The city of Milwaukee has agreed to pay $2.2 million in a reverse-discrimination case.

The civil suit of 17 white plaintiffs against the city, former police chief Arthur Jones and five Fire and Police Commission members ended April 5, when a federal jury awarded the plaintiffs the $2.2 million in damages.

The trial had gone on for over a month, and the plaintiffs first filed their suit in 2003. The plaintiffs said Jones promoted less-qualified women and minorities to be captains instead of them.

The officers received compensatory damages between $9,500 and $50,000 and punitive damages of $102,000 each. The plaintiffs had each asked for $300,000 in damages.

The settlement is based on how much money the plaintiffs lost as a result of not getting promoted, as well as emotional distress, according to Scott Moss, assistant professor of law. The amount the 17 men received seemed to be a ballpark figure for two year's pay, according to Moss.

Jones, who is black, was chief of the Milwaukee Police Department from 1996 to 2003. In that time, he promoted 41 people to captain positions, 21 of whom were white males. The 17 officers filed suit because they felt they had been passed over so that Jones could promote women and minorities instead.

"There have been other reverse discrimination cases," Moss said. "This was more like pure racial discrimination in the eyes of the plaintiffs."

Employment laws ban racial discrimination of any kind, according to Moss.

MPD is currently organized so that the chief of police has a great deal of control in deciding who will be promoted, including promotions to middle-management positions such as captain. Moss said police policy experts would say there is an unusual amount of discretion at the top levels of police departments.

"High levels of discretion at the top can leave the door open for discrimination and favoritism," Moss said.

MPD is currently, and has been, reviewing the process of captain selection, according to MPD Spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz.

"We're always looking at things," Schwartz said. "We're always evaluating the process, but to say we're doing that because of this lawsuit is inaccurate."

Jones spoke at the Milwaukee branch of the NAACP the day after the verdict was returned and defended his choice of captains, the Associated Press report said.

"No matter what the process was, the decision of whom to promote rests with the chief," Jones said in the report. "Historically, this is the manner in which chiefs selected command positions. The question never came up until a black man got to make the decisions."

Milwaukee's Common Council is going to discuss the matter with City Attorney Grant Langley, according to a statement released by Willie Hines, Jr., Common Council president and alderman of the 15th district.

"Although Chief Jones promoted captains in a method identical to previous city of Milwaukee police chiefs, he was the only one to be charged with discrimination," Hines said in the statement. "The decision and penalty will not only cause financial harm to the city of Milwaukee, but will also damage race and gender relations within the police department and the broader community."

It is very rare for any discrimination case to get this far, according to Moss.

The plaintiffs will be back in court May 19 to determine what back pay they should receive and if those officers who are still lieutenants should be promoted to captain.

Calls to the NAACP, American Civil Liberties Union and the mayor's office were not returned.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on April 14 2005.