AND WHAT DID HE MEAN CALLED THE
JACOB BLAKE SHOOTING A VENDETTA?
Adrienne: NATIONAL GUARD MEMBERS
FROM WISCONSIN AND OTHER STATES
HAVE BEEN PATROLLING THE STREETS
OF KENOSHA, AUGMENTING LOCAL
POLICE AND SHERIFFS DEPUTIES.
WELCOME BACK TO "UPFRONT" IN
KENOSHA.
THERE ARE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE
STATE’S RESPONSE IN THE EARLY
days and REPUBLICANS SAY
GOVERNOR EVERS DIDN’T ACT SOON
ENOUGH.
I ASKED LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
MANDELA BARNES ABOUT THE EVERS’
ADMINISTRATION RESPONSE, AND THE
GOVERNOR’S CALL FOR A SPECIAL
SESSION THIS WEEK ON POLICE
REFORM LEGISLATION.
Republicans have agreed to a
special session.
What do you think will happen
with that?
>> The Senate Republicans
agreed.
It is hard to predict.
Besides the intense calls fo
action from everyday people
across the state and country to
the Milwaukee Bucks.
It should not have gotten to
that point.
The governor introduced a
package of bills months ago.
We could have done this before
the Jacob Blake incident but
this is what happens when people
choose to drag their feet.
We could have made a stand and
said, not in Wiscons.
Iowa was proactive.
They unanimously passed a police
reform package.
Adrienne: You said during a
press conference "let me be
clear.
This was not an accident or bad
police work.
This felt like some sort of an
data -- some sort of vendetta."
>> You don’t accidentally shoot
someone in the back seven times.
It is not possib.
That is beyond bad police work.
If they did not want him to get
to his vehicle, they would have
stopped him before, tried to
tackle him or subdue him in any
other way.
Accidentally shooting a person
in the back seven tis?
You into that interaction
wanting to cause hm.
Adrienne: The Wisconsin sheriffs
Association said they do not
want you and the governor to
make statements about the
Kenosha police until the
investigation is over.
Looking back, do you wish you
would have chosen different
words?
>> No.
Why would they not have been
quick to implement reform?
Just because they do not want us
to talk about it.
There are so many things, not
just in this administration, but
people across the state and
country will want to see from
them.
It is not like they should be
able to have everything their
way because that seems to be the
case all the time.
It is always the officer’s word
versus whoever else was
involved.
Cellphone video’s captured
footage.
People got to see into these
interactions from a first and
second person perspective.
Sure, they can take on bridge
with us making statemes.
That is fine.
The fact is the matter, where
are they on reform?
On calls to reestablish trust?
That is what it is about.
I would not want to be a Police
Chief or Sheriff in this
atmosphere knowing the public is
losing trust with every
interaction caught on video.
I would not want to go forward
the same way if I were in that
position.
I would be thinking about all
the ways I could make my job
easier, all the ways to make the
community safer.
The way you make it safer is not
by brushing off every criticism
that comes your way.
We are in public position.
I am in elected office.
They are in office.
It requires as much if not more
public trust.
You’re walking around charged
with protecting people.
When the charge is that strong,
when your duty, responsibility,
role is that important, you
should want to do it in the most
effective way.
I get it.
Police officers jobs are not
easy.
I will say that.
It is not easy.
We are trying to make it easier.
We are trying to make things
less tense between the community
so people can feel comfortle
calling a police officer.
Adrienne: Republicans saying the
administration should have done
more and stepped in sooner to
help Kenosha after the Jacob
Blake shooting.
>> We are always hearing about
what the Republicans in the
legislature are saying but we
never hear about what they are
doing.
As long as they are pointing
fingers --
Adrienne: Could you have done
more?
Is there anything you think
looking back -- we should have
sent more people?
Maybe that could have avoided
destruction and death?
>> Good questi.
I will get to it.
Four months.
That is the bread-and-butter.
They have not met in over four
months in the midst of this
chs.
It is very easy to sit at me
on the couch and point finrs
at the TV and get mad about what
they think the administration is
or is not doing.
I don’t think that is a valid
criticism.
In hindsight, it is 2020.
No one wants to see streets
burning.
Buildings going up in flames.
We are elected leaders.
That is not what we want to see.
I don’t like it.
We have to see what got us to
this point in the first place.
It did not happen overnight on a
whim, because someone decided
they wanted to start a
revolution one day and set the
streets ablaze.
That is not how we got to that
point.
Adrienne: COMING UP, REP
