Madison Police Chief Vents Frustration Over Demands Of Black Rights Coalition

Koval Writes Blog Post In Response To Young, Gifted And Black's Demand For Police To Leave Black Neighborhoods

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Members of Young, Gifted and Black protesting outside of a northside Madison police station. Photo: Gilman Halsted/WPR News.

Madison’s police chief is venting his frustrations at black protesters accusing his department of bias and contributing to racial disparity in the criminal justice system.

Chief Michael Koval wrote in his blog Monday that he’s sick of his department being blamed for quote “everything from male pattern baldness to global warming.”’ He says it’s time for protesters to look deeper into issues plaguing racial minorities and stop blaming his agency for their problems. He says he’s done with this kind of rhetoric going unchallenged.

A group known as Young, Gifted and Black has been protesting police shootings in Ferguson, Missouri and Milwaukee as well as plans for expanding the Dane County jail. The group sent a letter to the chief on Friday demanding police stay out of black neighborhoods. Koval’s blog post was in response to the group’s open letter.

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Read the blog post here.

Correction: An earlier version of this story identified the group of black rights protesters as Young, Black and Gifted. The coalition is actually called Young, Gifted and Black.