CUTTING TIES

Wisconsin Police Departments Pull Out of DNC Security Over Order to Stop Using Tear Gas

The Fond du Lac police chief said he believed discontinuing the use of chemical irritants would put officers and the public at risk.

At least three police departments in Wisconsin have reneged on agreements to send officers to the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee next month, citing an order by the city’s Fire and Police Commission for the Milwaukee Police Department to stop using tear gas and pepper spray on protesters. Fond du Lac, Franklin, and West Allis police departments will no longer help with security at the event, and Fond du Lac Police Chief William Lamb said other departments are likely to follow. Lamb said he and the other police chiefs “strongly disagree” with the directive, and believe that removing chemical irritants from the police arsenal would “severely compromise the safety of the public and also the safety of the law enforcement officers who would be assigned to protect the DNC.”