August 6, 2013

Chief Erwin
Wisconsin State Capitol Police
2 E Main N B2
Madison, WI 53702

Dear Chief Erwin,

Today I write regarding the protocol for the issuance of citation for building rules violations in the Wisconsin State Capitol. I question that the issuance of what amounts to municipal ordinance violations, like jaywalking, requires the handcuffing, detainment and photographing of individuals.

It is my understanding that arresting someone, handcuffing them, detaining, and taking a “mug shot” is not at all standard police protocol for the issuance of municipal ordinance violations. While the Department of Administration is not a municipality, they have a set of building code which you and Secretary Huebsch have chosen to enforce with citation issuance. That is your choice; however ordinance violations are not universally or even practically enforced with the handcuffing and detainment of citizens. This is not the norm in Wisconsin for enforcement of an ordinance violation and I would like you explain the necessity of a non-conforming police protocol. Additionally, I would like to know specifically for what purpose you will use the photos you have taken of citizens and to whom these images will be shared.

Thank you for your prompt response.

Sincerely,

JON ERPENBACH
State Senator,
27th District

WASHINGTON — Seven months into Senator Barbara A. Mikulski’s new assignment as chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, there is already a saying among members: “We loved Byrd, we respected Inouye, we fear Barbara.”

It is not hard to see why. Ms. Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, intimidates people in a way that the two most recent committee chairmen, the late Senators Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia and Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii, did not. During a March floor debate, Ms. Mikulski ordered Senator John McCain of Arizona to go back to his office and read a bill so he could properly vote on it — and Mr. McCain, chastened but cheerful, agreed. “I will now try to carry out my mission as assigned by the distinguished chairwoman,” he said.

Ms. Mikulski, who legislates with two parts accommodation and one part coercion, now finds herself at the center of a spending brawl on Capitol Hill. At 77, she is the longest serving woman in Congress, the first female leader of its most august committee and the fulcrum in a fiscal fight that will dominate Washington this fall.

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She has no patience for attempts to gut programs for the poor, and is eager to pass her bills in part to distinguish between her priorities and those of House Republicans. “Our bills will show the difference,” she said.

Madison — Armed security guards who were abruptly pulled from a proposed mine site in northern Wisconsin last month are now licensed. Bulletproof Securities was briefly protecting the site, but pulled back when it became clear last month that the Arizona firm had not received a license to operate in Wisconsin.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Safety and Professional Services announced Monday that the firm is now licensed. Guards with the firm will soon join those from other companies who are already at the site, according to the mining company.

Also, the state has dismissed complaints against the security firm for operating without a license, said a statement from the department spokeswoman, Brittany Lewin.

Bulletproof began operating on July 4 at the site of the potential iron ore pit mine proposed by Gogebic Taconite. But the paramilitary-style guards were pulled back a week later after it was revealed the firm did not have a license to provide private security.