10/07/2026
Madison Does Not Believe in Police Oversight!
Last night, Tuesday, October 6, 2026, the Madison Common Council introduced a resolution to terminate Interim Independent Police Monitor Aeiramique Glass and place the Common Council’s Chief of Staff in charge of the Office of the Independent Police Monitor (OIPM), disregarding the Police Civilian Oversight Board (PCO Board), who directly supervises Monitor Glass. The resolution passed its introduction vote 18–2 and will come back to the Council on October 20.
This is not just about one person. It is about whether Madison truly believes in independent police oversight.
The PCO Board was created in the aftermath of the protests against the murder of Tony Robinson by Madison police and the national protests against the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. What is becoming increasingly clear is that the city of Madison never intended to have real civilian oversight or any type of police reform. The Common Council only wanted to stop the protests.
The stated purpose of the PCO Board is to provide community oversight of the police and is responsible for supervising the Independent Police Monitor (IPM). But even though the City’s own ordinance (5.20) gives the PCO Board that authority, the Common Council continues to undermine the PCO Board and the OIPM through budget limits, understaffing, changes to their authority, and now an effort to remove the Monitor.
The City has far more resources, through taxpayer dollars, and power than the oversight office it is attacking. That imbalance matters.
Instead of strengthening independent oversight when the community needs it most, the City is attempting to dismantle it. The murder of Corey Ruiz turned into a major point of tension between the community and the City. But when the OIPM sought to open an independent investigation, the Common Council retaliated.
Madison often presents itself as a progressive, welcoming, and sanctuary city, but we have to ask: what does that mean if Black, Southeast Asian, and other people of color still live with fear of police violence and government systems that do not adequately protect them? Equally important, what should those same communities think when city leaders attack the systems meant to protect us?
Madison cannot call itself a sanctuary while it arms its police officers with guns, tasers, tear gas, and horses to trample on the very people who are seeking safety and support. In this so-called sanctuary city, the people are being met with arrest while practicing their First Amendment right to demand accountability. The community deserves independent oversight that is strong, properly funded, and truly independent.
This is about more than the Independent Police Monitor. It is about whether the City of Madison will protect the community or protect the systems that have caused harm.
Some observers might conclude that these turn of events are proof of a system that is broken, but we conclude the opposite: in these times of rising fascism, the system is working precisely as intended. City leaders never wanted to stop police brutality or allow for civilian oversight, much less control, instead they just wanted us to stop protesting. And as soon as we were able to make that tool effective for us instead of useful for them, they want to crush it.
Join us on October 20, 2026, at the Common Council Meeting to demand:
- Vote NO to terminating Monitor Glass
- Give the Police Civilian Oversight Board and the Office of Independent Police Monitoring the resources they need to do their work
- Fully fund the OIPM, and set its budget at 5% of the Madison Police Department’s budget
- Community control of the police
