The Milwaukee police strike was a 1981

police strike A police strike is a potential tactic when law enforcement workers are embroiled in a labour dispute. Sometimes military personnel are called in to keep order or discipline the strikers. Police strikes have the potential to cause civil unrest. Lis ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

, Wisconsin, United States.

Background

Three police-involved deaths in Milwaukee in 1981 have been cited as causes for a general increase in racial tension in the city that year. In December, two

Milwaukee Police The Milwaukee Police Department is the police department organized under the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The department has a contingent of about 1,800 sworn officers when at full strength and is divided into seven districts. Jeffrey B. Norm ...

officers – John Machjewski and Charles Mehlberg – were shot and killed by Robert Lee Collins, an African-American man, while investigating a reported robbery at Alfred's House of Bourbon, a

tavern A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that h ...

. Following the deaths,

Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

Roy Nabors publicly stated that the shooting might have been motivated by the suspect's fear of the police. Nabors later said his comments had been taken out of context.

Event

At approximately 8:00 p.m. on December 23, 1981, officers of the 1700-man

abandoned their posts, citing Nabors' comments as evidence of the disregard they claimed city officials showed for the police. Mayor

Henry Maier Henry Walter Maier (February 7, 1918 – July 17, 1994) was an American politician and the longest-serving mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, holding office from 1960 to 1988. A Democrat, Maier was a powerful and controversial figure, presiding over ...

declared a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

and, in response to a demand from the president of the Milwaukee Professional Police Association that the

Milwaukee Common Council The municipal government of the U.S. city of Milwaukee, located in the state of Wisconsin, consists of a mayor and common council. Traditionally supporting liberal politicians and movements, this community has consistently proved to be a strongho ...

hear a list of police grievances before officers would return to work, convened an extraordinary session of the council. Maier also issued a request to bars and taverns in the city to voluntarily agree to close early for the duration of the strike. The first hours of the strike were met with confusion, with some police districts having a single police supervisor as the entire law enforcement presence. In one case, two officers on patrol didn't learn a strike had been called until an hour after it began. During the strike,

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term en ...

in Milwaukee was provided by a combination of police supervisors who had not joined the walk-out and 200 specially-assigned deputies of the

Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office is the principal law enforcement agency that serves Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. It provides law enforcement services for the county's freeways, Milwaukee County Courthouse, the Milwaukee County Criminal Jus ...

. Nonetheless, media reported that at least two police stations appeared to have shut-down with a hand-written sign on the locked doors of the district 7 station reading "we are not conducting any business at this time." Police returned to work late on December 24, 1981 – approximately 16 hours after the strike began – after the Milwaukee Common Council agreed to publicly denounce Nabors, as well as to increase police funding. As of 2009, Robert Collins was incarcerated at the

Wisconsin Secure Program Facility The Wisconsin Secure Program Facility (WSPF), originally the Supermax Correctional Institution, is a Wisconsin Department of Corrections prison for men, located in Boscobel, Wisconsin, US. The facility is located east of central Boscobel, off ...

References

{{Milwaukee Police Department, state=autocollapse Police strikes Milwaukee Police strike Milwaukee Police strike Milwaukee Police strike 1980s in Milwaukee Milwaukee Police Department

Background

Event

See also

References