Attorney General On Residency Requirements: ‘No Comment’

State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen says he does not have an opinion on one of the hottest issues for Wisconsin law enforcement- residency requirements.

Governor Scott Walker’s state budget proposal would end local government employee residency laws in dozens of communities. The Milwaukee police officers union has been a big backer of the governor’s controversial idea.

After an event in Milwaukee, the attorney general, sometimes referred to as the state’s “top cop”, declined comment on the governor’s proposal: “[It’s] way out of my bailiwick.”

Supporters of keeping residency laws argue that having police officers living in the city where they serve improves public safety. Attorney General Van Hollen isn’t getting into that debate either: “I can honestly tell you that from that perspective, I have not looked at it.”

Van Hollen and Walker’s fellow Republicans, who control the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee will soon have to decide whether to dump the residency language from their budget deliberations.