MADISON – Days after Madison police officers shot and killed a man in the middle of the afternoon on a well-known city street, local organizers are calling for community control over the police force, including the hiring and firing of officers.
The call comes from groups including Freedom Inc., Urban Triage and members of the City of Madison Police Civilian Oversight Board that was created following protests in Madison against the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. The aim of the board is to provide residents a greater role in policing.
Though the city of Madison already has a Police and Fire Commission, whose job it is to help hire and fire officers, the advocacy groups are calling for a larger civilian role in choosing who serves on the force.
Zon Moua, an executive leader with Freedom, Inc., a Madison-based social justice nonprofit, said that while having the board and an independent monitor are a step in the right direction, the community needs to demand more control over police in the city.
“We need to actually be able to fire and hire police officers, not just make recommendations,” Moua said during a July 27 press conference. “Our community is sick and tired of recommending and recommending, making recommendations around what to do. We need the power to actually make policies, and we need independence from the city to be able to do that.”
The demand comes five days after a Madison police officer shot and killed Corey Ruiz, 38, on the afternoon of July 22 during an altercation with four police officers near the intersection of Williamson and Baldwin streets. Madison Police Chief John Patterson said the incident started when officers attempted to arrest Ruiz, who was suspected of stealing bicycles and trying to enter unlocked vehicles. Ruiz drew a knife, injuring an officer. An officer then fired their weapon, Patterson said.
Moua wants the oversight board to be granted these additional powers by the City Council.
“If that is not what the city is going to actually hand over, we actually want the board gone. We are actually asking for community control,” she said. “We don’t want a false board, a false office that cannot actually do for the community.”
Maia Parson and Helyn Luisi-Mills, chair and vice chair of the oversight board, are calling for a boost in funding from $405,000 to more than $1 million.
Luisi-Mills said the additional money could fund a full-time statistician, case managers and allow the oversight board to conduct investigations, rather than the oversight board’s independent monitor performing all these jobs.
Police monitor says investigation is typical, not homicide investigation as chief claims
Aeiramique Glass, Madison’s independent police monitor who works alongside the citizen oversight group, is also asking for a larger budget for her office, so she is better able to do her job, she said during the press conference.
Glass, who was hired in late 2025 by the Police Civilian Oversight Board, has worked in similar positions in other cities, including Baltimore. She also served as the chairwoman of the San Diego Chief of Police Board of Advisers and as a program manager for Los Angeles County.
Glass wants Madison to do a better job of working with her, including turning over investigation documents into Ruiz’s shooting. Glass said she issued a subpoena to Madison police on July 27 after leaders refused to turn over documents, a power given to her by the board.
“I asked them to put a plan together to provide me with the evidence,” she said. “There still has been no plan.”
Madison Police Department officials did not return phone calls asking for more clarification on the investigation.
Glass is also calling for change in the Police Department, specifically how calls can be handled without violence.
“We want to make sure that if police do have to show up in our communities, they know how to properly handle and have the temperament, have the respect, have the love, have the attention and care for community members that are the most vulnerable,” she said during the media conference.
“We recognize that police do have to show up in some cases, but community control means that they have the skill set and the tools and the policy to be able to do that properly.”
Laura Schulte can be reached at leschulte@jrn.com and on X @SchulteLaura.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Madison groups call for hiring, firing power in wake of police shooting
Reporting by Laura Schulte, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Laura Schulte, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
