Milwaukee Common Council discussion on crime reporting audit includes "Cooking the Books" and $millions

Let the Discussions begin

Tuesday, June 12, 2012
City of Milwaukee Common Council

Resolution 120220 - Resolution directing the City Comptroller to conduct an Audit of Milwaukee Police Department's crime reporting practices.

Initial Sponsor and co-sponsor:  Alderman Joe Dudzik, sponsor, Alderman James Bohl and alderman Bob Donovan, co sponsors.

Add-on Sponsors - June 12, 2012:  Aldermen Davis and Alderman Jose Perez
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MILWAUKEE (MPA) - Today is June 27, 2012, two weeks ago the City of Milwaukee Common Council held a roll call vote (13 ayes, 1 No and 1 excused) to send to committee File 120220 - Resolution directing the City Comptroller to conduct an Audit of Milwaukee Police Department's crime reporting practices.  

Common Council discussion followed a request to Milwaukee Police Department for information by Ben Poston, Journal Sentinel Reporter, and being given a cost of over $10,000 for the request by Chief Edward Flynn and Sergeant Michael D. Jones.   It also followed a press conference by Milwaukee Chief of Police Edward Flynn.
Letter from Chief Flynn - CLICK.
Press Conference, Chief Flynn - CLICK
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Politics Brief
The Common Council Meeting, June 12, 2012, provided interesting comments and perspectives about what the members knew before and what they did not know about Milwaukee Police Department reporting of crime - its legitimacy, IMS system for reporting, cost requet by chief Flynn, problems with reporting system at outset of Flynn's tenure, request for funding for capital improvements (was funding of reporting system a priority of police department), capital improvement cost of $7 million dollars over a 3-year period, use of funds allocated by council (including $50,000 funding of unknown scuplture), scope and fiscal notes, input from fire and police commission-others, outsourcing, legitimacy of delay back to committee, cap cost  with amendment was an option - outsourcing has been common practice of comptroller's office, audit price of $35-$150,00 in cost, redundacy of audits (internal by police-Federal Bureau of Investigation and state audit, audits being conducted and seemingly not known by council members (internal, FBI and state), additional co-sponsors added to resolution during and before discussion with original sponsor for audit, to debate-cont, need for contextual report for margin of error, negative image of Milwaukee reason for moving ahead with vote and not moving ahead prior to committee, letter from comptroller to Alderman Witkowski-Chair of Safety committee with files for exploration, lack of communication between council members, sketicism of ability of new comptroller, sketicism of reporting by Chief Edward Flynn and mayor reporting crime was down, knowledge by selective two that other members of council did not seem to know (letter from comptroller to Alderman Murphy and contact to Alderman Murphy by police department, Alderman Murphy repeating of support for police department, sketicism of motives of the Journal Sentinel are the basic discussion points of the 32:51 minutes of deliberation for File 120220.  Vote 13 ayes, 1 No and 1 Excused.  Sent to committee.

Customer Care and Safety
Milwaukee Common Council gave the appearance that they have been notified about an issue but have failed to "stay-on-top-of-it" for customer care of Milwaukeeans.  That their quality assurance and due diligence efforts have been predicated on what the chief of police and the mayor have said, with no account and balance on behalf of this branch of government for the people. 

It was very wise to go to committee; however, as Alderwoman Coggs suggested, even when it gets to committee due diligence is needed.

According to the final report (Michael Dunn, ex-Deputy comptroller) of the weakness of project management on the 3rd District of the police department --project planning and definition, project budgeting, and ongoing oversight.  The report gives a clear view that should be used as a prerequiste for the ongoing busyiness of the drag on providing credible and timely information on crime reporting and overall services of Milwaukee Police department. 

"It would appear that this is a teachable moment of "garbage in - garbage out".  In other words, the FBI, internal and independent audits can not tell you about what is not there, but should be there."

"Also,we the taxpayers should not be asked to continue to layout millions of dollars for continuous errors - 2 1/2 million here and $7 million there were a couple of the figures mentioned in the discussion on June 12, 2012, said Mary Glass, Chair/CEO, Milwaukee Professionals Association..

The City of Milwaukee recent history of the capital improvement project of the 3rd District Police Department for the City of Milwaukee  and the infamous reporting system has been a nightmare ($21 million to a cost overrun of $64 million in 8 years) with scope errors, delays, cost overruns, and failed project management.  The four city departments involved before were not all mentioned for input and accountability.  They are:  Milwaukee Police Department, Department of City Development, Fire Department and Department of Public Works - major eaters of the city budget. 

Communication between each member of the common council, committees and the full council as the government at the city level is "lacking" and provides higher risk management.

Quality control and risk management were needed more in the discussion to help ensure the taxpayers-citizenry-Milwaukeeans are getting the best services for dollars spent, improved best practices, transparency that is not reactionary, state of the art technology, cost savings due to ongoing personnel training, and accountability all the way round in the police department.

There should of been extra extra concern noted about what kind of fallouts that may be/are found in the audit that pinpoints police profiling and cooking the books to favor arrests, charges and incarceration of African American and Latino populations.  MPA see this as a paramount issue since the two racial groups have reported and reported abuse with little to NO solution building.

Why was Alderman Puenta out of the chamber during voting?  He was Excused.
Why was Alderman Murphy privy to comments from Milwaukee Police Department and others did not seem to be, nor did it seem he had shared the information? 

Why did Alderman Davis make the statement about not wanting to get into "cooking the books" and suggesting that some of his colleagues favor inflammatory rhetoric?

Why did Alderman Wade feel he needed to "Dis" the motives of now vs past behavior of reporting of the Journal Sentinel?

Why didn't Aldermen Bauman and Zielinkski speak prior to vote?
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The dialog went as:

Alderman Willie Wade, District 7, kicked off the discussion with question:   "Is there a reason File 120220 is immediate adoption and not going to committee?"

"This is a time-sensitive issue the answers we may gain from this particular file might help us with regards to ugh the budget coming later this year. There is a 90 day window this particular file has on it and again that would give us time to adjust our spending with regards to Milwaukee Police Department, said Alderman Joe Dudzik, sponsor of resolution.

Alderman Wade listed as in favor of audit but NO to the file since it did not go to committee for thorough discussion.

Alderman Robert Puenta, District 9, listed opposition - cited lack of expertise of Comptroller – thousands of dollars – citizenry cost – expressed concern for the common council to not jump because of one reporter's views since the council did not know WHAT and HOW of Journal Sentinel reporter - recommended back to committee.

Alderman James Bohl, District 5, co-sponsor - to seek an outside review and provision to conduct an audit – cited timeline of 90 days to come back questionable – need scope looking at individual reports – timeline of audit – should be ironed out prior to audit – time and cost – opposed ramming audit through, is inappropriate – favor outside audit – Motion to send back to committee by Boyle.

Alderwoman Milele Coggs, District 6, supported audit for transparency and accountability – cited she has done legislation – support motion back to committee - comments of capabilities of the comptrollers office, file resolution need fiscal notes and cost analysis. - back to committee.

Alderman Terry Witkowski, District 13, Chair of the Safety Committee (where file would be sent) cited without adequate information – file will give 6 years of data coming to Safety Committee regarding year-to-year cost - in committee discussion could be had regarding scope and ability of comptroller's office also input from Fire and Police Commission and executive director - in favor of file sent to committee.

Alderman Joe Davis, District 2, asked to be listed as a co-sponsor – was approved - item important to monitor, encouraged more to co-sponsor so a detailed audit can be spelled out – referred to committee due to negative images Milwaukee has gotten on some of the cases regarding the issues – back to committee.

Alderman Michael Murphy, District 10, make sense to send to committee – scope of contract to determine cost of audit – need debate - noted estimated cost $35-150 thousands given to Alderman Dudzik by comptroller and shared with Alderman Murphy depending on scope, letter from comptroller raises issues regarding capability of audit, by comptroller's office, Milwaukee Police department expected Federal Bureau of Investigation audit in 30 days, a police department internal audit and independent Wisconsin audit - In favor of sending to committee.

Alderman Murphy stated Police acknowledged they had a recording problem – budget 2011-12 capital improvement - $7 million dollar change – Police had acknowledged there was a problem but was not given credit by Journal Sentinel reporter.
Recommendation to examine any concerns - be up front of the reports, look at the facts, listen to testimony by police – may want to call on the state for an independent audit $100-$200.

Alderman Bob Donovan, District 8, deferred to Alderman Dudzik for clarifications.
Alderman Ashanti Hamilton, District 1, deferred to Alderman Dudzik for clarifications.

Alderman Nik Kovac, District 3, to go to committee – based on cost and redundant spending on internal and federal audits - not to cherry pick gotcha numbers, felt that was what was done by Journal Sentinel - true contextual report would have looked over years -should not panic, been told year-after-year of the problem - know the problem is there and need to know if we are fixing the problem - numbers should be contextualized.

Alderman Joe Dudzik - Information Management System perspective of the Police department - Funding was asked for and list of things to accomplish were:   $2 ½ million for radio communication, repairs for IMS were below the redesign of restroom of the 911 dispatch center - not sure of how much emphasis was on the crime reporting - as for outsourcing, a common practice of comptroller office, cost could be capped by an amendment at $150 thousands, as for cost consideration cited $50 thousand approval for an unknown statute by the council, hot summer - families should feel that concerns are being met - should go forward.

Alderman Donovan - felt it should go forward - the idea that we all have known that the numbers were wrong, untrue - was under the impression that crime was down based on police department reporting and mayor reports to the public - commended the Journal Sentinel - have been hearing about the numbers for a long long time - need to get to the bottom of this and move forward now.
Click

Alderman Hamilton - echoed move forward in an orderly fashion, expected file in Safety committe is available, fiscal information and not make a decision on-the-fly - all of council agree with the spirit of law differ in manner - for sending back to committee.

Alderman Bohl - outside scope and cost needed to move forward with a more defined way - for years almost Day 1, heard about Milwaukee Police Department supposedly "cooking-the-books".

Alderman Kovac - if any audit come back with numbers of cooking the books, immediate 15-1 solution not audit. However, the data have not been compared contextual within the margin of error for clarity - available for internal, DA and FBI interest - a contextual report.

Alderman Davis - Did not want to get into "cooking the books" - inflammatory rhetoric that is not productive - personnel - fire and police commission and executive director for input for specifics - send to committee.

Alderman Jose Perez, District 12, request to be a co-sponsor, agreed; he also favored sending to committee.

Alderman Murphy - Obligation to get to the truth. cost and have police hearing to get the other side - not jump to conclusions - police had spoken to him and had reporting concerns regarding the methods of reporter - send to committee.

Alderman Wade - concern as others - other concern was smudging resources-time-efforts now and not before - why the Journal Sentinel did not step up when the crime was reported high but now with reporting crime was going down, they are stepping forward - their motives.
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Elected officials representing Milwaukee at the city, county, state and national levels should weigh-in on this issue and correct the People's business - quality control services and cost-appropriateness.

Video of Common Council meeting, June 12, 2012
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On June 22, 2012, nine (9) aldermen (Alds. Nik Kovac, Robert Bauman, Ashanti Hamilton, Jim Bohl, Willie Wade, Robert Puente, Michael Murphy, Jose Perez and Terry Witkowski released a statement.  CLICK

In view of the incomplete findings so far and those to come, do you think the Common Council has acted prematurely and/or overly broad?

What do you think?
Tell the Milwaukee Common Council how you feel.