ACLU trying to maintain lawsuit against MPD, say officers make unnecessary stop and frisks

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The ACLU is fighting to keep a lawsuit against the Milwaukee Police Department alive.

They say there is an extreme amount of evidence that MPD officers make unnecessary stop and frisks targeting minorities.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed the suit last year against former police chief Ed Flynn and Milwaukee Police. Now that Flynn is gone, MPD wants the suit to be dropped, but the ACLU says no.

They say 350,000 records from 2010-2017 show MPD officers didn’t have good reason to make traffic stops that they say target black and Latino neighborhoods. They say predominantly black and Latino districts like 3, 5, and 2 have more than triple the rate of traffic stops than districts that are predominantly white.

They also say black people are more likely to be searched. That’s despite the fact that the rate of recovering a weapon or drugs is lower than whites. The ACLU say three experts with decades in law enforcement have reviewed the information.

CBS 58 reached out to a spokesperson at the department. They say they don’t comment on pending litigation.