With police in MPS schools, judge rescinds contempt order against city of Milwaukee
Milwaukee Police Department officers have been assigned in pairs to police 11 schools across the city, according to court filings.
"Candidly, this only happened because of the, frankly, immense pressure that I put on the city," said Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge David Borowski during a hearing Monday.
MPS has been required to have a school resource officer program since Jan. 1, 2024, when the state law known as Act 12 went into effect. A lack of compliance with that law instigated a lawsuit by a district parent and the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty.
'The message from today is simple: frustrated parents, like Charlene (Abughrin), are fighting back and standing up for what's right," said a statement from WILL associate counsel Lauren Greuel after the Monday hearing. "SROs will provide much-needed safety resources to schools and ensure MPS moves closer to a safer, more productive learning environment.'
Also Monday, Borowski purged his prior finding of contempt and the $1,000 in daily fines it carried against the city of Milwaukee. That's because the city met certain conditions to implement the SRO program, including passing a memorandum of understanding in the Common Council, training officers, selecting them and which schools they will work at.
Clint Muche, assistant city attorney, told the judge at the hearing that the city had not intentionally disobeyed court orders to implement a school resource officer program.
"It was not necessarily as easy as one might imagine," Muche said.
The officers assigned to MPS schools completed the required training through the National Association of School Resource Officers on March 14, according to court filings. A total of 38 MPD staff attended that training, including 31 police officers and seven supervising officers.
During the Monday hearing, Borowski said he was concerned MPS would place the officers, then "when I'm not looking, or when the case is closed, yank them back out."
He agreed to dismiss the case — but only under the condition that if the SRO program were eliminated, the court case would reopen under his watch.
"I would trust both lawyers to tell their clients, 'Don't you dare go back on this; don't violate the judge's order or the state law.' But I'm not sure I'm 100% confident in others," he said.
As in prior hearings, Borowski showed his support for implementing the SRO program, an issue that is contested in the city.
"There is still a narrative out there from some people that putting police in schools is this big, horrible, awful thing," Borowski said. "Well, as others have pointed out recently, the police are in the schools every single day."
Across the past 11 school years, Milwaukee police received an average of 3,700 MPS-related calls between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., according to an analysis by the Journal Sentinel. The reasons for those calls are vast, with the most common reason being a vague "trouble" category.
Activists against SROs have said they are concerned the call volume is being driven by an understaffed, under-resourced district that is overly reliant on police to manage student behavior.
In the past, MPS stopped stationing police in specific schools — and began using "mobile" officer units — in response to concerns that police were becoming too involved in school discipline, and driving up the number of arrests.
The newly approved memorandum of understanding for the SRO program attempts to clarify that issue, saying officers will only be involved in law enforcement and will leave school discipline to staff.
On Monday afternoon, students poured out of Rufus King High School to hop on buses or get into their families' cars to head home for the night. Students and parents the Journal Sentinel spoke with said they were pleased with police officers being added to the school.
Tavia Keyes, whose daughter freshman Jasmine Hurd attends Rufus King, grew up with officers in her high school, she said. Now, she thinks it a good thing the officers will be in place to respond to incidents her daughter said occur, such as weapons being sneaked inside.
'It gives a sense of security and safety,' Keyes said.
Jessica Harris has two children, a senior and a junior, who attend the high school. Her daughter senior Jatoria Harris said having SROs in the schools is a 'good thing.'
The mother, Jessica, was also in favor of the addition, citing the ability of school resource officers to respond faster to issues in the schools than other officers. She understood concerns of potential overpolicing of youth, but believed it was largely parents' responsibility to address that.
Even if a student were wrongfully cited by police, she said, the court system would be a balancing factor.
'If you're raising your child right, you shouldn't be concerned,' she said.
After the Monday court hearing, lawsuit plaintiff Charlene Abughrin told reporters the placement of SROs in schools will take stress off teachers, parents and staff.
Abughrin said she felt "slighted" that her 12th-grade son's school did not receive SROs, but she still believes it's a "win," and a "step in the right direction" to put police in schools at all. She said she would revisit the case if officers were withdrawn.
"I'm not entirely satisfied with the schools where they placed them at, because there are some schools with greater needs, that have greater violence," she said. "I think they probably should be redistributed."
Abughrin specifically mentioned a need for police at the Wisconsin Conservatory for Lifelong Learning, where one of her children previously attended. WCLL is the school where students from Trowbridge Street School of Great Lakes Studies were temporarily relocated while their building was cleared of lead-based paint hazards.
As a parent of six children who attended MPS, Abughrin said she's been through the process "a very long time" of filing complaints, attending school board meetings and attempting to improve safety issues in the district with no redress.
Asked about criticisms of SROs, Abughrin said it's necessary to "walk in my shoes."
"Most of (these schools) are a breeding ground for the prison system, because there's so much crime that is happening within the Milwaukee Public Schools system," she said.
According to court filings, 11 schools have school resource officers. They are:
Riverside University High School
Lynde and Harry Bradley Technology and Trade School
North Division High School
Milwaukee High School of the Arts
Hamilton High School
Washington High School
Vincent High School
Madison High School
Rufus King High School
Barack Obama School of Career and Technical Education
Milwaukee Marshall High School
Cleo Krejci covers K-12 education and workforce development as a Report For America corps member based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact her at CKrejci@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter @_CleoKrejci. For more information about Report for America, visit jsonline.com/rfa.
David Clarey is a public safety reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached at dclarey@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 'Immense pressure' put police back in MPS schools, judge says
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