Theenvelope looked like any other — slightly wrinkled, a handwritten addressscrawled across the front. ButJared Cain said he felt violated after looking inside. He saw a ticket forbreaking the curfew Milwaukee adopted to regulate protests after MinneapolisPolice Officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, bykneeling on his neck. Caindidn’t interact with Milwaukee police during local protests early morning onJune 1, but police cited a video he streamed publicly as proof that he was outpast 9 p.m. The listed penalty: $691. Drivinghome after saying goodbye to a cousin leaving for the U.S. Army, Cain recallsnoticing blocked-off streets, a car on fire and people everywhere. The media entrepreneur pressed record on his phone camera. Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing! Officersinside Milwaukee’s Fusion Center,part of a nationwide network where law enforcement agencies look for criminaland terrorist activity, later spotted Cain’s video on Facebook and issued thecitation. Within a week, Cain said FBI agents arrived at his door to ask aboutany involvement with antifa, a loosely organized movement thatmilitantly opposes right-wing ideology. “Ididn’t even know what antifa was,” Cain said. “I was totally baffled, because Ithought that they came about the ticket — because the ticket wasunlawful.” TheMilwaukee Police Department cited at least 170 people for curfew-relatedviolations between May 30 and June 2, 2020, a Wisconsin Watch analysis showed.Police later voided citations against 86 people, citing “procedural errors” inthe citations — in many cases after taking them into custody. At least sixreceived tickets by mail based on online footage. Blackresidents make up about 39% of Milwaukee’s population, but they accounted for64% of the 162 cited where race was recorded, followed by white (26%), Hispanic(9%) and Asian American (1%) recipients. FBIagents visited multiple people cited for curfew violations, according toattorneys representing some who challenged the infractions. Laterin the summer and fall, two other Wisconsin cities — Kenosha and Wauwatosa— enforced curfews during protests of separate police shootings of Blackmen. Cityofficials call curfews a tool for maintaining order when vandalism and violencemix with otherwise peaceful protests. But critics say the curfews did more tochill speech. Officialsin Kenosha and Wauwatosa are now defending their curfew enforcement in federalcourt, and the issue returned to the national spotlight this month as lawenforcement in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center aggressively responded to protests following the fatalpolice shooting of Daunte Wright on April 11 — days before a jury convicted Chauvin of murdering Floyd. NicoleMuller, an attorney who represented dozens who received citations, saidMilwaukee residents remain “traumatized” by last year’s curfew enforcement. Askedwhether Milwaukee police would recalibrate curfew enforcement, Jeff Fleming, aspokesperson for Mayor Tom Barrett, said, “Previously, and in futuresituations, establishing a curfew is not taken lightly.” Inan email, a Milwaukee Police Department spokesperson said the department is“constantly reviewing our past practices, as well as other jurisdictions’ bestpractices, to improve our services.” Theemail confirmed one change following last year’s protests: Police will stopissuing curfew citations by mail. Curfews trigger lawsuits Policeare more likely to keep protest crowds peaceful by targeting people whoendanger the public, while protecting the speech rights of others, decades of research shows. But criminologists are lesscertain about curfews. EdwardMaguire, an Arizona State University professor, suspects they help quell riots.But he remains unfamiliar with research on the issue, he said, echoing colleagues who say such questionsremain largely unexplored. Curfewuse should be limited to riot control, focusing on people committing violenceor property damage, Maguire recommended. “Ifthey are used to quell non-riotous protests, then they run the risk of makingpeople angrier,” he said. “They also run the risk of violating people’s civilrights, which could lead to costly lawsuits.” Alawsuit in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee claims that Kenosha law enforcementexclusively arrested about 150 racial justice protesters for violating thecounty’s curfew — over nine nights last August and September — while ignoringarmed vigilantes and counterprotesters who also walked the streets after a police officer shot Jacob Blake. Lawenforcement made 252 total arrests during that period, and Kenosha saw more than $50 million in property damage.