MILWAUKEE (AP) A group of Milwaukee aldermen are pushing a host of police reforms after prosecutors declined to charge an officer who shot a man 14 times, including equipping police with body cameras and identifying officers prone to violence.
The plan comes as the city’s black community grapples with District Attorney John Chisholm’s decision Monday not to charge former officer Christopher Manney with any criminal wrongdoing in 31-year-old Dontre Hamilton’s death in April. Manney fatally shot Hamilton in a downtown park, emptying his service semi-automatic’s magazine into him. Manney is white; Hamilton was black.
Alderman Russell Stamper began a news conference to promote the reforms proposal Tuesday by saying he was disgusted with Chisholm’s decision.
“This is a sad time for our community,” Stamper said. “This situation is painful and it hurts.”
The proposal calls for spending $1 million to equip every Milwaukee officer with a body camera and creating an “early warning system” that would use citizen complaints and performance reviews to identify aggressive officers who may pose a threat to the public and get them counseling.