After her son, Dontre Hamilton, was shot and killed by a Milwaukee Police Department officer, Maria Hamilton is still fighting for change.
A Bill to Teach Children, Before They Become Adults, How to Interact with the Police……. Really?
Legislatively Speaking By Senator Lena C. Taylor In my nearly 20 years in elected office, I have seen some pretty interesting bills. There are few things you could think up, without realizing that someone has likely already drafted a piece of legislation about it. Ranging from necessary to outright scary, I have learned not to […]
Even as Police Reform Remains Unfinished, President Biden Still Has Support of African Americans
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia By all accounts, President Joe Biden has forged an economy that even the naysayers have difficulty finding fault. In the two years since Biden took office, a record 12 million new jobs have been created, the unemployment rate is 3.4 percent, the lowest in more […]
Training Day: This Isn’t A Movie
Legislatively Speaking By Senator Lena C. Taylor This year marks the 20th anniversary of Denzel Washington’s movie “Training Day.” Just let that marinate for a minute. The movie followed Washington’s character, a highly decorated narcotics detective, as he spent a day assessing and training an officer who was up for a promotion. In those 24 […]
Policing Reform Bills
Legislatively Speaking By Senator Lena C. Taylor A Chance to Get It Right on the Front End It’s estimated that more than 90% of law enforcement agencies in the U.S. require psychological screening of their applicants, either before or after receiving a conditional offer of employment. The Wisconsin State Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and […]
The Need for Real Police Reform
By Alex Lasry We all held our breath this week as we waited for the jury to reach its verdict in Minneapolis. On the rare occasion that charges have been filed in cases like these, too many times, jurors have failed to hold police officers accountable. Not this week. The three guilty verdicts moved us […]
The Give and Take of Police Reform
Legislatively Speaking By Senator Lena C. Taylor It’s Not Perfect But It’s Progress Last year, I came across a report entitled “The Evolution of Modern Use-of-Force Policies and the Need for Professionalism in Policing” written by Arthur Rizer and Emily Mooney. The first paragraph of the report read as follows, “The American people delegate to […]