,” as Fung put it.

The commission was significantly restructured in July 2023 after Wisconsin Act 12 stripped its ability to shape police policy, shifting that power to police and fire department chiefs.

The public report resulting from the monitoring concluded that the commission “appears to serve as a rubber stamp.”

Honey, not vinegar

However, Sterk is not hostile or self-righteous in her criticism. Care and sincerity are at the center of her approach – even for the offices and bodies she’s criticizing.

At the Fire and Police Commission presentation, multiple commissioners thanked the Turners and echoed the call to improve public engagement.

Currently, Sterk is fostering a collaboration on jail-based voting between the Turners and the League of Women Voters of Milwaukee County. Here, too, her thoughtfulness has left its mark.

“The first thing she talked to me about was educating people about having respect for people who are incarcerated,” said Gail Sklodowska, the second vice president of advocacy and action for the league. “Like how we refer to them, how we talk about them. And I went, ‘Wow, I never even thought of that as a place we should start.’

“But she’s right.”

This combination of rigor, respect and resolve is rooted in deeper values, said Carlos de la Torre, Sterk’s partner and a rector at a church in Chicago. 

“Amidst the work of justice, of restoration, of reconciliation, of liberation,” he said, “Emily knows that there’s a place for beauty in all this.

“The point of all this work is to offer people access to a good life, to the beauty of this world, to be free in creation.”

Sterk’s fellowship ends September 2026, but she is open to staying in Milwaukee after that – and so are others.

“I would love for us – and for Milwaukee – to keep her,” Fung said. 

‘There’s a place for beauty in all this’: Faith informs scholar’s advocacy for Milwaukee’s incarcerated is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

The Social Development Commission, or SDC, is asking the federal government to reverse a decision made by the state that could alter the anti-poverty agency’s funding options. 

Here’s what we know.

The community action decision 

The Wisconsin Department of Children and Families decided in May to remove the SDC’s community action agency status, effective July 3.

Although the department believes SDC has not been operating anti-poverty services since it shut down in April 2024, despite reopening in December, SDC’s leaders have said the state did not follow the proper process to make this decision.

Without this designation, SDC will not be eligible for a Community Services Block Grant, which is a small portion of its budget but significant to its efforts to pay back employees and rebuild its service programs.

How does a federal review work? 

When a state decides to rescind community action status or the related block grant funding from a local agency, the agency can request a review from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services within 30 days. 

SDC submitted a request for a review of the state’s community action decision to the department on June 9, citing concerns about due process. 

The Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, will evaluate if the state’s determination process followed the guidance on the termination or reduction of funding for entities eligible for the Community Services Block Grant, according to a spokesperson from the department. 

The Division of Community Assistance, which is part of the Office of Community Services within the federal department, oversees block grant funding for community action agencies. 

“I think that HHS is concerned about the process that was used to de-designate SDC, and so my expectation is that they will be talking to the state about the process,” said William Sulton, SDC’s attorney.

The Department of Children and Families received notification on June 11 from the Office of Community Services that SDC requested a review, but did not receive the request itself, according to Gina Paige, communications director for the department.

The review will be completed within 90 days of receiving all required documentation from the state, according to federal law. If not completed in the 90-day time frame, the state’s decision will be upheld. 

As part of the request, SDC is asking the Department of Health and Human Services for direct financial assistance. 

According to the CSBG Act, if a state violates the de-designation process –  by terminating or reducing funding of an eligible entity before the state hearing and the secretary’s review – the Health and Human Services secretary is authorized to provide financial assistance to the entity affected until the violation is corrected.

SDC’s concerns 

SDC raised two main concerns with the state’s determination process in the request, based on state and federal laws.  

The first concern is that the public hearing on SDC’s community action status, held by the Department of Children and Families on April 4, did not meet the legal requirements of a “hearing on the record.”

“You’re supposed to be permitted to call witnesses and present evidence,” Sulton said. “… We were given seven minutes to make a speech, and that was it.” 

SDC also says that both the Department of Children and Families’ secretary and the legislative bodies of the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County would have to sign off on the decision, based on a state statute that requires the legislative body that initially granted the agency community action status to approve rescinding it. 

“They didn’t go out and get position statements from the city and the county’s legislative bodies,” Sulton said. 

The department did not comment on these claims. (Paige previously said it has worked closely with the Office of Community Services and Milwaukee County to determine the process needed to move forward with de-designating SDC.)

Although Milwaukee County’s Office of Corporation Counsel submitted a letter to say it found no records of the Board of Supervisors taking action on SDC’s status as a community action agency, Sulton said that doesn’t mean there are no records. 

He argues that this provision of the law, added in 1983, was put in place to protect SDC from arbitrary state action.

Funding deadline

In May, three state lawmakers asked SDC to consider voluntarily de-designating, which would allow the state and Milwaukee County to more quickly find an interim service provider to use SDC’s allocated funds in Milwaukee County. 

The $1.18 million in 2024 block grant funding could be recouped by the federal government if not spent by Sept. 30, 2025, according to the Department of Children and Families. 

However, Sulton said when he reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services before filing the review, an employee told him the 2024 funds had to be obligated by 2026.

“To the extent that anybody has the impression that this money has to be obligated by September or it’ll be lost, HHS says it’s not the case,” he said. 

States and subrecipients usually have two years to distribute funds, but it depends on state-specific policies, according to HHS.

The state’s Sept. 30 deadline marks two years after the beginning of the 2024 fiscal year in October 2023, according to Paige. 

Though Paige said that SDC’s request for review is perpetuating the lack of services in Milwaukee County, she added that the department plans to seek a six-month liquidation extension from the federal government.

“It’s quite possible that we’re gonna be on a really tight timeline to get that money out the door, so that’s why we’re hoping that we can work with the federal government and see if they can allow us an extension to expend it a little bit longer,” Paige said. 

Board member changes

The SDC board added two commissioners in May – Milwaukee Public Schools appointed Michael Harris, and the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee appointed Peter Fetzer, an attorney at Foley & Lardner LLP. 

In the last seven months, the SDC board has expanded from three to 10 commissioners, thanks to several appointments to vacant seats. The board is designed to have 18 members at full capacity. 

Commissioner Lucero Ayala’s term has ended, according to Sulton. Ayala was nominated and selected last year to fill the remainder of Serina Chavez’s term as an elected commissioner.

Milwaukee Social Development Commission wants feds to reverse state funding decision   is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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As Wisconsin’s prison population climbs toward pre-pandemic levels, Senate Bill 153 seeks to expand alternatives to incarceration.

Wisconsin’s Treatment Alternatives and Diversion program was established in 2005 to provide counties with funding to create programs to divert adults with nonviolent criminal charges into community-based treatment for substance abuse. 

Senate Bill 153 would formally expand the scope of these programs to explicitly include individuals with mental health issues.

Access to more funding

While some counties, including Milwaukee, already provide some diversion options for individuals with mental health needs, Senate Bill 153 could allow Milwaukee County to access funding not currently available. 

“The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office has always supported the expansion of the Treatment Alternatives and Diversion program to include those individuals with severe and persistent mental health issues in addition to those with alcohol and drug dependency issues,” said Jeffrey Altenburg, Milwaukee County’s chief deputy district attorney.

He added that such an expansion would allow the district attorney’s office to focus most of its traditional prosecutorial resources on violent crime. 

Bipartisan support

State Sen. André Jacque, R-New Franken, who co-authored the bill, said that the legislation enjoys broad bipartisan support as well as backing from those who work inside the criminal justice system.

“Folks that I’ve talked to – whether it’s probation and parole, law enforcement more generally – these are folks that see that it works because you don’t see repeat involvement in the criminal justice system,” he said. 

“It is transformative and uplifting when you see the changes that people are able to make in their lives.”

Marshall Jones, currently incarcerated at Fox Lake Correctional Institution, hopes more lawmakers have that sort of mindset. 

“If politicians were more proactive in helping people in the system address the underlying issues they have, then more people will be in a position to experience lasting, genuine change,” Jones said.

Research shows that treating the underlying causes of criminal behavior helps individuals rebuild their lives after incarceration and prevents future offenses.

“Most people who have mental health issues are already running or hiding from a fear they have,” said Aaron Nicgorski, a patient at a Wisconsin Department of Health Services facility. 

“Providing treatment says ‘Hey, we understand you have an issue, here are some programs to get you on a path to a better future’ versus ‘Hey, we’re gonna put you in a cage to think about what you’ve done.’”

Diversion vs. incarceration

Over time, the criminal justice system has recognized that many people commit crimes because of economic or psychological factors rather than some sort of character flaw. 

Diversion – the process by which people get “diverted” into voluntary programs and away from formal prosecution – has been used to address these factors.

“The whole idea is to divert them from the traditional system and get them placed with, hopefully, programs that can break the cycle of any criminal behavior,” said Nick Sayner, co-founder and chief executive officer of JusticePoint, a Milwaukee-based nonprofit organization that provides diversion-related services among other criminal justice programs.

Breaking that cycle is better for the public’s safety as well as the safety of the person being diverted, said Mark Rice, coordinator for the Wisconsin Transformational Justice Campaign at WISDOM, a statewide faith-based organization.

It’s also much more cost-effective to treat people in communities rather than to incarcerate them, Rice added.

Incarceration is not an experience that lends itself to improving a person’s mental health, he said.

“One man attempted to commit suicide; several other men had to be put on suicide watch; others mutilated themselves,” said Rice, referring to his time in the special needs unit at the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility. 

What’s next?

On May 8, the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety unanimously recommended Senate Bill 153 for passage. It is now awaiting scheduling for a vote by the full Senate.

People can track the bill’s progress on the Wisconsin Legislature’s website. 

Wisconsin lawmakers seek to expand alternatives to incarceration for people with mental illness is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Despite arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the Milwaukee County Courthouse complex, many county officials want residents to know that courthouse services remain available regardless of citizenship status.

Israel Ramón, the Milwaukee County register of deeds, sees access to his office at the courthouse as a fundamental right of every resident in the county.

“I work for 950,000 people,” Ramón said. 

What is a register of deeds?

When people think of essential county services, the register of deeds might not come to mind. But Ramón has a way of making his office sound impossible to live without. 

If people want to drive a car, prove legal identity, apply for Social Security or access food benefits in Milwaukee County, among other tasks, they need documents maintained by Ramón’s office.

When Wisconsin became a state in 1848, the register of deeds was established as one of a handful of constitutional county offices – positions created by the state constitution and filled by local elections. 

Like a sheriff or a judge, people needed a register of deeds to help organize aspects of their daily lives. 

It’s the same today, Ramón said. 

“Most of the time, people don’t think that my office impacts their lives. But from birth to death and throughout their tenure in the county – my office does it all.” 

Ramón’s office issues birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates – documents known as vital records.

His office also records and archives real property documents for Milwaukee County. Real property includes real estate – the physical land and buildings – as well as the legal rights associated with owning, using and transferring it.

Altogether, Ramón said his office maintains an archive of about 12 million documents. 

Access to courthouse complex

All residents of Milwaukee County, Ramón argues, deserve access to these records – regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or immigration status. 

If, for example, an undocumented mother needs to obtain a birth certificate for her U.S.-born son to enroll him in school, she has the same right to that document as any other parent, according to Ramón. 

Ramón believes the ICE arrests at the courthouse complex threaten that right.

These arrests also threaten access to the full range of services offered in the complex, said Alan Chavoya, outreach chair of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racism & Political Repression, a community group critical of the immigration policies of the Trump administration. 

Chavoya spoke with NNS at an April news conference at the courthouse, organized to oppose ICE arrests there. 

“People don’t realize that this complex actually houses so many different services,” Chavoya said. “The county supervisors are here. People pay some taxes here. I served jury duty here.”

“A restraining order – you’re supposed to be able to get help here to file one,” he added. “People who might need one but have mixed status probably aren’t going to come here to get one, right?”

ICE at the courthouse

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution on April 24 calling on the county executive, chief judge and sheriff to work together to ensure access to courthouse services. 

However, the resolution does not impose any new restrictions on immigration enforcement. 

Ramón remains focused on what he can do. He said he will ask anyone not conducting official business in his office to leave, including ICE agents without a judicial warrant. 

A judicial warrant allows officers to make arrests in both private and public areas, while administrative warrants – typically used for immigration-related arrests – permit arrests only in public areas. 

As a constitutional officer, the register of deeds has authority over how services are provided, in accordance with state and federal laws, said a spokesperson from the Milwaukee County Executive’s Office. 

Failing to remove barriers that prevent people from accessing his office, including fear of immigration enforcement, would mean failing to uphold the oath of office he took, Ramón said.

His office also offers free notary services to all Milwaukee County residents, including for documents immigrant rights groups are urging families to prepare. 

This includes legal documents such as power-of-attorney forms, which people fearing family separation can use to ensure someone else is able to legally care for their children or manage their finances. 

But, again, Ramón makes clear that this service is for every resident of the county. 

In addition to what he sees as his public duties, he draws on his personal background to underscore his commitment to accessibility. 

He told NNS he is a U.S. citizen born in Mexico, the first Latino constitutional officer in Wisconsin and one of the first openly LGBTQ+ ones.

Gesturing to the LGBTQ+, U.S. and Mexican flags displayed on his bookshelf, Ramón said, “That’s who I am.” 

For more information

Milwaukee County residents can request records in person, online or by phone, depending on the type of record. 

For more information or to request records online, visit the Milwaukee County Register of Deeds website. 

Ramón’s office can be reached at 414-278-4021 with questions. 

The office is located at 901 N. 9th St., Room 103, and is open to the public Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

People can find a list of other services available at the courthouse complex. 

‘I work for 950,000 people’: Milwaukee County official reminds residents of their rights amid ICE arrests is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Protesters gather outside of the Milwaukee FBI office to speak out against the arrest of Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Prosecutors for the Trump administration filed a brief Monday requesting that a federal judge not dismiss the government’s indictment against Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan. 

Dugan faces criminal charges after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, along with agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and FBI, arrived in the Milwaukee County Courthouse April 18 to arrest 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz for being in the country illegally. 

Flores-Ruiz was set to appear in Dugan’s courtroom that day for a status hearing on misdemeanor charges against him. When Dugan learned that the agents were outside her courtroom, she confronted them and learned they only had an administrative warrant, which was issued by an agency official and not a judge. An administrative warrant doesn’t allow agents to enter private spaces in the courthouse such as Dugan’s courtroom. 

Later, while the agents were waiting for Flores-Ruiz in the hallway outside the main courtroom door, Dugan sent him and his attorney out a side door into the hallway. One of the agents rode down the elevator with Flores-Ruiz and he was later arrested on the street.

Dugan-DOJ-Filing

Dugan was charged with concealing an individual to prevent arrest, a misdemeanor, and obstruction, which is a felony. Last month, Dugan’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the case against her, arguing she was acting in her official capacity as a judge and therefore immune from prosecution for her actions and that the federal government is impinging on the state of Wisconsin’s authority to operate its court system. 

The case drew national attention, with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel both making public statements about Dugan’s arrest before she’d even been indicted. Legal experts have questioned the strength of the federal government’s case and accused Trump officials of grandstanding to make a political point. 

In the Monday filing, federal prosecutors argued that dismissing the case would ignore previously established law that allows judges to face criminal charges. 

“Such a ruling would give state court judges carte blanche to interfere with valid law enforcement actions by federal agents in public hallways of a courthouse, and perhaps even beyond,” the prosecutors argued. “Dugan’s desired ruling would, in essence, say that judges are ‘above the law,’ and uniquely entitled to interfere with federal law enforcement.”

Dugan is set to appear for trial on July 21.

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It’s the kind of exchange that criminal justice data is meant to clarify: a police official insisting that law enforcement practices are fair and targeted, while a city commissioner questions whether those practices contribute to racial disparities. 

“If I’m understanding what you’re saying correctly, it’s the police department position – not that you are policing in a racially motivated way, but just that it’s Black youth that are committing more crimes,” asked Krissie Fung, a commissioner on the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission during a recent meeting. 

“I would not say Black youth are committing more crimes,” responded Heather Hough, chief of staff for the Milwaukee Police Department. “I would say that when we are arresting suspects, we are ensuring reasonable suspicion or probable cause, whether or not the identity of those youth is one race or another.”

This conversation – about the overrepresentation of youths of color in Milwaukee’s criminal justice system – unfolded during the May 1 meeting of the Fire and Police Commission. However, it relied in part on a misunderstanding of the county-run dashboard that tracks youths in the justice system.

Such misinterpretations have been common, said Kelly Pethke, administrator for Milwaukee County Children, Youth and Family Services, which hosts the dashboard. 

“There’s been a lot of misunderstanding,” Pethke said. “We are in the process of making some changes.”

The point of the dashboard 

The dashboard was designed to provide real-time transparency about Milwaukee County youths in secure custody.

“We didn’t have a good, single place to go to really look at the scope of the child incarceration problem,” said Rep. Ryan Clancy, D-Milwaukee, who helped move the dashboard through the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors when he served as a supervisor.  

But the dashboard doesn’t yet offer a complete picture, including when it comes to race.

Because of this limitation, conversations about racial disparities in Milwaukee’s youth justice system – like those during the Fire and Police Commission meeting – are incomplete. 

What’s missing?

To understand what’s missing from the dashboard, it helps to know that Milwaukee youths in secure custody can fall into three categories. 

Some youths are held at the county-run Vel R. Phillips Youth and Family Justice Center for lesser offenses, remaining fully under Milwaukee County’s responsibility. 

Others, deemed serious juvenile offenders, are in the custody of the state and housed at state-run youth prisons such as Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls. 

A third group consists of youth who are the county’s responsibility but are housed in state-run facilities. The dashboard currently only shows racial data for this third group.

Pethke provided NNS with point-in-time data that helps fill out the racial picture of youths in county custody. As of May 19, there were 113 youths in the county detention center: 92 were Black, 12 were Hispanic, seven were white, and two were Asian. 

Persistent problem

Even with the updated county data, overrepresentation of youths of color – especially Black youth – in the criminal justice system continues, said Monique Liston.

She’s the founder and chief strategist of UBUNTU Research and Evaluation, a Milwaukee-based strategic education organization. 

“The disproportionality is still the same for me. Still the same flag,” she said.

Liston wrote a blog that generated a wide community response and was cited by Fung during her exchange with Hough.  

Liston doesn’t dispute Hough’s claim that Milwaukee police are acting legally and fairly. Still, she argued, the city’s criminal justice system is structured in such a way that disproportionately targets Black youths. 

“Black youth are more surveilled. That means you’re going to end up with more incidents.”

It’s a cycle, Liston said – data collected on these incidents presents an imbalanced picture of who is committing crime. 

That picture reinforces the notion that more money and policing are needed to address crime by Black youths, resulting in continued – or escalated – monitoring, she said. 

Yes, Liston wants to see clearer and more complete data from the dashboard. But she also wants that data to be used for real accountability and change.

“Whatever we measure becomes a priority,” she said. “The cycle is not disrupted if we don’t think about the data.” 

MPD and root causes

Hough does not dispute the county’s data and acknowledges that racial disparities exist in Milwaukee’s criminal justice system. But she told NNS she is confident the city’s police department is not the source of those disparities.

“We get a call for service, and we respond,” she said. 

Hough emphasized that the department holds officers accountable if they fail to meet standards of reasonable suspicion and probable cause. 

She also said that the police department – and Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman – are committed to working with the community to address the root causes of the disparities highlighted by the county’s dashboard. 

Milwaukee County looks to tweak youth incarceration dashboard after community feedback is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.