Former UWM police chief claims Bartlett hiring followed every rule in the book
By: Gabriel Green
Former UWM police Chief Phillip A. Clark said Jon M. Bartlett was
hired to the UWMPD in 1994, even with a criminal history and bad grades
from the DNR, because Bartlett met all the qualifications set by the
Law Enforcement Standards Board.
In April of 2006, Bartlett was one of three cops to be acquitted
for the near death beating of Frank Jude Jr. Jude has now filed a civil
lawsuit against the city of Milwaukee.
Bartlett is 1 of 6 cops that are the main focus of the civil lawsuit. He is serving a prison term for making a bomb threat to a district station.
Referring to the UWMPD’s hiring procedure and why Bartlett was
hired, Clark said to a student for Frontpage Milwaukee: “It’s a
large process with quite a few people competing for the job…Bartlett
was hired because he ranked high among the applicants… passed the civil
service exam and met the standards set by the Law Enforcement Standards
Board.”
Clark said that Bartlett, along with others competing for the
job, was questioned before an administrative board and was then
recommended for the job and hired. The board consisted of other
sergeants and lieutenants from the UWMPD.
Clark said that every agency has to meet the standards set by
the state, and that “very few have higher standards” than the state
minimum.
Bartlett’s prior criminal history to getting hired by the UWMPD
consisted of a non-violent misdemeanor offense for fleeing an officer
in 1992. He pleaded guilty.
The criminal complaint said that Bartlett was speeding on his
motorcycle and refused to pull over “after receiving visual and audible
signals from a marked vehicle.” In excess of 80 miles per hour, he sped
out of the squad’s sight and then proceeded to take off the license
plate of the motorcycle and then tried to hide his motorcycle under
some brush and continued fleeing on foot running through some fields.
Once he realized his motorcycle was discovered, he went back and turned
himself in.
According to Wisconsin law and more specifically the “Employment
Standards of Law Enforcement, Tribal Law Enforcement, Jail and Secure
Detention Officers,” misdemeanors are only automatic disqualifications
for employment if it is a “misdemeanor crime of violence.”
A “misdemeanor crime of violence” can be interpreted as using
physical force toward someone or threatening someone with the use of a
deadly weapon.
Sgt. James Learman of the UWMPD, who worked with Jon Bartlett
and knew him personally, said that a few years ago applicants with
misdemeanors could have been accepted at UWMPD, “But not with the new
administration…The standards are higher here than most parts of the
state.”
When Sgt. Learman was asked if he had ever seen any warning
signs of things to come with Bartlett, he said “that’s a personal
question.”
Phillip Clark said that the UWMPD was one of the first
departments to put their police officer prospects through psychological
examinations before it was mandated. But Clark said he did not recall
when the psychological screening was first initiated or if Jon
Bartlett’s hiring came before or after the psychological examination
was implemented.
In 1999, Bartlett was hired by the MPD without a psychological
evaluation. According to Frank Jude’s attorney Jonathan Safran,
Bartlett was hired during a three-to-six year span when the MPD did not
use psychological examinations.
Safran said, “It was during this three-to-six year span when the majority of the Jude cops were hired.”
The psychological examinations could have detected possible
anger management issues, racism issues, substance abuse issues or other
dangerous disgruntled anxieties.
David Heard, the executive director of the Milwaukee Fire and
Police Commission, could not be reached for comment. The
commission hires MPD officers.
The Jude civil suit, among other allegations, claims that
training procedures, hiring practices and lack of supervision and
discipline in the MPD were all responsible for the ferocious beating of
Jude.
First, Safran said he blames The Fire and Police Commission for
“fostering” some MPD officers with “cavalier” attitudes. Safran said
these “cavalier,” “cowboy” attitudes come from a lack of real
discipline, even when cops have received multiple complaints and
demerits. Safran said some cops feel like they can get away with
anything because most have not been reprimanded effectively before.
An example of an officer with multiple demerits but still
resides on the force is Detective Ahmad Majeed. In 2000 and 2001,
Majeed received demerits for failing to be civil towards co-workers,
idling and loafing while on duty twice and one was an official
reprimand, and failing to fully investigate a crime. In 2004, Majeed
received another idling and loafing official reprimand. Majeed was
suspended seven days without pay for these demerits.
Just recently as of July 2006, Majeed has been accused of
exposing a sex organ to a minor. From court testimony, a boy that was
16 years old at the time of the incident said that he met Majeed in
study hall at Bay View High school in 1999. Allegedly, they kissed in
the bathroom at the school and kept in contact. The boy said Majeed met
him at Emeralds nightclub, and then Majeed took the him back to where
the minor lived, at his grandmother’s house, and had anal and oral sex
with him.
Majeed’s final pre-trial is 1/04/07 and the jury trial starts 1/24/07.
Second, Safran said he blames bad training for the officer’s
refusal to cooperate with investigators because of the “code of
silence.” Bad training was also evident with the numerous other
violations that occurred the night of the beating, such as consuming
alcohol. On duty drinking is prohibited for MPD officers.
Third, he said he blames some personal issues that could have been detected by a psychological evaluation.
The Jude civil suit said that some of the MPD cops involved in
the beating were originally hired “without benefit of psychological
testing,” even with “knowledge of prior inappropriate conduct and their
racial views about African-Americans.”
The suit said using a deficient hiring procedure while knowing
that the prior conduct and attitude of an officer is potentially
hazardous and still keeping the officer on the force is a violation of
civil rights to citizens.
Safran said fostering bad behavior, plus bad training, plus
personal issues ultimately leads to a “powder keg explosion… the Jude
beating.”