{"id":4337,"date":"2023-07-20T19:46:33","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T19:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=4337"},"modified":"2023-07-20T19:58:20","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T19:58:20","slug":"milwaukee-fire-police-commissioner-who-wanted-to-abolish-police-quits-in-huff-because-of-new-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=4337","title":{"rendered":"Milwaukee Fire & Police Commissioner Who Wanted to Abolish Police Quits in Huff Because of New Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.wisconsinrightnow.com\/milwaukee-fire-police-commissioner-who-wanted-to-abolish-police-quits-in-huff-because-of-new-law\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Who do you want setting policies for the Milwaukee Police and Fire Departments? Trained chiefs or a community activist like Amanda Avalos, who supports abolishing the police? <\/p>\n

Fire and Police Commission Vice Chair Amanda Avalos, who has advocated abolishing the police, has resigned in a huff because of a new state law that allows trained, experienced police chiefs to set policy for the Milwaukee Police Department instead of community activists like her.<\/p>\n

Avalos was nominated to the civilian Commission, which is unusually powerful nationwide, by former Mayor Tom Barrett. She posted a string of anti-police and anti-MPD tweets before her nomination, accusing police of making the community less safe by their very existence.<\/p>\n

In one tweet, Amanda Avalos wrote: \u201c46-49% of Milwaukee\u2019s entire city budget gets consistently allocated to the police department. Abolish the police.\u201d<\/p>\n

Avalos, vice chairperson of the commission, quit on July 20, 2023, along with Commission Chair Ed Fallone. They are upset by the Republican legislature-crafted state law that gives policy-making authority back to the police chief \u2013 in other words, to the person who actually has experience in policing and who, presumably, does not despise or want to abolish the police. There is still an oversight mechanism, as a chief\u2019s policies can be overridden by a 2\/3rds vote of the Common Council. Policymaking authority also goes back to the fire chief.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn institution that for over 135 years has provided the citizens of Milwaukee with an important measure of control over their own lives was reduced to a pawn in someone else\u2019s game. We simply cannot accept this,\u201d Avalos and Fallone, a Marquette professor, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Avalos called for racism to be declared a statewide emergency and for 25% of the Milwaukee Police Department, Milwaukee County Sheriff\u2019s Office, and State Patrol\u2019s budgets to be moved to \u201cpublic health equity.\u201d She also declared that \u201cwhite supremacy exists everywhere\u201d and demanded that \u201cwhite and non-Black POC\u201d dismantle anti Blackness, including \u201cat home with your problematic family members.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"amanda<\/p>\n

According to her LinkedIn page, Amanda Avalos is the senior civic engagement director for Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT). LIT was a \u201cleading proponent\u201d of an effort to get the Milwaukee Common Council to cut 25% from the Milwaukee Police Department\u2019s budget, according to Urban Milwauke<\/a>e. The group also successfully lobbied Milwaukee Public Schools to end its contract with the MPD. According to Urban Milwaukee, Amanda Avalos previously called for Chief Alfonso Morales to be fired. <\/p>\n

The Fire and Police Commission<\/a> is the civilian oversight body that \u201coversees all aspects of Fire Department and Police Department operations,\u201d including the hiring and firing of police and fire chiefs and some disciplinary actions against officers. The seven commissioners are appointed by Mayor Tom Barrett and must be confirmed by the Common Council.<\/p>\n

\"amanda<\/p>\n

She made it clear in tweets that she harbors great animosity toward the Milwaukee Police Department and police in general.<\/p>\n

\"amanda<\/p>\n

On June 30, Amanda Avalos wrote, \u201cIt could be so simple. Universal healthcare, housing, and income standards. Add food, education, and internet access for all too. We\u2019d still spend less than we currently are with the military and police budgets. And we\u2019d be safer.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also called for a \u201ctransparent and public inventory of MPD\u2019s military-grade equipment,\u201d calling it a \u201cgood step.\u201d<\/p>\n

She accused MPD of \u201cwhining\u201d about \u201cthe possibility of having to request military grade equipment from the Milwaukee Common Council before purchasing because of the threat of the \u2018violent crowd that throws bottles.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Amanda Avalos opined that Chicago \u201cdeserves schools without cops.\u201d<\/p>\n

She responded to a tweet that read \u201cMilwaukee Police are currently proving why they needed to be defunded. They do not keep the community safe,\u201d by writing that she considered it \u201ctrue.\u201d She added the hashtag #DefundMPD.<\/p>\n

She congratulated MPS for cutting contact with MPD, saying \u201cthe youth won.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amanda Avalos wrote, \u201cMillions of people: Defund police. We deserve to live. We feel safer without police. Black lives matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"amanda<\/p>\n

Avalos has repeatedly sided with protests and riots that erupted after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

In May, she retweeted a post saying that \u201cthis is not a riot. It is a rebellion\u201d of people resisting \u201cstate sanctioned violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

She demanded that elected officials \u201cannounce their support of the protesters\u201d and \u201cprove it by adopting local budgets that are reflective of our demands: divesting from police departments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"amanda<\/p>\n

She declared that the \u201ctired ol\u2019 \u2018Black on Black crime\u2019 argument is inherently racist bc it was created in justification of police brutality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Avalos wrote, \u201cThere is nothing as violent as the police state. Power to the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

She explained that she\u2019s a \u201cproud\u201d union steward and member of the Center for Popular Democracy Union.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.wisconsinrightnow.com\/milwaukee-fire-police-commissioner-who-wanted-to-abolish-police-quits-in-huff-because-of-new-law\/ Who do you want setting policies for the Milwaukee…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":4339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-right-now"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4337"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4345,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4337\/revisions\/4345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}