The Milwaukee Police Department says it doesn't know anything about a memo that said police district 6's closing was "inevitable." However, police told a city committee that the closure was possible, which didn't sit well with at least one alderman.
At the Steering and Rules Committee, at least one alderman wasn't keep on the idea of shutting down an entire police district.
Alderman Mark Borkowski said during that meeting, referencing the possibility of a District 6 closure, “Over my dead body, by the way.”
But will it actually happen? Police pushed back at a memo that made it seem like a done deal.
The Milwaukee Police Department “is aware of an alleged internal memo that was leaked to the public,” police wrote in a news release.
They memo was called, “The inevitable closure of District Six,” according to police.
Police clarified, “MPD did not provide staff with an official memo regarding the potential closure of District Six. We are investigating the origins of this memo.”
MPD wrote that, on Monday April 25, 2023, during the Steering and Rules Committee hearing, MPD and other city departments “presented possible examples of what our department would look like if cuts up to 25% were made.”
In that meeting, police officials did float the possibility of selling District 6, on the city's south side, and selling the district station building if the hypothetical 25% in cuts was ever made.
Despite disputing the authenticity of the memo, the Police Department did tell WISN-TV that closing District 6 could happen. The department did not use the word inevitable, however. WISN-TV reported that the department believes the memo is "fake."
“I know people are looking at this and probably going to say this is not going to happen," Alderman Michael Murphy said in the meeting.
Ultimately, the city budget is proposed by the mayor and must go before the full Common Council.
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