POLICE COMMISSIONERS, JONES, LOSE APPEAL

By Michael Horne

a milwaukeeworld Scoop!

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh District ruled today that former Police Chief Arthur Jones and the five members of the City of Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission did discriminate against white police officers in the case of 41 promotions in the Milwaukee Police Department.
The court found that the city "did not act constitutionally" in the matter of the promotions. The case, Alexander v. City of Milwaukee, was brought by 17 white male members of the department who said they had been passed over for promotion in favor of what they called less qualified minority candidates. There was "an inherent discrimination against whites" during Jones' tenure, the court ruled in case 06-1505.
While the appeals panel ruled in favor of Justice Thos. J. Curran's finding of guilt, it diverged from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in the matter of punitive damages, which had been set at $102,000 per officer, and compensatory damages, which ranged from $9,500 to $50,000. The $102,000 figure was arrived at by multiplying $17,000 per officer times Jones and the five commissioners. The appeals court reversed the decision on damages, and remanded it to the lower court.
For more details, please wait for the Journal Sentinel to get around to writing about the case.