Chortek, Steven v. City of Milwaukee

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedJanuary 23, 2004
Docket03-1329
StatusPublished

This text of Chortek, Steven v. City of Milwaukee (Chortek, Steven v. City of Milwaukee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chortek, Steven v. City of Milwaukee, (7th Cir. 2004).

Opinion

In the United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________

No. 03-1329 STEVEN CHORTEK, GREG HEITZ, JERRY MASON, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v.

CITY OF MILWAUKEE, ARTHUR L. JONES and CITY OF MILWAUKEE POLICE DEPARTMENT, Defendants-Appellees.

____________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. No. 01 C 323—J.P. Stadtmueller, Judge. ____________ ARGUED SEPTEMBER 9, 2003—DECIDED JANUARY 23, 2004 ____________

Before CUDAHY, EASTERBROOK and RIPPLE, Circuit Judges. RIPPLE, Circuit Judge. Fifteen plaintiffs brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the City of Milwaukee (“the City”), the Milwaukee Police Department (“the MPD”), and the police chief. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants had violated their constitutional rights when the plaintiffs were arrested for selling tickets in the vicinity of the Bradley Center, Milwaukee’s sports and entertainment arena. The 2 No. 03-1329

defendants moved for summary judgment. After a hearing, the district court granted the motion and dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims. The plaintiffs appeal. For the reasons set forth in the following opinion, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

I BACKGROUND A. Facts Milwaukee city ordinances prohibit a “direct seller” from “engag[ing] in direct sales on any public way or other public premises,” Milw. Mun. Ord. 95-1, and prohibit any- one from “sell[ing] or offer[ing] to sell” tickets on a public street or sidewalk within five hundred feet of the Bradley Center during the time between two hours before and one hour immediately after any scheduled event, id. 105- 56(2)(b). The penalty for violation of either of these ordi- nances is a fine plus the costs of prosecution. See id. 95-1(12), 105-56(3). The plaintiffs were arrested for allegedly violating these ordinances.

1 1. Bradley Center Initiative In January 2001, the Milwaukee Police Department received complaints from the Bradley Center regarding ticket scalpers who bothered arriving fans. Bradley Center representatives believed that the number of regular ticket scalpers was increasing and found that they were unable to

1 The initiative is also described in this court’s recent opinion in Arlotta v. Bradley Center, No. 03-1584, slip op. (7th Cir. Nov. 18, 2003). No. 03-1329 3

handle the problem on their own. In response, the MPD launched an initiative that called for police to arrest and jail every person observed selling tickets in violation of the ordinances. The initiative was designed as an undercover operation. A plainclothes officer who observed a violation would call a uniformed officer, identify the offender and then confirm that the uniformed officer arrested the ap- propriate individual. Those arrested were taken to a police vehicle behind the Bradley Center until one-half hour after game time. During that time, a representative from the Bradley Center read a prepared “Notice of Violation and Prohibition from Prop- erty” speech. The notice informed those arrested that they were no longer welcome at the Bradley Center and that they would be charged with trespassing if they returned. After the Bradley Center speech, those arrested were taken to the Prisoner Processing Section (“PPS”) at the police adminis- tration building for booking, processing, citations and release. Lieutenant Gary Edman, with the approval of Deputy Chief Leslie Barber, made the decision to arrest summarily all offenders, regardless of whether they were “first-time” offenders or “regular” ticket sellers. Lieutenant Edman later testified that on-the-scene citations had been ineffective in deterring violations of the ordinances: “[P]eople were given tickets, released on the scene, and they continued engaging in scalping tickets. And again, they were involved with harassing the fans coming into the Bradley Center.” R.27, Ex.F at 37-38. Lieutenant Edman explained: “[T]hat’s when we decided to take a more affirmative action as it relates to arresting and detaining people violating the scalping ordinance.” Id. at 38. Chief Arthur Jones testified that summary arrest procedures are appropriate under certain circumstances, depending in part on “the number of people 4 No. 03-1329

we’re going to take into custody, the conduct that they’re engaged in, and the potential for them to return and engage in that same conduct—or I mean not return, never leave.” Id., Ex.E at 20. MPD policy permitted the summary arrest of individuals who committed ordinance violations when, in the discretion of the officer, arrest was necessary. Addition- ally, MPD policy permitted supervisors to implement a summary arrest procedure for a class of ordinance viola- tions if the supervisor deemed summary arrests to be appropriate for that class of violations. The Bradley Center initiative, as designed by Lieutenant Edman and approved by Deputy Chief Barber, fell within the confines of these MPD policies. Because the Bradley Center fell within the jurisdiction of Police District 1, those arrested as part of the Bradley Center initiative were subject to the standard processing routine at PPS. Processing at PPS involved a series of pro- cedures related to booking, searches, paperwork and release. After arriving at PPS, the arrestees waited fifteen minutes to one-half hour to have their name, charges and other information entered into the police blotter. An officer then prepared an order for detention, and the arrestee en- tered the booking room. In the booking room, the arrestee removed outerwear, which was inventoried, and submitted to a thorough search. The arrestee then completed a med- ical-screening form. After the search, police placed the arrestee in a gender-specific holding cell while the paper- work was completed. Although PPS officers performed the search and other booking procedures, the arresting officer had to remain present. The arresting officer also had to fill out and complete an arrest and detention report (the “ADR”). The ADR required the arresting officer to receive a “want” package, which is a computer teletype processed by the Bureau of No. 03-1329 5

Identification. The “want package” lists local, extended state and national outstanding warrants, as well as an indi- vidual’s criminal record. Processing time for the “want” package typically varies and depends upon the number of requests made to the Bureau of Identification at that time. The ADR usually requires about one-half hour to complete, but it can take longer when an officer arrests more than one person at the same time. After the shift commander approved the completed ADR, the arrestee was issued a citation. The citations required “a fairly lengthy supplemental narrative on the back.” Id., Ex.G at 12. Once a PPS sergeant reviewed the paperwork, the arrestee received his belongings and was released. Supervi- sors at PPS monitored the progress of the booking process. The length of the processing time was affected by the total number of people being processed at PPS as well as by the number of people for which the arresting officer was responsible. Although efforts were made to expedite processing, the paperwork was “extensive” and “easily” required six to eight hours to complete. Id., Ex.I at 31-33.

2. Arrests and Booking of the Plaintiffs The fifteen plaintiffs were among the individuals arrested as part of the Bradley Center initiative for selling tickets in violation of the Milwaukee municipal ordinances. The plaintiffs were detained at PPS from approximately three to fourteen and one-half hours while the administrative processing steps were completed. They underwent the procedures previously described. With one exception, the plaintiffs were not allowed to make phone calls during their 6 No. 03-1329

detention.

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