One Wisconsin police officer is speaking out against Gov. Scott Walker’s unconstitutional arrests of protest singers. The officer says the police are more beholden to Walker than they are to the constitution.
Wisconsin police officer Tom Alisankus is speaking out against Gov. Walker’s unconstitutional crackdown on protesters.
Alisankus told The Progressive:
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I’m really angered at my brethren police officers who are arresting people who pose no threat to public safety,” said Tom Alisankus, a police officer in a small town in Wisconsin. “They swore to uphold the Constitution, and by arresting people here they are being more beholden to Scott Walker than to the Constitution, which is very distasteful for me as an officer of 31 years.
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I’m trying to get my head around why this is a priority for law enforcement,” he said. “There are so many accidents on I-90. So why are the state troopers arresting 80-year-olds? That’s crazy for me as a cop. I’m trying to decide whether they just want to keep their jobs, or whether they believe in what they’re doing.
Yesterday, Walker’s police force hit a new low as they arrested 3 grandmothers, a 14 year old, and 17 others for singing. The editor of The Progressive was also arrested and charged with obstruction for trying to take pictures of the arrests.
This isn’t a matter of law enforcement using their discretion when it comes to arresting the protesters. The policy of arresting protesters has come straight from the Walker administration. It is unclear whether the police really believe in what they are doing or not, but one thing is certain. What they are doing is both morally wrong and unconstitutional.
Any police officer with a shred of integrity should refuse to arrest these protesters. If enough law enforcement officers refused, the Walker administration would be left with no choice but to fire the entire police force. Of course, the likely reason why more police officers aren’t speaking out is that they have seen what Walker has done to other public employees, and it would not be unreasonable to assume that they are afraid of losing their jobs. (Republicans at the federal level have done their best to cut funding to state and local law enforcement agencies, so getting a job in law enforcement isn’t as easy as it used to be during the era of the COPS program through Bush’s war on terror, and the Obama stimulus.)
Wisconsin labor leader Marty Beil is calling for labor to stand with the Solidarity Singers and join the fight, but labor alone won’t be enough. Gov. Walker can arrest dozens of protesters, but he can’t arrest thousands. It is time for the rest of the country to wake up and support Wisconsin. The constitution is being torn to tatters with each Walker driven arrest.
All freedom loving patriots should stand up, sing out, and stop Scott Walker.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
