MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee's Fire and Police Commission Vice Chair is making her case publicly for the first time about her push to scale back Milwaukee Police Department pursuit policy. Police Chief Jeffrey Norman now has less than a week to decide whether to act on the recommendations, according to a letter obtained by TMJ4.
READ ALSO | Chase victim supports Milwaukee fire and police commissioner’s push to limit reckless driving pursuits
Fire and Police Commissioner Bree Spencer believes MPD is chasing far too many reckless drivers for minor infractions. MPD data shows 76 percent of pursuits last year were for reckless driving.
"It is way too dangerous of a tool to be using to remedy something like someone having an expired tag, and they didn't pull over when you tried to pull them over," Spencer said.
Nine pursuit deaths in 2025 factored significantly into the push for change, Spencer said.
“We heard from a lot of families who have lost loved ones who are gone now from Planet Earth on the back of a police pursuit as a bystander,” she said. It’s not acceptable.”
The FPC unanimously agreed to send Chief Jeffrey Norman a letter on April 27 outlining the recommended changes.
One would prohibit officers from chasing drivers for "reckless driving observed after an attempted traffic stop." Another would require the department to terminate pursuits if officers believe continuing would "increase the danger to the public."
"About four people who died last year died on the back of a pursuit like that," Spencer said.
Watch: MPD pursuit policy overhaul pushed by FPC would reduce chases by 15%, commissioner says
Spencer says FPC research found that if those changes are adopted, MPD would see a 15 percent reduction in chases — about 150 fewer each year, based on MPD data.
But retired MPD Detective Eric Draeger told TMJ4 last week he thinks the impact would be far greater — and not in a good way.
"It's less a policy and more a surrender flag to the reckless drivers," Draeger said. "All they have to do is drive away; more criminals drive away."
Spencer pushed back on that characterization.
"No, it's not true. It is a wild mis-reading of the policy," Spencer said.
Under the proposed changes, Spencer says officers would still be able to pursue drivers for reckless driving witnessed before a traffic stop, or for reckless driving after a traffic stop if there is a more serious underlying reason — such as a belief that the driver has committed a homicide or other violent felonies.
This is arguably the Fire and Police Commission's most significant effort to change MPD's chase policy since 2017, when the FPC required MPD to begin pursuing reckless drivers. When asked whether that 2017 decision was a mistake, Spencer stopped short of saying so directly.
"I don't think we should have as permissive of a pursuit policy as we do," Spencer said.
Spencer says her push is grounded in national research and Department of Justice recommendations that suggest reckless-driving pursuits are more dangerous than they are worth. She described the proposed changes as targeted, not sweeping.
"I would reinforce the idea that this is an incremental change, not what happened before, not a 0 to a 1. It's meant to be surgical in its approach to the police pursuit universe in Milwaukee," Spencer said.
MPD said Chief Norman has not yet made a decision on the recommendations. If he rejects them, the Common Council could still force the policy change with a two-thirds majority vote.
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