Man whose son was killed by police may team up with WPPA

KENOSHA (WITI) -- Michael Bell, whose son was killed by Kenosha police, may soon team up with the state's police union.

"I think it's important for the law enforcement review process to be trusted by citizens in the community," said Michael Bell in an interview with FOX6 News on Friday, February 8th.

After Kenosha police killed his son in 2004, Bell called for the creation of a statewide review board that would look at all police shootings and in-custody deaths. Right now, police agencies can have an internal review or ask a neighboring department to investigate.

Now, Bell is working with the largest police union in the state, the Wisconsin Professional Police Association (WPPA).

"We have to be sensitive to the fact municipalities do have certain statutory rights as it relates to managing their affairs. But in terms of having a higher authority to review those investigations, I think there could be some value in that," said Jim Palmer, Executive Director of the WPPA.

In order for the meetings to begin, the union asked Bell to take down the "smoking gun" billboards he placed in Milwaukee and Madison.

"My response was I'd be very interested in entertaining a dialogue with him. But that it'd be hard for us to do so while he was running an ad campaign I feel and many of our members feel is negative and broadly paints them in a bad light," said Palmer.

"Neither one of us wants to back down. But as a sign of good faith, I backed down a little bit and he backed down a little bit, I backed down a little bit more to start building a level of trust," said Bell.

Both Palmer and Bell hope it's the beginning of a process that will add credibility to the investigation of police-involved shootings.

The WPPA represents more than 11,000 officers. However, if does not represent the Milwaukee Police Department.

Both Bell and Palmer say they need to meet several more times to iron out their differences. From there, they hope to pitch a joint proposal to state lawmakers.