"McCarthy said the request to have Howell speak on the issue before the Committee of the Whole doesn’t stem from complaints he’s received about local policing. He simply wants the city to avoid the allegations of excessive force that have rocked communities elsewhere in the state and country.
"'If anything were to happen in Racine, we should know how the Police Department would react,' McCarthy said. 'If we have any concerns about that, this would be our chance to influence the policy, etc., maybe ahead of time.
"'Every month there is something on the radio: the unnecessary use or force here, the unnecessary use of force there. I want to make sure we are prepared from a policy perspective, and procedural perspective. I want to know the chief’s thoughts on it and what he thinks makes sense.'
"McCarthy said he wanted to make sure that in the event an incident occurred in which force was used, the City Council didn’t learn there was 'official accepted policy' in place that they didn’t know about that didn’t make sense to them.
"'I don’t want to be complaining afterwards. I want to be understanding ahead of time,' he said."
Read more: http://journaltimes.com/news/local/city-alderman-citing-national-news-asks-about-police-use-of/article_79635660-91b4-5d43-a8dd-6313d591c3e4.html
I just sent an email that states police are "damned if they do, and damned if they don't." The worst case scenario is our officers second-guessing themselves at the moment of interaction with a possible criminal.