SB 117

This bill makes a number of changes that affect the board of fire and police

commissioners of a first class city (presently only Milwaukee), the board of police and

fire commissioners of a second class city with a population of 200,000 or more

(presently only Madison) (jointly referred to as affected PFC boards), and the

protective services departments of first class cities and second class cities with a

population of 200,000 or more (jointly, populous cities). The changes include altering

the makeup of affected PFC boards, requiring certain training for affected PFC board

members, establishing certain requirements related to hiring and oversight of chiefs

of protective services departments in populous cities, creating an executive director

or independent monitor position in populous cities, and altering the judicial review

process for police and fire department disciplinary cases in a first class city.

Under current law, the board of fire and police commissioners of a first class city

consists of seven or nine members selected by the mayor. Boards of police and fire

commissioners of other cities, including a second class city, consist of five members

selected by the mayor. Under this bill, a board of fire and police commissioners of a

first class city consists of nine members selected by the mayor, and confirmed by the

common council. The board of a police and fire commission of a second class city with

a population of 200,000 or more consists of seven members selected by the mayor.

Each of these boards must contain at least one member selected from a list provided

by each of 1) the employee association that represents nonsupervisory law

enforcement officers and 2) the employee association that represents fire fighters.

This bill provides a method for selecting members of affected PFC boards when

the mayor fails to make an appointment to a vacant position. If the mayor fails to

make an appointment within 120 days of the occurrence of a vacancy, the common

council may make the appointment, except when the vacant position is one that must

be filled from one of the lists described above. In this case, the association that

provided the list may make the appointment without confirmation by the common

council.

In a first class city, a three-member panel of the board of fire and police

commissioners may conduct and decide a trial to evaluate a complaint against a

member of the police or fire department. This bill specifies that when a

three-member panel conducts such a trial, at least one member of the panel must

have professional law enforcement experience if the accused is a police officer, and

at least one such member must have professional fire fighting experience if the

accused is a fire fighter.

The bill also requires each member of an affected PFC board to take a training

class provided by the city in which it operates. The training class must cover the

mission and role of the board, the procedures that apply to disciplinary hearings, the

conduct policies of the police and fire departments, and use of force guidelines of the

police department. A member may not participate in any action of the board until