9. 260225 Motion modifying Milwaukee Police Department Standard Operating Procedures 660 - Vehicle Pursuits and Emergency Vehicle Operations and 575 - Video Release Policy.
My name is Angela Lang and I'm the Co-Executive Director of Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC) I strongly support changes to SOP 660 and SOP 575. More and more people are dying since the restrictions on police pursuits were expanded, costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlements. A presentation from October 2025 by Assist and Chief of Police Craig Sarnow mentioned a report from the DOJ from which the MPD has taken many of the recommendations. This same report calls out Milwaukee as an example of what happens when pursuit restrictions broaden, causing more accidents and deaths. It goes on to state that there is no correlation between a policy that does not allow pursuits for reckless driving & an increase of crime. We see that this dangerous policy only does more harm that good in our community. We can and must do better!
My name is Julissa Velazquez, and I am a resident of District 10. I strongly support changes to SOP 660 and SOP 575 because it is very clear that the solution to reckless driving is not more reckless driving. The average speed of a police chase in Milwaukee is around 80mph. In a city where many streets have a speed limit of 30 mph, this does nothing but endanger more lives. Not only is our current chase policy deadly, it is also incredibly costly. While the city is paying the financial cost of our current policy, grieving families are paying the emotional cost for deaths that could have been prevented if we invested in methods that stop reckless driving before it happens. Families should also not have to fight for footage that would bring justice for their loved ones.
I urge this committee to follow the unanimous vote by the Fire and Police Commission and pass this resolution to the Common Council.
I strongly encourage members of the committee to advance recommendations by the FPC to modify SOP 660/575. Pursuits over petty crime or reckless driving do not make our community safer. They significantly escalate risk of harm, death, and destruction of property. This in turn is costing Milwaukee hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlements. The policy needs to change. Please, follow the unanimous recommendation from the FPC on this. Their recommendations are informed by community input and extensive nationwide research. The recommendations should absolutely be heard by the Common Council as a whole. Thank you.
Hello, my name is Alan Chavoya, member of the Milwaukee Alliance and resident in Alderman Burgelis’s district. I want to express support for modifications to SOPs 660 and 575. Restricting police pursuits and treating the footage of said pursuits as critical incidents subject to SOP 575 will help make our streets safer and ensure greater transparency and accountability from MPD. Far too many innocent bystanders have been endangered, hurt, and killed by these reckless chases. How many more lives must be lost until we place sharp limits on these pursuits?
Alternatives exist to vehicle pursuits, especially for nonviolent crimes, which account for the majority of chases in this city. Currently, our city is used as the national example for what not to do with vehicle pursuits policies. Experts at the NYU refer to us as the worst. We have an opportunity here to show that we are capable of prioritizing community safety. Residents in the north and south sides have expressed great support for our petition to restrict these chases. Milwaukee wants these modifications because we want safer street. Let’s move forward together to make Milwaukee safer.
Hello, I am a resident of District 13 and am leaving a comment in support of the proposed changes to SOP 660 & 575. Milwaukee residents are put in harms way with the way the current policy is written and costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars. Having a more restrictive policy like the one put forward is recommend by the DOJ in their 2023 report, a report the Assistant Chief of Police Craig Sarnow himself references as a resource the MPD is using for many of its recommendations.
The changes to SOP 575 are also critical in giving us transparency of MPD.
I strongly urge the alders of this committee to move this forward to the greater common council. The Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and other organizations such as BLOC have put countless hours of their time to task people from ALL areas of Milwaukee, primarily the north and south sides, about their thoughts on the police vehicle pursuit policy - including frmr police officers. All have expressed the need to restrict the policy and the deadliness of the policy as it stands.
Additionally when budget time comes around for the City, there's always a discussion on where the City should tighten the belt. A clear and feasible answer would be to restrict the chase policy as the City has had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlements. Certainly this is a clear way for the City to save money rather than cutting funding for things such as Public Works.
There is no good reason why 10 people lost their lives to these chases in 2025, 6 of which were innocent bystanders. Unanimously the Fire and Police Commission passed this resolution created and pushed by the Alliance and the community. I strongly urge the you all to pass this as it stands to the CC.
In 2017 wording was added to SOP 660 (police chase policy) to broaden the situations when chases can happen for reckless driving and also give police officers more power to conduct chases when they want to. This has led to the number of chases to explode from a few hundred to around 1000 each year since. More chases means more deaths, more injuries, more accidents and more taxpayer dollars for settlements. Chases should not be common practice for officers and reckless driving should not be a potential death sentence. There are plenty of resources out there showing how dangerous MPD's current policy is and alternatives that exist everywhere else, including, but not limited to, a report given by NYU school of law policing project on 12/18 and a DOJ report used by MPD themselves in Oct 2025. The changes recommended by the FPC (Milwaukee's independent civilian oversight body for public safety, who were all appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Common Council) ensure more safety for citizens and is community backed and led. This change was also unanimously passed by the FPC.
More and more people are dying since the restrictions on police pursuits were expanded, costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlements. A presentation from October 2025 by Assist and Chief of Police Craig Sarnow mentioned a report from the DOJ from which the MPD has taken many of the recommendations. This same report calls out Milwaukee as an example of what happens when pursuit restrictions broaden, causing more accidents and deaths. It goes on to state that there is no correlation between a policy that does not allow pursuits for reckless driving & an increase of crime.
My name is Angela Lang and I'm the Co-Executive Director of Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC) I strongly support changes to SOP 660 and SOP 575. More and more people are dying since the restrictions on police pursuits were expanded, costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlements. A presentation from October 2025 by Assist and Chief of Police Craig Sarnow mentioned a report from the DOJ from which the MPD has taken many of the recommendations. This same report calls out Milwaukee as an example of what happens when pursuit restrictions broaden, causing more accidents and deaths. It goes on to state that there is no correlation between a policy that does not allow pursuits for reckless driving & an increase of crime. We see that this dangerous policy only does more harm that good in our community. We can and must do better!
My name is Julissa Velazquez, and I am a resident of District 10. I strongly support changes to SOP 660 and SOP 575 because it is very clear that the solution to reckless driving is not more reckless driving. The average speed of a police chase in Milwaukee is around 80mph. In a city where many streets have a speed limit of 30 mph, this does nothing but endanger more lives. Not only is our current chase policy deadly, it is also incredibly costly. While the city is paying the financial cost of our current policy, grieving families are paying the emotional cost for deaths that could have been prevented if we invested in methods that stop reckless driving before it happens. Families should also not have to fight for footage that would bring justice for their loved ones.
I urge this committee to follow the unanimous vote by the Fire and Police Commission and pass this resolution to the Common Council.
I strongly encourage members of the committee to advance recommendations by the FPC to modify SOP 660/575. Pursuits over petty crime or reckless driving do not make our community safer. They significantly escalate risk of harm, death, and destruction of property. This in turn is costing Milwaukee hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlements. The policy needs to change. Please, follow the unanimous recommendation from the FPC on this. Their recommendations are informed by community input and extensive nationwide research. The recommendations should absolutely be heard by the Common Council as a whole. Thank you.
Hello, my name is Alan Chavoya, member of the Milwaukee Alliance and resident in Alderman Burgelis’s district. I want to express support for modifications to SOPs 660 and 575. Restricting police pursuits and treating the footage of said pursuits as critical incidents subject to SOP 575 will help make our streets safer and ensure greater transparency and accountability from MPD. Far too many innocent bystanders have been endangered, hurt, and killed by these reckless chases. How many more lives must be lost until we place sharp limits on these pursuits?
Alternatives exist to vehicle pursuits, especially for nonviolent crimes, which account for the majority of chases in this city. Currently, our city is used as the national example for what not to do with vehicle pursuits policies. Experts at the NYU refer to us as the worst. We have an opportunity here to show that we are capable of prioritizing community safety. Residents in the north and south sides have expressed great support for our petition to restrict these chases. Milwaukee wants these modifications because we want safer street. Let’s move forward together to make Milwaukee safer.
This is a test comment!
Hello, I am a resident of District 13 and am leaving a comment in support of the proposed changes to SOP 660 & 575. Milwaukee residents are put in harms way with the way the current policy is written and costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars. Having a more restrictive policy like the one put forward is recommend by the DOJ in their 2023 report, a report the Assistant Chief of Police Craig Sarnow himself references as a resource the MPD is using for many of its recommendations.
The changes to SOP 575 are also critical in giving us transparency of MPD.
I strongly urge the alders of this committee to move this forward to the greater common council. The Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and other organizations such as BLOC have put countless hours of their time to task people from ALL areas of Milwaukee, primarily the north and south sides, about their thoughts on the police vehicle pursuit policy - including frmr police officers. All have expressed the need to restrict the policy and the deadliness of the policy as it stands.
Additionally when budget time comes around for the City, there's always a discussion on where the City should tighten the belt. A clear and feasible answer would be to restrict the chase policy as the City has had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlements. Certainly this is a clear way for the City to save money rather than cutting funding for things such as Public Works.
There is no good reason why 10 people lost their lives to these chases in 2025, 6 of which were innocent bystanders. Unanimously the Fire and Police Commission passed this resolution created and pushed by the Alliance and the community. I strongly urge the you all to pass this as it stands to the CC.
In 2017 wording was added to SOP 660 (police chase policy) to broaden the situations when chases can happen for reckless driving and also give police officers more power to conduct chases when they want to. This has led to the number of chases to explode from a few hundred to around 1000 each year since. More chases means more deaths, more injuries, more accidents and more taxpayer dollars for settlements. Chases should not be common practice for officers and reckless driving should not be a potential death sentence. There are plenty of resources out there showing how dangerous MPD's current policy is and alternatives that exist everywhere else, including, but not limited to, a report given by NYU school of law policing project on 12/18 and a DOJ report used by MPD themselves in Oct 2025. The changes recommended by the FPC (Milwaukee's independent civilian oversight body for public safety, who were all appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Common Council) ensure more safety for citizens and is community backed and led. This change was also unanimously passed by the FPC.
More and more people are dying since the restrictions on police pursuits were expanded, costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlements. A presentation from October 2025 by Assist and Chief of Police Craig Sarnow mentioned a report from the DOJ from which the MPD has taken many of the recommendations. This same report calls out Milwaukee as an example of what happens when pursuit restrictions broaden, causing more accidents and deaths. It goes on to state that there is no correlation between a policy that does not allow pursuits for reckless driving & an increase of crime.