Milwaukee

Population: 577,222 in 2020

Type of government: City

The 2020-21 budget cut 120 police officer positions, through retirement and other attrition. This is on top of the 2019-20 budget that cut 60 positions.¹ However, the funding total for the department stayed nearly the same (although was about $20 million lower than what was requested by the police department), with savings from the cut positions going back into personnel costs, including increased benefits, pensions, and healthcare.²

In 2020, after years of advocacy by students, led by Leaders Igniting Transformation ( LIT ), the Milwaukee Board of School Directors terminated their contract with the Milwaukee Police Department, ending police providing most security to public schools.³

Now that the contract with Milwaukee police has been severed, the effort by LIT and others to win restorative justice in place of police in schools continues. Though the contract is canceled, Milwaukee high schools called the police hundreds of times in the first part of the 2021-22 school year.⁴ Meanwhile, state legislators in the Wisconsin Assembly proposed a bill that would require some public schools to hire armed officers.⁵