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Out-of-town police paired with Milwaukee PD after shooting near RNC

  • Out-of-state police were assigned to non-forward-facing duties
  • The man shot and killed was living in a Milwaukee tent community
  • Milwaukee police remain confident in RNC security plan
Police officers on horseback patrol outside the RNC in Milwaukee

Police officers on horseback patrol outside the RNC in Milwaukee (NewsNation/Jeff Arnold)

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MILWAUKEE (NewsNation) — After a local homeless man was shot and killed by police officers from Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday, Milwaukee police have adjusted their coverage plan as the RNC winds down on Thursday once former President Donald Trump officially accepts the GOP nomination for president.

Since Tuesday’s shooting, the local police agency has dedicated to assigning at least one of its officers to groups from other states, Milwaukee police said in a statement Wednesday.

Officers who traveled in from outside of Wisconsin were originally planned to be used in what Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman called “non-forward-facing assignments.”

The fatal shooting of Samuel Sharpe Jr. one mile away from the RNC site prompted questions from agencies working with Milwaukee’s homeless community and local government officials.

“MPD has made adjustments at this time by adding MPD representation in bicycle units in an effort to serve our community and its needs,” the department said Wednesday.

Police on bicycles ride down Milwaukee streets during the RNC.
Police on bicycles ride down Milwaukee streets during the RNC. (NewsNation/Jeff Arnold)

Before the Republican National Convention began, Norman was mindful of how his department would balance his officers’ presence around the RNC while also monitoring their everyday duties.

The goal, Norman said in an interview last week, was to have all local interactions be with members of the Milwaukee Police Department.

In Tuesday’s shooting, the Columbus officers were working away from the hard and soft security perimeters around Fiserv Forum and the bulk of convention traffic. The man, later identified as Sharpe, was wielding a knife and fighting with another man.

Relatives told reporters Wednesday that Sharpe was living in a tent community inside of King Park. Local homeless agencies told NewsNation last week that they were concerned about the well-being of those who were being displaced by the convention.

Bodycam footage was released on Wednesday showing a portion of the encounter. Both Norman and Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson told reporters that the actions of the Ohio officers saved the unarmed man from either serious harm or death.

The footage shows officers firing their guns 15 seconds after police first noticed Sharpe and after officers ordered the man to drop his knife.

The Columbus officers were responding to a demonstration in the area Monday and were holding a debriefing session when officers noticed the armed man, Milwaukee police said.

Those officers were on bicycles, which is considered a specialty unit assigned to handle tasks such as traffic control, demonstration control, and surveillance of areas of concern, Milwaukee police said.

Bicycle units are not considered “interactive forward-facing units,” and the department said that those officers on bicycles are best suited as tools to help navigate traffic.

Out-of-town officers have been assigned to areas within the hard perimeter in the blocks that immediately surround convention business, the soft perimeter and the blocks immediately surrounding the soft perimeter, police said.

Milwaukee police was the agency tasked with handling “regular calls,” the department said.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that mutual aid agreements signed by outside law enforcement agencies included wording that local police should be the officers to be the ones making arrests and requiring at least one local officer to be on most assignments.

Since the shooting, Milwaukee police said that the Ohio officers involved in the shooting are no longer assigned to help patrol the RNC. The assignments that are given to other out-of-state police agencies are not being publicly released as a matter of safety.

Milwaukee police did not address specific questions from NewsNation on Thursday but referred to a news release issued Wednesday.

Norman told NewsNation last week that the department was taking an “all hands on deck” approach to RNC security and that it was vitally important for his department’s convention duties and normal policing to be treated equally.

“MPD is committed to the operational plan in place for the RNC,” a statement from the department said. “That being said, we recognize the importance of making continual improvements as situations occur.”

Politics

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