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Committee debates time-limited suspension rules for sergeant eligibility; staff proposes 2-year ineligibility window
Summary
FPC staff proposed limiting suspension-based ineligibility for the sergeant exam to disciplinary days within the last two years (5+ days) and keeping 15+ days across the service window as a more severe threshold; MPD signaled openness to distinguishing offense types, while MPSO urged retaining the status quo and warned of grievance risk. Commissioners asked for a discipline matrix and further study.
FPC executive director Leon Todd presented a proposal May 12 to change how suspension days affect eligibility for the Milwaukee Police Department sergeant promotional exam. Under Todd’s proposed approach, a member with five or more cumulative suspension days within the two years before the exam would be ineligible for that cycle (a two-year ban), while members with 15 or more suspension days in the six-year eligibility window would still have their clock restarted.
Todd framed the suggestion as a way to correlate penalties with recency and severity: a short-term ban tied to recent suspensions rather than a long, career-spanning ineligibility. He told the committee the change was not a firm recommendation but a proposal he thought would be fairer in some cases, and he said MPD leadership had no objection to discussing such an approach.
Heather, identified in the transcript as a chief-of-staff figure for MPD leadership, said the department supports accountability and is open to discussing a system that parcels out disciplines (for example, distinguishing integrity violations from accident-related suspensions) when determining eligibility. Commissioner Ramey urged exploring a discipline matrix that would separate accidental misconduct from integrity offenses and suggested that a lower overall threshold (Ramey mentioned 10 days instead of 15) might be reasonable.
Chris Martin, representing the Milwaukee Police Supervisors Organization, urged retaining the current rules, calling changes potentially ‘‘very convoluted’’ and warning that interactions with extended eligibility lists and promotional cycles could trigger grievances if timing and list extensions were not handled carefully.
No formal rule change was adopted. Commissioners indicated they want more time to develop or review a matrix and to consider how different types of discipline should count toward eligibility before applying any change to the current sergeant testing cycle. Todd noted that the next round of promotional testing would not be until 2027 if major changes are delayed, and commissioners asked staff and legal/HR to refine proposals before the full commission considers job-announcement language.
What happens next: work on a discipline matrix and further discussion; no immediate change to the discipline eligibility rules was adopted at the meeting.
