John W.

Vaudreuil
U.S. Attorney, Western District of Wisconsin
222 West Washington Avenue, Suite 700
Madison, WI 53703
On 25 July 2016, 15 signatories wrote to your office seeking a U.S.
Department of Justice investigation into the Madison Police Departments
patterns and practices [of] civil rights infractions.
We write to counter that request. Their letter makes no case for even one
single civil rights infraction, much less a pattern of such.
The letter cites a higher per capita rate of officer-involved shootings than
New York City. It is apparently based on the Mapping Police Violence website
using 2014 statistics. Madison recorded 2 police homicides that year
compared to 15 in NYC. Both of the Madison victims were armed. Because of
the huge disparity in population the statistic is incredibly misleading. A
village of 500, if it had one police-caused homicide, would have the nations
highest rate. For more perspective, 23 persons have been killed at the hands
of Madison police since 1990, an average of less than one per year.
The letter also claims and an arrest disparity between black and white
citizens that is highest in the nation. The signatories do not cite an authority
for their assertion and we can find no corresponding support for it.
The July 25 signatories reference a 2008 study conducted by UW sociologist
Pamela E. Oliver. But the reference provides no Madison-only statistics.
Neither the letter nor the Oliver study addresses the incidence of crime.

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The July 25 letter does cite an 11-1 black-to-white arrest ratio. That happens
MPD arrests Q1 2016

MPD suspected offenders Q1 2016

to be the ratio by which the citys white population (79% of the total) outnumbers the 7.3% of the citys population that is African American. In the
First Quarter of 2016, blacks accounted for 42.7% of all those arrested
nearly six times the proportion of the total population. However, when
compared to suspected offenders, black arrests at 42.7% are proportionately
under-represented to the 46.4% of black people identified as committing
crimes.
It is also worth noting that black people are more than twice as likely to be
victims of crime than their percentage of the population would suggest.
The July 25th signatories contention that the disparity in interaction with law
enforcement by race is the product of institutional racism is directly
disavowed by the very February 2008 study, The Wisconsin Racial
Disparities Project, they cite. Professor Oliver expressly dismisses the
charge of racism. In the forward Oliver writes that black incarceration rates
are not a legacy of Jim Crow, but are a result of policies implemented since
the mid-1970s which created exponential growth in incarceration between
1975 and 2000. This growth was not due to growing crime rates, but to
greater use of incarceration for lesser offenses and drug offenses.
In exploring what he calls The Myth of Mass Incarceration, Barry Latzer,
emeritus professor of criminal justice at the City University of New York,
found that violent crime, not drugs, has driven imprisonment. And drug
offenses usually are for dealing, not using. Wall Street Journal, 22
February 2016.
In Madison, drug offenses comprised just under 10% of the First Quarter
2016 crimes well below theft (40%), assault and battery (12%), fraud and
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property damage (each 11%). Drug offenses are more serious than the
commonly peddled urban myth of a man imprisoned for smoking a marijuana
doobie on his porch steps.
Madisons drug epidemic is much more serious than ditch weed. The area is
embroiled in an epidemic of heroin abuse. (As Wisconsins heroin epidemic
took hold of Dane County, and made it one of the most problematic areas in
the state, the number of overdose deaths increased dramatically. Public
Health Madison and Dane County numbers show Dane County heroin deaths
increasing from three in 2000 to 40 in 2013. Channel 3000.com, 16
February 2015.)

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Community-based policing

From the 2013 MPD/City-County Health Department Byrne Grant application

The July 25 signatories contend MPD disproportionately target[s] areas that

are know for Madisons Black citizens to congregate, such as bus transfer
points, malls, and specific neighborhoods.
That the first two of areas are also heavily trafficked is reason enough to
commit more police presence. The neighborhoods targeted are heavy
crime areas. (As readily ascertained from the CrimeReports web application.)
That they may be disproportionately black is an unfortunate hitchhiker.
Concentrated policing of troubled neighborhoods is the official policy. The
Southwest Neighborhood Plan adopted by the Common Council in January
2008 recommends: Target police services in Balsam-Russett, BettysTheresa-Hammersley, Park Ridge and Schroeder-Berkshire sub areas (shown
in the accompanying map) in coordination with other improvement
strategies.

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The Southwest Neighborhood Steering Committee is steadfast in its

belief that police enforcement is the first step necessary to stabilize
the neighborhood before other initiatives can make a difference. With
greater police presence, improved response to self-reported crimes,
and ultimately a stronger working relationship with the police
There is a growing realization that the best strategies for fighting
crime in residential neighborhoods are those where the police work
closely with resident organizations.
"Community-oriented policing," as this is known, attempts to prevent crimes
rather than investigate them after the fact. Formation of and involvement of
residents in the targeted areas will help police efforts.
To combat on-going crime issues on the Southwest side in 2013, the Madison
Police Department and the City-County Public Health Department sought a
three-year, $1 million DOJs Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative Byrne
Grant. The application chronicled:
... Large groups of juveniles, some in excess of 50 youth, roam ... through
the neighborhoods. These young people have been intimidating to residents
and hostile to police.
Arrests of juveniles during this period have been recorded for possession of
cocaine with intent to deliver, possession of heroin, probation violations,
battery and resisting arrest. In early August, a shooting involving youth
gangs occurred near a principal intersection. During this incident, two
separate groups shot firearms at one another and across busy Raymond
Road.
The public entities proposed:
More hot spot policing: high visibility patrols via foot and bike
patrols; engaging with youth and adults in area parks; traffic
enforcement; attending neighborhood gatherings; noise enforcement;
and contacting large groups of juveniles.

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 Coordination with landlords including, bi-annual landlord training;

use of nuisance abatement process; accompany building inspectors
for targeted inspection efforts including nighttime inspections.
Special Investigations Unit detectives and other officers to plan and
execute call-ins, tracking and follow-through with repeat offenders,
coordinated with Wisconsin Community Corrections.
Does the community want more policing, not less? At an MPD listening
session held Feb. 16, 2015 at Our Savior Lutheran Church, a black woman
residing in the Meadowood neighborhood told Chief Koval: You are welcome
in our neighborhood any time. We want more police in our neighborhoods.

No right to resist arrest

The July 25 signatories contend that an 18-year-old woman, Genele Laird,
was brutalized in a textbook case of excessive use of force. But the letter
does not cite the textbook nor does it make the case that her arrest was
brutal.
A dispassionate viewing of the smartphone video of her arrest on 21 June
2016 shows is a healthy young woman fighting like a wildcat. The young
woman had threatened to stab two workers at East Towne Mall (one of them
a 71-year-old woman) and had displayed a knife. Police responding to the
victims call ordered the young woman, Genele Laird, to remain on the
scene. When she attempted to leave, she was placed under arrest. Laird
kicked, scratched, struck, and spit on the officers, who sought medical
attention. The young lady herself required no medical attention. (Newspaper
account here.)
Subsequently, Mayor Paul Soglin reminded the community in a public
statement that there is no right to resist arrest.
Wisconsin State Journal columnist Chris Rickert asked, The obvious question
in letting a suspect go is whether it would send a message to other suspects
that if you resist, police will let you walk. And if the person walking has
threatened to hurt people as Laird reportedly did should police give her
the chance to make good on those threats?
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The woman at East Towne Mall was not the only one to resist the police that
day (allegedly).
That same day, a 26-year-old Middleton woman crashed her moped while
allegedly driving drunk on Madisons Willy Street. According to the police
report, She tried to leave the scene of the crash leading to a struggle with
officers. The woman yelled and used profanity during the arrest process and
was taken to jail on tentative charges listed above. The officer suffered
bruising and swelling as a result of the kicks. (That police report here.)
Where the critics really lose me is when they start trashing the police for
using lawful force, writes Milwaukee-area journalist Jessica McBride.
Especially non-lethal force designed to prevent out-of-control situations
from escalating to lethal force. The critics lose me completely when they
seem to argue that police should not take actions to protect themselves or
the community from potentially dangerous people.
Indeed, a major collaborative study in Dane County on police use of force in
2016 outlined an almost identical use-of-force continuum as a way to prevent
officers from using deadly force unless absolutely necessary. The continuum
came from the Wisconsin Department of Justice's training. It is called, "The
Control Process: Disturbance Resolution model." And, yes, it also suggests
and allows for "hard techniques" such as punches and kicks to retain
control, as well as tasing. (Special Community/Police Task Force
recommendations regarding police Use of Force, NAACP Dane County
Branch 36AB, United Way of Dane County, and Dane County Police Chiefs
Assn. February 19, 2016.)

Killing unarmed citizens

The January 25 letter contends, over past two years, we have witnessed the
killing of two unarmed citizens, one black and one white.
For the record, none of the 15 signatories actually witnessed the killings. It
should be part of the record that in both cases, the individual attacked the
police officer(s) responding to a call. The letter writers seek the further
persecution of Officer Matt Kenny, who is guilty of nothing more than
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defending himself against a drug-crazed man who sought to over-power him

on a narrow stairway.
Some background: On 6 March 2015 Officer Kenny was called to the
Williamson Street residence upon reports that a 19-year-old man with a
felony record was assaulting complete strangers at random. Tony Terrell
Robinson Jr., had ingested large amounts of psilocybin topped off with
prescription Xanax and marijuana. Robinson was an experienced drug abuser
but that night ingested quantities far in excess of his usual practice.
After reviewing including radio communications, photographs, video of the
scene and 814 pages of reports released by Madison police, Dane County
District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, himself a man of color, determined he could
not bring criminal charges against the police officer, Matt Kenny. Ozanne was
able to draw upon an independent Wisconsin Department of Justice
investigation, according to state law that requires outside agencies to review
officer-involved deaths.
"My decision is not based on emotion; rather this decision is based on the
facts as they have been investigated and reported to me, D.A. Ozanne said
on 12 May 2015, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The Washington Post found that police across the nation fatally shot 385
victims in the first six months of 2015 171 were white, 100 black, 54
hispanic, 6 asian, 34 other or unknown. The vast majority of victims more
than 80 percent were armed with potentially lethal objects, primarily guns

A threat to public safety

We dispense with the frivolous charge that Police Chief Mike Koval exhibited
threatening, aggressive, dismissive, or insulting behavior towards the
Common Council as over-wrought and partisan. It gobsmacks the current
writers that if anyone is threatening, aggressive, dismissive, or insulting it is
Madisons BLM affiliates.

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Madisons BLM affiliates routinely threaten the First Amendment free speech
rights of citizens who disagree at public hearings before the Madison
Common Council. (Video of the 19 July 2016 meeting, 23:00 minutes in.)
Not just in word but in deed. Two of the complaint letter signatories Brandi
Grayson and Matthew Braunginn, are principals of a Black Lives Matter
(BLM) affiliate calling itself Young, Gifted and Black. This organization and
the closely affiliated Freedom Inc. Both continue to encourage open
rebellion against lawful police orders, against public safety, and against
constitutional rights.
At the March 17, 2015, Madison City Council meeting, looking squarely at
Police Chief Mike Koval, Brandi Grayson shouted: "We know the facts, and
when they come out this city will erupt. This city will [F-bomb]-ing erupt and
the blood and whatever takes place after that is on your hands and the
mayor's hands.
The BLM affiliates closed down major traffic thoroughfares during workday
rush hours, most recently on Thursday, 21 July 2016 at the intersection of
John Nolen Drive and Rimrock Road blocking traffic. A subset of that group
then sat down in the intersection and placed their arms into PVC pipe with
chains and bolts inside in order to prevent officers from separating them. The
entire protest group was immediately and repeatedly warned that they could
not occupy the roadway or they would be arrested. Traffic volume at this
time was extremely heavy as rush hour was occurring in Madison.
MPD reported that the situation created a safety hazard for motorists and
citizens. Examples of safety hazards created include several near crashes,
delaying persons wishing to seek cancer treatment at a clinic off of John
Nolen Drive, a citizen wishing to take insulin for their health condition who
was staying at the Sheraton, and several ambulances in emergency mode
wishing to take persons to the hospitals downtown.
Several times in 2015 the group shut down busy East Washington Avenue
during rush hour. (Young, Gifted & Black looks to turn Madison into next
Ferguson Wisconsin Reporter 20 March 2015.)

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Their words and deeds contribute to a national anti-law enforcement climate

that has resulted in the deaths and injuries of police in Ferguson MO., Dallas
TX, and Baton Rouge LA.
Finally, if Chief Mike Koval called Tony Robinsons grandmother a raging
lunatic we will not dispute that characterization.

Some hard truths

The inconvenient fact is that young blacks males, in particular commit
crime out of proportion to their population.
Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute, a recognized authority on
urban dysfunction, wrote an April 2016 monograph for Hillsdale College
called The Danger of the Black Lives Movement. We quote it extensively
here:
Every year, approximately 6,000 blacks are murdered. This is a
number greater than white and Hispanic homicide victims combined,
even though blacks are only 13 percent of the national population.
Blacks are killed at six times the rate of whites and Hispanics
combined. In Los Angeles, blacks between the ages of 20 and 24 die
at a rate 20 to 30 times the national mean. Who is killing them? Not
the police, and not white civilians, but other blacks. The astronomical
black death-by-homicide rate is a function of the black crime rate.
Black males between the ages of 14 and 17 commit homicide at ten
times the rate of white and Hispanic male teens combined. Blacks of
all ages commit homicide at eight times the rate of whites and
Hispanics combined, and at eleven times the rate of whites alone.
The police could end all lethal uses of force tomorrow and it would
have at most a trivial effect on the black death-by-homicide rate. The
nations police killed 987 civilians in 2015, according to a database
compiled by The Washington Post. Whites were 50 percentor 493
of those victims, and blacks were 26 percentor 258. Most of those
victims of police shootings, white and black, were armed or otherwise
threatening the officer with potentially lethal force.

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The black violent crime rate would actually predict that more than 26
percent of police victims would be black. Officer use of force will occur
where the police interact most often with violent criminals, armed
suspects, and those resisting arrest, and that is in black
neighborhoods. In Americas 75 largest counties in 2009, for example,
blacks constituted 62 percent of all robbery defendants, 57 percent of
all murder defendants, 45 percent of all assault defendantsbut only
15 percent of the population.
Moreover, 40 percent of all cop killers have been black over the last
decade. And a larger proportion of white and Hispanic homicide
deaths are a result of police killings than black homicide deathsbut
dont expect to hear that from the media or from the political enablers
of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Indeed, what is being labeled the Ferguson Effect is causing a spike in
violence across major cities in America. Since that incident in August 2014,
homicide in the country's 56 biggest cities jumped 17 percent after years of
decline. St. Louis University criminologist Richard Rosenfeld subscribes to
that theory in a report published this June. (Related here by the Washington
Post.)
Fearful of lawsuits, internal disciplinary action, and politicized prosecutions
(like the ones in Baltimore where six police half of them black were
indicted on criminal charges and now exonerated) police are hesitant to do
much more than respond to direct calls.
"Theres a perception that police are less likely to do the marginal additional
policing that suppresses crime the getting out of your car at 2 in the
morning and saying to a group of guys, Hey, what are you doing here? FBI
Director James Comey said last month.
Comeys speech at Georgetown University in February 2016 is worth
quoting:
I worry that this incredibly important and incredibly difficult
conversation about race and policing has become focused entirely on
the nature and character of law enforcement officers, when it should
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also be about something much harder to discuss. Debating the nature

of policing is very important, but I worry that it has become an excuse,
at times, to avoid doing something harder. . p
Police officers on patrol in our nations cities often work in
environments where a hugely disproportionate percentage of street
crime is committed by young men of color. . why has that officer
like his colleagues locked up so many young men of color? Why
does he have that life-shaping experience? Is it because he is a racist?
Why are so many black men in jail? Is it because cops, prosecutors,
judges, and juries are racist? Because they are turning a blind eye to
white robbers and drug dealers?
The answer is a hard truth: I dont think so.
We conclude that the July 25 signatories have not made even a prima facie
case of biased, brutal and unjust practices against people of color. To the
contrary, MPD has been typically restrained, a national model of communitybased policing. If any entity should be investigated, the undersigned suggest
the Department of Justice consider placing Madisons Black Lives Matter
affiliates, Young, Gifted & Black and Freedom Inc., on the national terrorist
watch list.
Signed

David Blaska and others

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