Milwaukee City Hall lockdown; leaders drill into communication chaos
The Brief
Milwaukee City Hall and the Zeidler Municipal Building went on lockdown last week.
It turned out to be a false alarm, but a number of communication issues unfolded.
City leaders and employees drilled into that communication chaos on Thursday.
MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee City Hall and the Zeidler Municipal Building went on lockdown last week. Now, city leaders are working to make sure the communication issues that unfolded in the process don't happen again.
The backstory
A city employee was in the process of getting fired on May 15. When that person left, police said the slamming of a door sounded like gunshots. It turned out to be a false alarm. MPD said there were no signs of gunshots, and the department is still investigating what happened.
What they're saying
Common Council members called Department of Public Works Commissioner Jerrel Kruschke and the city's emergency management director before the Public Health and Safety Committee on Thursday.
"The announcement did not go off. The speakers were not working at that time," said Kruschke.
Public Works Commissioner Jerrel Kruschke said the speakers were not working throughout the entire building. They have since been fixed.
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"We didn't know anything," said Common Council President José Pérez.
For more than an hour, city leaders and employees drilled into the chaos surrounding the false alarm that locked down city hall.
"What would have been the appropriate things that should have happened?" said Ald. Sharlen Moore.
"We do have these floor evacuation team leaders, and I think sometimes it's hard to differentiate between that when there's an emergency, that they have actual commitment and responsibility to engage and to provide some sort of safety response," said Ryan Zollicoffer, the city's emergency management director.
The initial call for a possible active shooter came just after 3:03 p.m. on May 15. A distress button was pressed on the fourth floor of the Zeidler Municipal Building at 3:06 p.m. The public address system announcement did not come until 3:30 p.m.
"Is 20 minutes adequate time?" asked Ald. Peter Burgelis.
"We don't need to put false information out there, I think that's where the delay happened," Kruschke said. "Was it too long? Yes."
"Three officers on site in seconds. Nowhere else in any facilities I've been to where you'll have that rapid response," said Zollicoffer. "I don't want to gloss over how well our public safety team did."
There were no text alerts, and an email didn't reach elected officials. Some said they only learned something was wrong when running into the mayor's security detail.
Dig deeper
FOX6 News asked Pérez if the city has a comprehensive plan in place and whether it is being correctly executed.
"I don't believe so at all. You heard, we thought, some people thought there was a text messaging system in place. It's not in place," he said.
What's next
Pérez said he wants a concrete plan and employee training, so a situation like that does not happen again.
"If a plan is going to collect dust and no one's gonna execute, how we understand it and do it, it makes no sense," he said.
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Pérez intends on setting up a work group, including the clerk's office, to ensure everyone who should be getting important messages does.
Also on Thursday, the city's emergency management and public works departments met with police, fire and other departments to go over the city's response.
The Source
Information in this report is from FOX6 News interviews, Thursday's Public Health and Safety Committee meeting and the Milwaukee Police Department.
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