Empower Wisconsin | Feb. 28,  2022

Milwaukee Police Association Acting President Andrew Wagner has seen officer morale plummet in recent years in the Milwaukee Police Department.

Admittedly, it’s hard to keep cops’ spirits up when police defunders are cutting law enforcement budgets and villainizing officers at every turn. And it doesn’t help when politicians like Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes — presumed front-runner in a crowded field of Democrats looking to face off against Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson — campaign on eliminating cash bail and felony bail-jumping charges.

“I think we saw what reform like Mandela Barnes (is proposing) looks like. We see an increase in violent crime, we see a doubling of homicides,” Wagner told Empower Wisconsin’s M.D. Kittle last week on the Jay Weber Show.

Wagner expressed support for the crime bills moving through the state Legislature, particularly a resolution for a state constitutional amendment that would require courts to weigh the severity of an individual’s criminal record when setting bail. The measures follow the absurdly low bail granted for the career violent criminal accused of killing six people and injuring scores more in Waukesha’s Christmas parade.

“It seems like we’re protecting criminals more than we’re protecting the victims. We need bail reform in Wisconsin. We need bail reform in Milwaukee, and we need to hold criminals accountable for their actions,” Wagner said.

Andrew Wagner is our guest on today’s edition of PowerUp, Empower Wisconsin’s podcast.