There’s a story about my town’s (Whitewater, Wisconsin’s) decision to equip its on-patrol officers with point-of-view cameras. A small video camera will record officer interactions with residents. Reportedly, all interactions will be recorded, and at the end of each shift, officers [will] download all videos into a general file that would get deleted automatically after…
Police
City, Police, University
Scenes from Whitewater’s Failing Drug War
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Less than a week ago, at Whitewater’s Common Council session of 5.21.13, the city heard a presentation supposedly on university policies ‘to educate young adults’ about the dangers of substance abuse. It was anything but that: after brief introductions from City Manager Clapper and Chancellor Richard Telfer, UW-Whitewater Police Chief Matt Kiederlen delivered scripted, doctrinaire,…
City, Law, Local Government, Police
Common Council Session of 12.18.12: On the Police and Fire Commission
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Here’s my third post on the 12.18.12 session. Seeing a need to harmonize Whitewater’s municipal code with state statutes, Council restored the title of Police and Fire Commission to a citizen’s commission previously known as the Police Commission. Years ago, I remarked how odd it was that Whitewater’s PFC never addressed fire department matters, name…
City, Police
Alert Alert!
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
People shouldn’t steal, and that includes stealing from stores. Virtually everyone believes this. It’s harmful to merchants, and infuriating to honest customers. That some will, on occasion, commit these crimes doesn’t lessen the obligation of government to publicize that information both effectively and cleverly. It may be effective initially to post a shoplifting notice, with…
City, Police
Whitewater’s 8.16.12 Police Commission Meeting
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Embedded below is the 8.16.12 Whitewater Police Commission meeting. Recording and publishing these meeting videos online is a positive development for the city. It’s a requirement imposed on our local government as part of Whitewater’s Transparency Enhancement Ordinance, at Municipal Code Section 2.62.030. Police Commission Meeting 08/16/2012 from Whitewater Community TV on Vimeo.
City, Police
Two Quick Points about Meeting Notices
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There are two things one can say about the scheduling of a meeting: If the meeting is long-planned, there should be long-range notice If the meeting is truly important (and one truly cares about community opinion), then the meeting should be scheduled after normal working hours, to allow people to attend If a presumably important…
Liberty, Military, Police
Domestic drones as a threat to liberty
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
America’s use of drones against her foreign enemies, for surveillance and lethal strikes, has been notably successful. We are sure to build new and more advanced drones for similar uses, and to expand our naval power without placing aviators at risk. Yet, something that has served so well in combat was sure to be proposed…
Local Government, Official Misconduct, Police
Update: The Dismissal of Palmyra’s Police Chief, Charles Warren
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
An update to an earlier post on Palmyra’s dismissal of Police Chief Charles Warren: I withheld a comment on the matter (it was mostly fine, with one impediment), but I’d like to respond here to the contention that Warren and other officials should be accountable for their actions. Yes, I agree; I simply don’t know…
Local Government, Official Misconduct, Police
The Dismissal of Palmyra’s Police Chief, Charles Warren
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Last week, Palmyra’s Police Commission, on a 2-1 vote, fired Chief Charles Warren. Warren had been police chief of the village’s force for five years. Both the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Jefferson County Daily Union reported on Warren’s dismissal. The Police Commission action followed an autumn hearing on the complaint of Gary Byers, a village…
Police, Press Release, Wisconsin
25th Annual Wisconsin Troopers’ Association Art & Essay Contest
by JOHN ADAMS •
Crime, Government Spending, Police
Officers Punished for Supporting Eased Drug Laws
by JOHN ADAMS •
These officers can expect to be hounded out, as so much federal and state money depends, not on solving the problem of addiction, but on waging an ineffective, endless campaign, all the while insisting that this time – yes, this time – everything will be different and better. Those challenging their dismissals are buoyed by…
Freedom of Speech, Liberty, Police, Politics
The Misuse of Law Enforcement Against Peaceful Protesters
by JOHN ADAMS •
I may have my doubts about the Occupy movement’s platform (such as it is), but I’ve none about the aggressive use of law enforcement against peaceful protesters: that use is wrong, being both offensive and contrary to America’s political tradition. The Huffington Post offers up a video of excessive use of force against seated protesters…
Freedom of Speech, Liberty, Police, Politics
84-Year-Old Woman Becomes the Pepper-Sprayed Face of Occupy Seattle
by JOHN ADAMS •
Photo: Joshua Trujillo / Seattle Post-Intelligencer Worse than outrageous: Seattle photographer Joshua Trujillo captured what may become the defining image of this week of Occupy unrest — an elderly woman being led away from the mayhem, her face covered with pepper spray. A pregnant woman and a preist were also hit with pepper spray during a…
Police
The Shrewd Mr. Flynn
by JOHN ADAMS •
I wrote yesterday about the press battle between the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Milwaukee’s Police Chief Flynn. Conflicts like this often lead to wagon-circling, a self-defeating response. See, The Predictable, Dead-End Response. And yet, Flynn is sure to have a second term, something unusual for Milwaukee, but common in most departments. Commonly, police commissions go…