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Milwaukee alderman Bob Donovan’s criticism of the police radio system has led to something of a war with Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn. Flynn recently issued a video response calling Donovan “reckless and irresponsible,” and Donovan, in his response, accused the police administration of “circling the wagons” to prevent him from getting department correspondence he has requested.

Ed Flynn

At last week’s Common Council meeting, Donovan claimed police officers’ radios failed to transmit on April 4 after a knife-wielding man charged at them in a south side convenience store. One of the two officers shot the man in the stomach to stop his advance.

Department officials, including Flynn, have said one of the officers was unable to transmit immediately after the shooting because the network was busy. The officer, when he pushed the button on his radio to talk, was greeted with a “beep” sound indicating the line was busy. But officials note the OpenSky digital radios, unlike previous models, also have an “emergency” talk button police can use to override other signals, and the officer simply failed to push that button.

A surveillance video released by the department appears to back up that explanation. The video, which begins shortly after the shooting, shows one of the two officers using his radio (successfully) to call for an ambulance. The other officer receives busy signals three times and then, after reaching emergency dispatch, reports, “This is an officer-involved shooting. We are going to need a supervisor here, please.”

In the video, Flynn says the radios worked as designed and never endangered the officers.

surveillance video

The video, he says, “shows without any doubt how reckless and irresponsible the alderman’s charges were yesterday.”

Flynn adds, “I’ve spent plenty of time in my career dealing with politicians who wanted to demagogue an issue. I’m used to it, and, on some levels, it doesn’t bother me. It’s part of the game. What does bother me is that there are politicians out there who want the families of our officers to think we’re putting them in the field with equipment that’s a threat to them. To plant that seed is reckless, and it’s irresponsible when you know that you’re wrong on the facts.”

Donovan said at the council meeting his information came from the city police union.

In a written response to Flynn, Donovan says, “It is unfortunate that Chief Edward Flynn has determined it necessary to personally attack me …  I have great concern that the radio system could be putting our officers in danger, and that it could also be endangering the safety of our citizens.”

bob donovan

But Donovan’s response never addresses the fact that the police radios have an emergency talk button that allows officers to override a busy signal.

Instead, Donovan noted his effort to subpoena records from the police department regarding the police radio and declared the administration “is circling the wagons, hoping to end the investigation and quash the subpoena.”

Donovan had originally made an open records request for all correspondence going back to 2003 and involving numerous police officials. Flynn said the request was over-broad and would take 1,500 hours of staff time.

Donovan has since scaled back his request from eight years to five years of correspondence and dropped low-level supervisors from it.

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