In recent weeks law enforcement efforts in the Wisconsin Capitol have resulted in numerous arrests and citations, as newly appointed Police Chief David Erwin brings a different approach to enforcing possible violations of statutes and administrative code violations. Last Friday, a disabled veteran’s medical crisis during an attempted arrest for a brief spontaneous speech brought […]
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Capitol Police: To Protect and Serve or Intimidate and Harass?
By Jason Huberty, Arthur Kohl-Riggs, Nicole Schulte, and Craig Spaulding The mission statement of the Wisconsin State Capitol Police could not be more clear. The Wisconsin Capitol Police Department is committed to providing the highest quality of personalized services to all who live, work, visit, and learn in our State. We believe in the dignity of […]
Capitol Police Have No Answers for Concerned Citizens
By Rebecca Kemble, Nicole Schulte and Whitney Steffen On Wednesday, September 12, 2012 Whitney Steffen was given a warning that she was engaging in prohibited behavior in the Wisconsin State Capitol. When she inquired as to the nature of that behavior, the officer giving her the warning could not explain it to her: Last week, […]
Activist cited at work by Capitol Police
By Leslie Amsterdam, Rebecca Kemble, Arthur Kohl-Riggs and Nicole Schulte Bart Munger showed up to his job at the UW Physical Plant this morning to find a Capitol police officer and a UW police officer waiting for him. They were there to deliver two citations for holding a banner at the Solidarity Sing Along the […]
New Capitol Police Tactic: Home Delivery of Citations
By Rebecca Kemble, Edward Kuharski, Arthur Kohl-Riggs and Nicole Schulte At 4:20pm this afternoon, Jason Huberty answered a knock on his door. It was two Capitol Police officers calling to deliver citations to him and his partner, Lisa Wells. They were each cited for two violations of Wisconsin Administrative Code: 2.14(2)(v) “obstruct access, passage, etc. […]
New arrests no laughing matter at Wisconsin Capitol
“There’s a fundamental misunderstanding of this policy if there was a belief arrests were going to stem from this policy,” Jocelyn Webster, DOA Spokesperson, December 2011. September 9, 2012 by Leslie Amsterdam Those words from December 2011 have resurfaced recently in light of a busy week of arrests, protests and singing at the Wisconsin State […]
Court Decision Undermines Chief Erwin’s Capitol Crackdown
By Hematite Sometimes good news comes wrapped in bad packages. News that a lawsuit against the DoA and Capitol Police for arrests made in March, 2011 for holding signs on the first floor of the Capitol had been dismissed felt like a hard blow to first amendment activists when it first broke on Thursday morning. […]
Eight Arrested at Capitol for Unlawful Display of Signs
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This is another open-source correction/continuation of one of Clay Barbour’s articles. We hope he appreciates our help and are very happy that he correctly stated the number of arrests, even if he didn’t know why they were arrested.] Eight arrested at Capitol for protest without permit unlawful display of signs Capitol police arrested […]
Protest Singers’ Noses Swell in Wake of Capitol Chief’s Comments
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Thisis an open-source correction/continuation of Clay Barbour’s article published by WCMC since the WSJ couldn’t be bothered to fact check for him. Think of it as a little bit country, a little bit rock-n-roll.] Protest singers’ numbers grow noses swell in wake of Capitol chief’s comments The ranks noses of participants of the […]
Free Speech On Life Support In Wisconsin Capitol
Will Chief Erwin Pull the Plug? By Nicole Desautels Schulte Last February 14, Valentine’s Day, Jason Huberty, a geologist and First Amendment enthusiast, was arrested in the Wisconsin Senate Gallery and charged with Disorderly Conduct for holding a 2″ x 3″ piece of paper on which he had printed the words, “Have a Heart.” Video […]
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