It seems that someone is uncomfortable with someone looking over his shoulder.
Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said he’ll change the department’s chase policy but is not promising to meet all of the conditions set by the city’s Fire and Police Commission.
“I was taken aback by the level of detail this directive engaged in. I’ve never seen anything remotely like that,” Flynn said. “And I was appalled by the threat of discipline that was appended to it.”
Flynn, defiant and at times exasperated, sounded off on the commission’s rare directive and looked toward his future during a brief interview Friday after he unveiled the department’s new ice cream truck.
The commission, a civilian oversight board, has ordered Flynn to change the policy so officers can chase vehicles on a to-be-created “high-value target” list of vehicles used in rolling drug houses, a practice explored by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, as well as vehicles that have fled from police at least twice before.
The board also wants the policy to allow officers to chase fleeing vehicles when officers have probable cause the vehicle engaged in “excessively reckless driving.”