Chief Flynn On Milwaukee Police Review, Industry Consolidation Hurting Wisconsin Farmers, The Fall Of “Big Soda”

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Pepsi and Coca Cola helped create a multi-billion dollar industry out of selling sugar water, but a doctor says we might be seeing the end of an era. Our guest explores the money and politics that led to the rise of “big soda,” and the current difficulties the industry is facing. We also look at why farmers are seeing lower profits this year despite high grain production, and talk with Milwaukee Chief of Police Ed Flynn about his call for an external review of his department.

Featured in this Show

  • Why Ed Flynn Wants A Federal Audit Of The Milwaukee Police Department

    Shortly after federal prosecutors announced earlier this week that they would not file criminal civil rights charges against the former Milwaukee police officer who shot and killed Dontre Hamilton last year, Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn made an announcement of his own: He would seek an external federal review of his Police Department.

    Flynn said Thursday that he’s making the request to the U.S. Justice Department because he wants to be proactive. He’s looking for constructive feedback, he said, but also expressed confidence that a review will highlight positive changes the department has implemented and witnessed over the years.

    Those changes include a decrease in use of force; extensive de-escalation, crisis intervention, and scenario-based use-of-force training; drops in vehicle pursuits; and a decline in citizen complaints.

    “I am open to suggestions to anything that we can do better,” he said. “But I am also convinced that a thorough review by a Justice Department that has certainly never shown itself reluctant to sue police departments … will clearly indicate how much progress we’ve made.”

    The department is specifically requesting a “collaborative reform initiative” — in other words, a voluntary arrangement with the DOJ. According to Flynn, the DOJ would not grant this type of review if they were contemplating bringing the department under a consent decree, or were considering a lawsuit for a pattern and practice violation.

    “We examined the consent decrees that had already been issued against Pittsburgh and Oakland and Seattle and New Orlean and other cities. And we started aggressively implementing those suggested reforms here, years ago, before anything dreadful happened in Red Arrow Park a year ago,” he said.

    Hamilton’s family has repeatedly called for a larger-scale pattern and practice investigation that would examine the entire department for possible civil rights violations. However, Flynn said that the Police Department is not a candidate for that type of review.

    “This is going to be just as thorough a review,” he said. “I want to demonstrate to the community we’re transparent, we have made enormous progress by any objective standard, and we are open to any suggestion in any venue of something we could do better.”

    Notably, the collaborative reform initiative that the department is seeking is the same type of process that took place in the wake of the events in Ferguson, Missouri last summer, which resulted in a highly publicized federal report on the city’s discriminatory law enforcement practices.

  • Farm Group: Industry Consolidation Hurting Wisconsin Farmers

    While farmers are bringing in good harvests, many are being hurt by low commodity prices and high prices for seeds and pesticides. A guest makes the case that consolidation in agricultural industries is hurting farmers in Wisconsin.

  • Battling Big Soda

    Food activists and health advocates say that soft drinks is a major public health concern, and that the corporations that make billions on it are fighting efforts to control it. We talk about the politics of soda.

Episode Credits

  • Veronica Rueckert Host
  • Judith Siers-Poisson Host
  • Chris Malina Producer
  • Rob Ferrett Producer
  • Judith Siers-Poisson Producer
  • Chief Edward A Flynn Guest
  • Zach Herrnstadt Guest
  • Marion Nestle Guest

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