Archive: Wall of silence not breaking in Jude case

This story originally ran Feb. 13, 2005.

They call it the "Blue wall of silence" or simply "the code."

It says police officers don’t tell on each other. Ever.

That unwritten code of silence has been thrust into the spotlight by the case of Frank Jude Jr., who was savagely beaten Oct. 24 by a dozen men who witnesses said identified themselves as off-duty police officers.

The prosecution has been hamstrung by officers who have information about the beating but are not talking because of a "misplaced loyalty" toward fellow officers, District Attorney E. Michael McCann said.

Jude cannot identify his attackers, and two witnesses can pick out only a couple of faces, making the officers’ testimony critical. Some officers have cooperated, McCann said, but others need to step forward.

The fact that any officers spoke up surprised national law enforcement experts.

"Cops will tolerate psychos, alcoholics, wife-beaters, dweebs and geeks, but they will not tolerate rats. Period," said Tony Bouza, chief of the Minneapolis Police Department from 1980 to 1988.

Others deny such a code of silence exists. They said officers have friendships and allegiances among colleagues, much like workers in any office.

"It is human nature. It is nothing unique to policing," said Jim Pasco, executive director of Fraternal Order of Police, a Washington, D.C.-based union that represents 318,000 officers nationwide, including some in Milwaukee.

The difference between police officers and office workers, according to Bouza and others, is that officers depend on each other with their lives.

They said the code is passed on to rookies from their first days on patrols: They need to back up other officers, even when they’ve done something wrong, or they might not get support when they really need it on the street.

"It is a threat. You are going to be in a tight situation with your life on the line and they won’t be there," said George Kirkham, a criminal justice professor at Florida State University who also worked as a police officer.

Officers who cooperate in investigations such as the one into Jude’s beating could face years of scorn, threats and potential retribution.

In Milwaukee, veterans recall how officers who cooperated with investigators in the case of James Schoemperlen were branded "rats" for the rest of their careers. Schoemperlen was beaten by officers after a car chase in 1981.

Officers in the Jude case could be in for the same rough treatment, observers said.

"Whoever rolls over first, he is going to have to just quit, go to a different department or change careers. It will be awful for him once it happens," said Michael Quinn, an officer for 23 years in Minneapolis, who wrote "Walking with the Devil: The Police Code of Silence," published this year.

McCann has called the beating "horrendous" and said the case is progressing but wouldn’t guarantee charges will be filed.

McCann has come under fire from some for not moving faster on the case. Roughly 100 people demonstrated against McCann on Thursday, the same day prosecutors for the first time interviewed Lovell Harris, who was with Jude the night of the beating.

Officials feel frustration

Harris and Jude went to a party Oct. 24 in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood with Kirsten Antonissen and Katie Brown.

The four met at a bachelorette party earlier that night where Jude, a former part-time stripper, performed. They were invited by another woman to a party at police officer Andrew Spengler’s house.

At the party, Jude asked Antonissen if the people there were racist. Jude and Harris are black. The people at the party were white, Antonissen said. After a couple of minutes, they left.

Jude has declined to discuss what happened that night.

In police reports, Spengler said he caught Jude coming out of his bedroom and then discovered his wallet containing his badge was missing. Spengler and other officers confronted Jude, who fought them, the report said. Brown and Antonissen said nothing was stolen and Jude never resisted.

Jude was dragged out of a pickup truck by several of the men and beaten while others held him facedown in the street, Antonissen and Brown said.

Harris was cut on the face by one of the men and then was told to turn around because he would be cut in the buttocks, his attorney said. Harris broke free and ran. Harris was arrested on suspicion of theft an hour later. He has not been charged.

In 911 calls, Antonissen told the dispatcher that responding officers held Jude down and also beat him. Antonissen told the dispatcher a man was twisting her arm behind her back and then the line went dead.

Jude was arrested on suspicion of theft and resisting arrest, handcuffed and taken by police wagon to a hospital, where he spent 2 1/2 days. His car was later found heavily vandalized.

Jude said his eye was swollen shut and bled for 10 days. He suffered a concussion; a broken nose and fractured sinus cavity; cuts in both ears; cuts and swelling to his left eye, neck, head, face, legs and back; and a severely sprained left hand, according to his medical records reviewed by a reporter.

Pressure continues to mount on the officers who have refused to cooperate.

"Such a response by the officers does irreparable damage — especially in the African-American community — to the fragile relationship that exists between residents and the MPD, and the incident and its aftermath make citizens truly question whether or not police officers are really working to ‘serve and protect,’ " Common Council President Willie Hines said in a statement last week.

Police Chief Nannette Hegerty, who suspended four officers in connection with the incident, was so frustrated by officers’ silence that she asked for a secret John Doe proceeding in which officers could be called to testify, Mayor Tom Barrett said.

Hegerty has declined to comment on the case. Last week, she issued a statement saying an internal investigation that could result in officers being fired cannot begin until the criminal probe is done.

The officers – Spengler, Jon M. Bartlett, Ryan P. Packard and Daniel L. Masarik – are on paid suspension. Police reports identify a former officer, Michele Bartlett, as also being present at the incident.

Code not all-encompassing

Some Milwaukee officers might follow a code of silence, but it doesn’t run through the entire department, said Ken Meuler, police chief in West Bend who worked for Milwaukee police for 28 years.

"The majority of people, when someone does something that is criminally wrong, they will say something. I don’t care if they are their partner because they know it is the right thing to do," Meuler said.

Vince Vitale, who was with the department for 25 years, agreed with Meuler but added that officers are cautious, especially when the community is demanding justice.

"They realize when this comes to light, it doesn’t take much to convict a police office of not doing what the community wants. In those situations, the officers go into a shell," he said. "If you get fired from a police job, there isn’t a department that will hire them."