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Two Milwaukee police officers suspended in separate incidents




A Milwaukee police detective convicted of a misdemeanor for driving drunk while in possession of a gun will keep his job, according to Fire and Police Commission records.

Detective Randall Chicks, who is serving a year of probation after pleading guilty to the gun charge, has been suspended from the department for 45 days, according to commission and court records.

Chicks crashed his pickup truck into the median on U.S. 45 near Burleigh St. around 2 a.m. Nov. 30, according to a complaint filed with the commission by Chief Edward Flynn. Chicks' blood-alcohol level was 0.13, above the 0.08 legal limit for driving in Wisconsin. Chicks told internal investigators he had "a few beers," which must have affected him more than he realized because he had recently lost 70 pounds, the complaint says. The crash occurred because he was trying to grab his cellphone, which was out of reach, Chicks said. The crash could have happened even if he had not been drinking, he said.

Chicks was armed with a .40-caliber pistol at the time, the complaint says. The gun did not go off.

A second officer was suspended for 10 days after waiting four minutes to answer a dispatcher's calls because he was arguing with his ex-girlfriend, a school bus driver, Fire and Police Commission records say. The Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office agreed not to cite the officer, Dwight Copeland, for disorderly conduct after he agreed to formal counseling, according to the records.

Copeland was in uniform and on duty when he pulled his squad car in front of the woman's bus around 9 a.m. Aug. 24, the records say. He tried to get on the bus to speak with her, but she closed the door and would not open it. She asked him to leave and threatened to call the police, according to a complaint Flynn filed with the commission.

Copeland hit the woman's arm through the open driver's side window and cursed at her, the complaint says.

During the quarrel, the dispatcher called Copeland's police radio five times, asking him to check the welfare of a citizen, the complaint says. Copeland told internal investigators he did not immediately answer because he had "transmission issues" with his radio. He also said he may not have heard the initial call because his ex-girlfriend "was sitting in a school bus and it was loud."

Copeland said he did not strike the woman, the complaint says. He told internal investigators he had previously dropped off money for the woman or "grabbed lunch" with her while on duty.

Both Chicks and Copeland were disciplined under a department rule against violating laws or ordinances.

A Journal Sentinel investigation published in October found that at least 93 Milwaukee police officers had been disciplined for violating that rule, including 35 who had been arrested for off-duty drunken driving.

Some officers suffered no legal or career consequences. Others got breaks from prosecutors that allowed them to keep their badges and guns. Two were ticketed rather than criminally convicted of driving drunk while in possession of their guns.