Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett signs off on $3.4 million settlement in ACLU stop-and-frisk lawsuit

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

One the plaintiffs, Charles Collins, who has lived in Milwaukee for 55 years, talks about how he has been stopped repeatedly by police.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has signed off on a $3.4 million settlement with the ACLU of Wisconsin over police stop-and-frisk practices after the Common Council approved it earlier this week.

The settlement includes a five-year consent decree requiring the department and the city's Fire and Police Commission, the civilian oversight board, to reform stop-and-search practices, improve data collection and require officers to undergo more training on stops and searches.

The consultant will monitor compliance with the agreement, which will remain under the jurisdiction of the federal court, and issue periodic reports. The city plans to enter into a contract with the Crime and Justice Institute for the consulting work.

"For the last decade, tens of thousands of Black and Latino Milwaukeeans have been interrupted in their daily lives by police stopping them without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity as required by the Constitution," the ACLU of Wisconsin said in a Friday news release.

The civil rights organization said the Milwaukee stop-and-frisk lawsuit has resulted "in the most extensive police reforms" since the lawsuit that ended the practice in New York City in 2013.

The settlement limits Milwaukee's costs and fees for a consultant required as part of the deal to about $1.5 million. That consultant fee would be on top of the $1.9 million in attorney fees associated with the case.

The city attorney also signed the settlement agreement, which was filed in federal court Friday, according to the ACLU.