Wisconsin police reform advocates: ICE needs more oversight after fatal shooting

A former Wisconsin police chief and the father of a man killed by Kenosha police both said federal immigration agents need more oversight and accountability after the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis.

After Good was shot by an ICE officer on Jan. 7, the Trump administration claimed she was weaponizing her vehicle and that the agent acted in self defense. Many others say video of the incident shows Good turning away from the officer and the shooting was unjustified.

David Couper was Madison’s chief of police from 1972 until 1993. During that time, Couper said he helped shape department policy to improve safety and trust between officers and community members. 

One of those improvements was re-examining use of force policies, including in situations with vehicles. 

“That’s something that we started working on at least 40 years ago,” Couper told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “You are not to put your body in front of a car to try to stop a motor vehicle and then consider that to be life threatening and shoot somebody.”

Couper thinks federal agents should be held to the same standard. 

He also urged state and municipal police to hold federal agents accountable for using force against the communities they serve. 

“A federal officer has a great amount of immunity, but when he or she steps out of the scope of their employment — uses unreasonable force or breaks the law in other ways — they can be charged and prosecuted by the state in which the offense occurred,” Couper said. “They should intervene when a federal agent violates the law.” 

At a minimum, Couper said, police should visually record the interactions, and identify the agents and the victims to be able to present that information in court.

‘There was a rush to judgement’

After Michael Bell Sr.’s son was killed by a Kenosha police officer in 2004, the former U.S. Air Force pilot advocated for Wisconsin to become the first U.S. state to legally mandate an outside investigation when an officer uses lethal force.

When Bell Sr. learned of Good’s death in Minneapolis, he saw parallels to his own son’s killing in the Trump administration’s statements.

“There was a rush to judgment,” Bell told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “That occurred in my own son’s case. Within 48 hours, they said that it was justified … it’s a foot race to get out their version of the story first.”

Another similarity Bell sees in Good’s case: the “character assassination” of the shooting victim. In Good’s case, the Trump administration accused her of domestic terrorism and social media users circulated rumors that she had been arrested for child abuse. Federal officers are also reportedly investigating Renee Good’s partner. 

“They look for every possible thing to make the public think that this person was a bad person and they deserve to be shot,” Bell said. 

The solution Bell proposed for both police and federal agents: independent, external investigations with set timelines, similar to how the National Transportation Safety Board investigates plane crashes. 

“We should have a review board that looks at all the facts — all the training, who was hired, how much they got paid, (whether) there were drugs (involved),” Bell said. 

Bell said, like the NTSB, this board should come out with initial findings within 30 days, followed by a final report within 12 to 24 months.

“(The final report) talks about how to prevent future occurrences,” Bell said. “They take this methodical approach, and that’s what needs to happen with this type of shooting.”