Milwaukee Fire & Police Commission public oversight in peril due to alleged negligence by its executive director and staff to record all official acts during meetings, according to public scrutiny of hearings.
By H. Nelson Goodson
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.
December 3, 2019
Milwaukee, Wisconsin - The Milwaukee Fire & Police Commission (MF&PC) is now facing a dilemma of discovering previous official actions taken at public hearings (meetings) have been left out of the official record by the current Commission Executive Director Griselda Aldrete and staff, which has prevented any further action at scheduled meetings simply because the item or the approved resolution FPC 19403 (to allow 4 Residency Preference Points to the MPD Sergeant, Lieutenant and Detective exams) was not on the record or agenda itself, also it has been reported that she has missed some offical hearings, according to Paul Mozina, a frequent attendee of the Commission hearings and who has criticized the new management at the MF&PC. Mozina, a Milwaukee community activist on his Facebook account posted, "The new Executive Director of the Fire and Police Commission, Griselda Aldrete, "serves at the pleasure of the Mayor" and apparently that means ignoring the Milwaukee City Ordinance Chapter 314, which says she shall act as the principal staff "Under the direction of the Board…" and the FPC Rules which state: "The Executive Director or designee shall attend all meetings and shall record all official actions."
Yes, apparently it pleases Mayor Barrett that Ms. Aldrete doesn't bother to attend all of the FPC meetings or record the official acts of the Board.
In fact, despite the evidence in the video linked below, apparently I never spoke to the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners on November 20, 2019. According to the FPC's published minutes for the meeting — it never happened."
On May 3rd, the Milwaukee City Attorney's Office wrote an opinion stating that the MF&PC had authority over the employees of both the Milwaukee Fire Department and Milwaukee Police Department, but it didn't have any authority over the MF&PC executive director. (See attached 5-page letter from City Attorney Grant F. Langely to the MF&PC dated May 3, 2019).
A high turnover of the MF&PC staff including the termination of several staff members including the recent resignation of the MF&PC investigator Cheryl Patane. In a four page letter to the MF&PC, Patane wrote, "...It is with regret that I hereby submit my resignation. This action is being taken in protest against the current FPC administrative management whose newly implemented practices and procedures are undermining the fundamental spirit and purpose of the City of Milwaukee's civilian public oversight system...The Executive Director appears to have intentionally chosen to withdraw and take a hands off approach to her statutory obligations (City Charter 314 and FPC Citizen Complaint Filing Guidelines) to review, assess, and evaluate the internal operations of the FPC citizen complaint process as well as the auditing of the MPD and MFD citizen complaint process. This shift in accountability and demonstrable lack of intellectual inquisitiveness or insight into the citizen complaint process by the current Executive Director is stunning. The Executive Director has an obligation to actively participate in the citizen complaint process, as detailed in the FPC rules which repeatedly reference the FPC Citizen Complaint Filing Guidelines. It is as if every statutorily mandated duty and function of the Executive Director is being outsourced to others in the organization, making one wonder why taxpayers are paying almost $140,000 per year for an Executive Director...I am deeply disturbed by the new management's treatment of staff; which seems to be rooted in mistrust and suspicion. The Executive Director, upon arriving at FPC, eventually met with staff for one on one meetings but seemed to have already developed rumor-fueled preconceived ideas about staff members and inaccurate perceptions of FPC functions. Subsequent staff meetings have been one-way communication interactions with the perception and eventual reality that if an employee expresses conflicting viewpoints, stern consequences will follow. This distrust and suspicion can be shown by recent directives such as no cell phones would be allowed during staff meetings, and that FPC staff are no longer allowed to engage with Commissioners' requests for information regarding FPC business, and when Commissioners arrive at FPC offices they are only to engage with and be escorted by management. To a team of experienced professionals, this approach has been nothing short of unprofessional. Recently when a long tenured employee attempted to address concerns such as this with the Executive Director, she responded by telling the employee if they didn't like it, they could leave the FPC. What is most unfortunate for the citizens of Milwaukee is that a number of experienced, professional staff members appear to have taken the Executive Director's ill-advised suggestion. Since the Executive Director's appointment approximately three months ago, a staff of thirteen employees (which was already down from the full complement of 21) has seen the following turnover: the Operations Manager resigned in protest, two employees have taken FMLA leave for stress, two staff members have resigned and three staff members have been fired..."
Also, Aldrete has drawn criticism by community based organizations in the African-American community for canceling meetings with them and has not met with them concerning the MF&PC policies.
The MF&PC has yet to hold Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales and police officers from the 2nd Police District Station accountable who were involved in the September 23 arrest of undocumented Jose Alejandro de la Cruz-Espinoza for a frivolous traffic violation who was on probation at the time and then turning him over to rogue U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents without a valid federal warrant signed by a judge, but police officers at the scene in the Southside merely released De la Cruz to ICE agents on an ICE administrative warrant, which is only used for federal civil immigration matters, in other words, De la Cruz was under Wisconsin state custody for probation and police failed to follow due process and allow for a state judge to determine, if De la Cruz should be turned over to ICE after completing his sentence for a misdemeanor conviction for possession of a conceal weapon.
Chief Morales told the MF&PC at a meeting that De la Cruz had an active federal warrant, but failed to mention that it was only an ICE warrant signed by an agent instead of a federal judge, which is considered invalid. Only a federal or state warrant signed by a court judge is legal to hold or arrest an individual whether having legal status or not in the U.S.
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