Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson held a press conference on downtown violence on Aug. 8, but it was filled with ridiculous moments – and a lot of vagueness and blame-shifting.
Johnson called the press conference the day after a group of lawmakers sent him a letter demanding action on Water Street violence and the languishing Milwaukee Police contract; officers have gone without a pay raise for 2.5 years. That letter came after a spate of shootings, homicides, and other violent incidents downtown.
Here are the goofiest moments in no particular order.
No mention of the stalled police contract
You’d think there was no stalled police contract at all, based solely on Johnson’s press conference. If a Martian came to earth and watched the news conference, the Martian would say, “What? There’s an issue with the police contract? What police contract?”
Johnson made no mention of the key issue on the minds of many, if not most, of the city’s officers: the fact the city has forced them to go without a pay raise for 2.5 years. In a time of inflation, that’s really a pay cut. The contract is before an arbitrator, but the city successfully stalled the hearing, yet again.
The contract problems have led to plummeting morale, and they certainly exacerbate the city’s staffing, retention, and recruitment crisis, which make it tough to effectively combat violence. Yet Johnson acted like the contract issue wasn’t even happening. The number of sworn MPD officers has plummeted in the city since the mid-1990s.
Asking a reporter to get him the phone number of the parents of 2 young women injured downtown
Johnson is the mayor. Surely, he has the ability to find a way to contact the parents of the two young women who were injured by a motorist who drove through a barricade downtown?
Instead, he twice asked a reporter, during the news conference, to get him the number of the parents.
According to Channel 58, Samantha Zganjar and her friend Chloe Handrich were struck by a vehicle that went through barricades in July, but the driver was only cited, not criminally charged.
The mayor told a reporter who asked about the incident that he was “trying to get the numbers for those families” because he would “like to give them a call,” and told the reporter, “Maybe you can help.” The young women were injured on July 20. The press conference was on Aug. 8.
Johnson denied that the incident was a reckless driving crash. “This seems to have been an actual accident,” he said, citing as evidence that the driver “stopped her vehicle,” rendered aid, and called 911, not fleeing the scene. “That’s an accident.”
Actually, what a driver does after a crash doesn’t inherently mean it was an accident. Logic 101.
“I don’t know how somebody who does something like that to two girls and then you see these girls on the ground in the condition they are in, I don’t know how that happens,” said Joe Zganjar, Samantha’s father, to Channel 58. Police have also claimed the crash was an accident, but an alderman and the parents have slammed that claim and are demanding justice, according to Spectrum 1.
After Johnson’s press conference, Zganjar wrote a post on Facebook expressing frustration.
“To say we frustrated by his statement is an understatement. We have emailed his office multiple times. The on scene witness states the driver was trying to leave but they stopped her from doing so…hopefully based off of that info and what the mayor’s ‘criteria’ for reckless driving MPD can now recommend charges be brought…let’s not forget the driver drove thru a barricade that in and of itself seems reckless,” he alleged. “We also want to thank everyone for the continued prayers and well wishes for both Sam and Chloe…we definitely all feel the love and it helps more than you know.”
Johnson said at another point in the news conference, to a reporter, “If you can help us out with those numbers, I’m happy to call those parents.”
His misleading comment on legislators not being police officers
Johnson slammed Republican legislators who demanded action, saying, “I’m not a law enforcement officer. Neither are, by the way, these Republicans who signed on to this letter.” Instead, he said he was turning to “experts in the field.”
He was referring to the letter demanding action on downtown violence and the police contract.
However, two of the legislators who signed the letter are former law enforcement officers. In fact, one of them was injured in the line of duty. So surely, they qualify as experts on the topic of law enforcement?
State Rep. Jim Piwowarczyk (note- he is a co-founder of WRN) was a Milwaukee County police officer and sergeant, as well as a police officer in Kewaskum, for almost 20 years collectively. He served most of those years with the Glendale police force. Anyone who knows Glendale knows that police there deal with a lot of crossover Milwaukee crime.
State Sen. Van Wanggaard has said, “a spinal injury that I suffered while on
duty as a police officer… inadvertently and ultimately led me to become a state senator.” He has also explained, “I got hit head-on by a guy going 70 mph fleeing the U.S. Marshals.”
According to Van Wanggard’s website, “During high school, Van joined the Racine Police Law Enforcement Explorer Post, and in 1972 became the first Explorer to become a member of the Racine Police Department. Van’s career as a police officer spanned nearly thirty years, during which he held many different positions within the department.”
Johnson also slammed legislators, saying they don’t talk about guns, when they have called for tougher enforcement of gun crimes already on the books.
And he complained that the Legislature gave the police chief authority over deployments, not the civilian Fire and Police Commission. Yet Johnson appoints the commissioners who choose the chief.
Johnson touted a mobile booking unit for those who receive tickets downtown – but almost no one has received tickets
One of Johnson’s main solutions to the downtown violence was a mobile booking center for people who are arrested or ticketed downtown.
He also promised that police are “increasing enforcement of juvenile curfew and prohibitions of guns.”
However, both Johnson and Police Chief Jeffrey Norman promised police were stepping up curfew enforcement as far back as 2022. That didn’t happen.
The Milwaukee Police Department has issued just 34 curfew tickets to juveniles this year through July 29, and only eight of those tickets were issued in “Code Red,” the special enforcement area designed to protect the city’s downtown area entertainment district, Wisconsin Right Now has learned through an open records request.
Another 11 of the 34 tickets were issued in district 1 downtown, MPD revealed to WRN.
WTMJ-TV reported that police issued 11 citations, six of them for curfew violations, on Water Street since 2021. The station asked for tickets “for offenses like loitering, noise nuisance, illegal drugs and open drugs on Water Street since 2021,” according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Asked about the 11 citations, a police captain, Robert Thiel, said the numbers “seemed awfully low” and promised to step up enforcement.
Johnson said that he wanted ways to “make it more efficient” for people to be held accountable.
Johnson also said that food truck hours are being “moved up” to prevent gatherings after bars close. And he said that police officers are being diverted downtown from other districts and units to increase staffing levels there.
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