The whole damn community . . . the people speaking out is piling up . . . these is something wrong with police training, even it it meets some state or federal standards, it doesn’t match our community standards. Former Chief Couper, Rep. Chris Tayor and D.A. Ismael Ozanne will hold a press conference at the City County Building today at 1:00, and likely add their voices. Police reform is needed now . . .
Urban League
Dear Urban League Friends,
Last night I viewed a video of two White cops brutalizing a petite African American woman. I don’t know what happened inside the mall, but the anger exhibited by the police officers and the level of force they used was sickening.
I am outraged to my core. The abuse this young woman faced at the hands of these police was savage and excessive. This type of treatment is unacceptable and undermines the work that many of us have done to improve relations between the police and communities of color.
The excessive use of force that is clearly evident in this video is unacceptable policing. As a community we must make it clear that we will not tolerate this type of barbarism.
I will be monitoring the situation, and will uphold the Urban League tradition of ensuring our civil and human rights are protected.
Sincerely
Ruben L. Anthony, Jr., PhD
President & CEO
Centro Hispano
Dear community,
It was inappropriate.
The video of two MPD officers accosting a young teen girl on the East side is inappropriate, disappointing, and as a Latina mother of two daughters, I can say – deeply, deeply disturbing.
We may choose to argue the circumstances underlying this situation. What led up to this? Who did what? What was missing from the video, etc. However, I choose to focus on the actions in the video. When two grown men display overwhelming force as they arrest a young teenage girl after she has already been restrained – this is wrong regardless of the circumstances. This should never be an option in Madison, Dane County, or this country. And if is – this needs to be fixed.
What is seen in that video are two trained professionals who are unable to handle a situation and reacting with overwhelming force. Two adults being violent with a young person who has already been restrained. Let’s be frank and acknowledge there is a problem here. We must critically review our systems that have allowed this incident to happen. This should be welcomed and asked for, not only by our City residents, but also by our City officials.
Centro will follow the lead of our partners – community organizations, activists, & church clergy in the Black community, whom I deeply respect, as they come together to face the reality of all this. We need to ensure these actions do not happen again.
Our youth and their future are much too important.
Karen Menendez Coller
Executive Director
Centro Hispano of Dane County
NAACP
NAACP DANE COUNTY STATEMENT ON MPD ARREST OF GENELE LAIRD
Within 48 hours of her arrest and the post to Facebook, Genele Laird was released from the Dane County Jail and will be referred to an alternative restorative justice program. She will not face criminal charges if she completes the program. The District Attorney stated “Her victims each made the decision that restorative justice makes sense in this case.” The NAACP stands in support of alternatives to incarceration, this is a reasonable response in the interest of justice. Does it end here?
It is inhumane to repeatedly punch, knee and continuously taser anyone who is not a threat. The unwarranted conduct demonstrated by officers of the Madison Police Department was beyond excessive. This brutal conduct remains front and center in the discourse surrounding disparate treatment applied to members of communities of color. I saw nothing in the video that suggest the officers had any training nor attempted to apply de-escalation methods and tactics. I heard nothing in the press conference that suggested a proactive change toward building effective working relationships and trust between police and communities of color.
The absence of squad car/dash board cams, body worn cameras and audio recording devices further places the Madison Police Department in question. If not for the bystander’s video, this would be another example of police conduct unseen by the public.
The NAACP Dane County will continue its role with the Black Leadership Council as it addresses the systemic and structural problems in the Madison Police Department, which plague communities of color.
The NAACP Dane County Political Action and Criminal Justice Committees will continue engagement in the discriminatory impact of policies, procedures and the conduct of public servants at the local level.
The NAACP Dane County will coordinate with the NAACP Wisconsin Conference, NAACP Region III and NAACP National to ensure that the civil rights of all citizens are upheld.
Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest nonpartisan civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities.
Andrea Irwin
Andrea Irwin is deeply saddened by the news of the beating and arrest of Genele Laird and expresses her sincere condolences to family and friends.
She stands in solidarity with them in their pursuit for justice. She has seen the video of the incident and is deeply troubled by its contents. The police, who are armed with a gun and a badge, have a higher duty to protect and serve citizens.
However, as the mother of Tony Robinson who was killed by a Madison police officer, she also respects the family’s privacy and feels it inappropriate to comment further as she would never wish for her actions to be perceived as an attempt to further her own movement to achieve justice for her son following this tragedy.
Equity Ministry Team, First Unitarian Society of Madison
Dear Chief Koval:
The Equity Ministry Team of First Unitarian Society (FUS) of Madison feels morally compelled to stand with the voices of outcry from our community against the unnecessarily brutal and vicious arrest of Genele Laird outside East Towne Mall earlier this week. We believe that mistakes were made by your officers that you must address;the actions, in particular, by the second officer arriving at the scene were unconscionable. This violent assault of a young woman by two male officers has no place in our community.
We urge you to resist your tendency to defend your officers’ behavior at all costs, and to objectively evaluate the need for changes in your department ‘s policing approach. However, with your repeated comments indicating your first concern is to protect your own officers’ reputations rather than insisting they treat the citizens they are entrusted to serve with respect and dignity, we believe that you must welcome an independent investigation of your department’s actions; and this does not mean an investigation by your colleagues and friends in the Dane County Sheriff’s Department.
If any felonies result from this arrest, it is clear to us they were not committed by Ms.
Laird. Members of FUS’ Equity Ministry Team have carefully reviewed the original video (http://youtu .be/4wzzZg7eP9Q) of Ms. Laird’s arrest /rom its beginning where it can be clearly observed that she was calmly conversing with a friend outside the mall before the first officer approached. Within seconds he escalates through presence and verbalization to bodily force. When the second officer arrived on the scene he escalated the situation further with his excessively violent and terrorizing behavior toward Ms. Laird, causing her to react defensively in fear.Those of us in the white community know that it is very unlikely that this type of violent and terrorizing assault would have occurred against a young white woman. We are deeply disturbed by the racial disparities in your policing and your lack of openness to addressing this problem head on. We, as a community, are all wounded when racial violence occurs with impunity.
If the video of Ms. Laird’s arrest depicts how your officers are trained to approach our citizens – particularly those who, like Officer Muir, are trained as “mental health liaisons” ‐ then we urge you to immediately make changes in your training and arrest methods, focusing on maintaining calm, defusing anxiety, and deescalating tense situations without violence. The methodology used in this situation exhibited an excessive and dangerous use of force.
Sincerely,
The Equity Ministry Team of First Unitarian Society, Madison
Ald. Matt Phair, District 20
Ald. Barbara Harrington-McKinney, District 1
Ald. Ledell Zellers, District 2
Ald. Amanda Hall, District 3
Ald. Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, District 5
Ald. Marsha Rummel, Council President Pro Tem, District 6
Ald. Zach Wood, District 8
Ald. Maurice Cheeks, District 10
Ald. Sara Eskrich, District 13
Ald. Denise DeMarb, District 16
Ald. Rebecca Kemble, District 18
Other Alders – call for independent review
Mayor – rather tepid
Mayor again – calling for culture change
Today it will be District Attorney Ozanne, Chris Taylor and former Chief Couper, I’m sure I missed many others . . .
. . . I sense a sinking ship . . . change is coming!
