100 Milwaukee police officers head to NATO summit

MILWAUKEE -- With tensions rising in Chicago with the arrival of world leaders for this weekend's NATO summit, the windy city is calling on Milwaukee police for some help.

100 MPD officers loaded into buses and headed south to help control the thousands of protestors expected.

"We are a crowd management team, so we are able to provide support to Chicago in whatever mission they decide us to do, and we don't know what that mission will be yet.  Usually it involves some type of crowd management," MPD Captain Stephen Basting said.

Milwaukee police officers volunteered for the work.  It is a job Chief Ed Flynn says his department looks forward to.

"This is a chance to work as a team, doing something very important and it's good for morale. It does excite them. It puts an extra bounce in their step," Chief Flynn said.

"We can't predict what people are going to do -- that's not the real story.  The real story is the violence that is happening overseas," Peace Action protestor Daniel Ginsberg.  His group will be following in MPD's footsteps on Sunday, May 20th when two bus loads full of protestors leave Milwaukee.

Protestors say they do not expect trouble.  However, Chicago police have already made arrests in connection to the summit.

Milwaukee police say they will head back to Wisconsin on Tuesday, May 22nd.

Related stories: