A compliment for the Wisconsin State Journal, the Mayor’s Office and the Police Department. All in one day!
Last night the first version of this article about the release of Mark Staskal to the near east side area that I represent had a very unfortunate quote in it. Working with the Mayor’s office, the downtown captain and the WSJ, we got it corrected. My emails to my neighborhood list serve below explains:
As I shared (very little) with the TLNA last week, we have a highly controversial person who has been authorized to be released from Mendota into our neighborhood. The court has made a decision, the DHFS is carrying out the plan. We have very little say in the matter. This is not an ideal situation for our community. However, I was privileged to be in a confidential briefing regarding this matter and have heard much more than will be released to public. This information cannot legally be released because of the patient’s right to confidentiality. While I am concerned about this situation, I do feel like the professionals involved have put a reasonable plan in place and have confidence in their abilities to do what they can within their control to keep the community safe.
This state program is a nationally recognized program. In 2007 they only had a 6% return rate for rule violations when people were conditionally released. Only 1% were returned for new offenses and none of them were violent. Obviously, each individual is different and has different needs, but I do feel like that plan put in place for this situation has been well thought out. More information about the state program can be found here:
http://www.dhfs.state.wi.us/mentalhealth/ConditionalReleas e/ConditionalReleaseHome.htm
And here:
http://www.dhfs.state.wi.us/mentalhealth/ConditionalReleas e/CR2007AnnualReport.pdf Unfortunately, I am very concerned about the comments that appeared on line this evening at the Wisconsin State Journal here
http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/breaking_news/286173 “We’re as surprised as the community,” Madison Central District Police Lt. Joe Balles said. “We’re looking to see what measures we have to take here.”
Ald. Brenda Konkel, 2nd District, said DHFS gave her and others a confidential briefing last week.
To put this as professionally as I can, Lt. Balles is either misinformed or uninformed. The Mayor’s Office and the Madison Police were in the same briefing I was in last week that I told you about when I spoke with the neighborhood association. This wasn’t a surprise by any means. Additionally, I have talked to the police department about having a neighborhood meeting about this situation. Unfortunately, since we don’t have much information that we can share, we’re not sure what we could tell the community that would be useful. As the neighborhood association members know, I also asked their advice about having a neighborhood meeting with the police. We agreed to hold off for now, but remain ready to hold one if we determine it is necessary or helpful.
I write this to assure you that the police department is well aware of this situation and I have been discussing with them what we can do to make sure the community is safe and has the information we can legally provide. And hopefully, the Wisconsin State Journal will make some corrections to the story this evening.
Any questions or concerns, please let me know. I will share what I legally can.
Brenda
And after a few phone calls to the mayor’s office, a conversation with the police, and their call to the Wisconsin State Journal, the public now has accurate information as indicated in this email below:
Thanks to the WSJ for replace [sic] Lt Balles quote with this:
Captain Mary Schauf of Madison’s Central Police District said she and other department staff attended a detailed briefing last week by DHFS. “We got a lot of information,” Schauf said, adding that because of confidentiality, she could not discuss it publicly but more detailed information is being shared with police department staff.
I believe it is a more accurate statement by the police department. Thank you to the WSJ reporters and editors for helping us make sure the public gets accurate information! And thanks to Joel Plant in the Mayor’s office and Mary Schauf for helping to straighten this out.
Brenda
I’m grateful that the public got the correct information. This situation is bad enough without an uninformed officer making inaccurate statements. I’m horrified that the wrong information appeared in the first place. It makes me question many of the other statements made by this officer and the police policies when it comes to talking to the press. Who has authorized this guy to say the things that he’s saying? It’s these types of comments that can cause further unrest in the community and are completely irresponsible. For those of us who watch the media closely and notice these things (and know how to do a simple google search), it appears there is a pattern of making inflammatory statements by this individual and I hope the police department will re-evaluate when and how this individual talks to the press.
