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Milwaukee Turners present FPC monitoring report, urge act 12 changes and more public engagement
Summary
The Milwaukee Turners told the Fire and Police Commission their six‑month monitoring project found the commission spent most meeting time on personnel matters, recommended clearer public engagement and SOP transparency, and urged amendment of Wisconsin Act 12 to restore policy authority.
The Milwaukee Turners on May 1 presented results from a six‑month monitoring project of the Fire and Police Commission (FPC), urging the commission to increase public engagement, publish standard operating procedures more accessibly, and advocate to the state to amend Wisconsin Act 12.
The Turners said their monitoring, conducted June–December 2024 and published as a white paper in February 2025, relied on 25 tracked data points and a public dashboard. Dr. Emily Stirk, the group's research and advocacy associate, told commissioners the group's “data we collected revealed that the FPC devoted 81% of its meeting time to personnel matters.”
The Turners said that heavy focus on personnel, combined with the practice of addressing many agenda items first in closed session, has contributed to public confusion and eroded trust. Emilio Dottore, executive director of the Milwaukee Turners, told the commission that the April 17 meeting — when 29 people spoke against the police department's planned facial recognition technology — showed the public still expects this body to address community concerns.
In a prepared set of recommendations, the group urged four changes: 1) commissioners should prepare for and actively participate in meetings; 2) the FPC should pursue more, clearer opportunities for public input (including an agenda item such as “public input” or broader communication files); 3) the commission should increase transparency around closed sessions by providing a brief synopsis where allowable and consider moving closed sessions to after the open session to shorten wait times for attendees; and 4) the Milwaukee community and officials should advocate to amend Wisconsin Act 12 to restore policy‑origin authority to the FPC.
Stirk and other Turners said the Turners’ study built on a 2021 League of Women Voters monitoring report and was supported by the Microsoft Justice Reform Initiative. The group acknowledged limits to their review — their dataset covered only open, regular sessions and not closed sessions — and said recommendations aim at changes in practices rather than immediate rule changes.
Commissioners asked questions about the data and about how to improve public comment and access to SOPs. Several commissioners said personnel matters legitimately take meeting time because hiring, promotions and background reviews require review in closed session before votes in open session. Commissioners expressed interest in improving public access to SOPs on the FPC page and in trying modest procedural changes to make attending meetings less burdensome.
The Turners closed by urging the commission to use its advisory role to the common council and mayor to rebuild public trust through clearer reporting, public engagement and by making SOPs easier to find.
