Government Information on Police-Community Relations June 2020 : Home

Madison Police Department Policy & Procedure Ad Hoc Committee Final Report-- Released October 18, 2019

On May 21, 2015, following the March 6, 2015 police killing of Tony Robinson, the Madison Common Council adopted a resolution to create the Madison Police Department Policy & Procedure Review Ad Hoc Committee, a diverse citizen body consisting of 15 members, whose charge was to conduct a “comprehensive review of [the] Madison Police Department’s culture, training, policies and procedures.”  The Committee’s 12 members (initially 15), all served on a volunteer basis, meeting monthly, then semi-monthly, and sometimes weekly, to complete the review.

• This news item from the City of Madison gives a bit of context about the committee, as well as a link to the Final Report.
• Schedule of past meetings held by the Madison Police Department Policy & Procedure Ad Hoc Committee, October 6, 2016-October 18, 2019
• Some meetings of the committee were broadcast on Madison City Channel. 
  • To get links to these broadcasts, type police policy procedure in the search box near the top of the screen, then press <enter> on your keyboard.
  • There are in fact three pages of results!  Click the Page 1 button in the upper left portion of the page to move to additional results.
  • The broadcasts cover meetings held between April 7, 2016-October 25, 2018
• Other documents related to the work of the committee,  including a report submitted by OIR Group (a consulting firm employed by the city to conduct a review of the Madison Police Department) and responses from the Madison Police Department and the Office of the City Attorney, are available on the city's website.

Madison Police and Fire Commission

According to this page, "The Police and Fire Commission is an independent statutory body overseeing the hiring, promotion, discipline, and terminations of police and fire personnel in the City of Madison. The 5 commissioners are appointed by the Mayor to staggered four year terms. The purpose of having an independent commission is to separate police and fire staffing matters from local politics."

This page includes links to 

• Information about upcoming commission meetings
• Complaint procedures
• Rules
• Commission roster
• A small selection of Commission decisions

Public Safety Review Committee

According to this page, "The com. shall be advisory to the mayor and Common Council to assist them in the performance of their statutory duties. The com. may review and make recommendations concerning departmental budgets; review service priorities and capital budget priorities of the Police and Fire Departments; serve as liaison between the community and the city on public safety issues; and review annually and make recommendations to the Common Council regarding the annual work plans and long-range goals of the departments."

• List of members and links to meeting agendas

Protests Against Police Brutality (2020)

• Guide created and maintained by the University of California-San Diego Library.
• "This guide attempts to help document the federal response to civil protests following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer."
• The guide has sections on
  • The White House
  • Congress
  • The Justice Department
  • DoD [Dept of Defense]/Military/Police (includes information from the Secret Service and the National Park Police)
  • Other agencies
• Each section is organized chronologically.
• Most links go to statements by government officials (as of June 10, 2020).

Wisconsin Department of Justice's site for Officer-Involved Critical Incidents 

• From the website:

"Wisconsin Statute § 175.47 requires that, in the event of the death of an individual as the result of an action or inaction by a law enforcement officer, the ensuing investigation must be conducted by an investigative team from an independent agency.

When the Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) serves as that independent agency, it provides a complete report to the prosecutor for review.  If the prosecutor determines there is no basis for prosecution of the law enforcement officer, access to the report as required by § 175.47(5)(b) will be posted [on this page].

The related investigative file and associated evidence, which will be made available to the public upon request in a redacted format under the Wisconsin Public Records Law (Wis. Stat. §§ 19.31-19.39), may also be posted here for certain cases."

• To find (basic) information about officer-involved critical incidents the Department is currently investigating, you can search the department's News Releases page for "officer involved death"