This is the holiday season, and many people would like to see those less fortunate have a great season also. The Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) has many food and toy drives at the seven district police stations during this time. About a week before Christmas, I met Shana Dorsey who is a graphic designer/media producer for MPD. She and her crew were out delivering toys to families. She works on the seventh floor of the Police Administration Building where the Chief and his Command Staff are located. Shana advised me the toys she was currently giving out were purchased by the Chief, Assistant Chief, several Inspectors, plus most of the personnel that works on that floor.
They had a tree and most of the kids had a card on the tree with the gift the child wanted for Christmas. Everyone pulled a card and got that gift for the child. Most kids got that gift or something close to it. There were about twelve families and 60 to 70 children. Many wanted toys but some wanted other items like socks and spray cologne.
Shana also does a lot of other volunteer projects when not at work. Before Covid she would meet children at the library and tutor them on a variety of subjects twice a week. After Covid started to spread she did video chat and zoom to help the children. She works with anyone who needs help and that includes adults also. In addition, she has held workshops for women to show the how to do hair and make-up. She has put out eight adult coloring books on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. This helps the adults to calm down and concentrate on issues in their lives. She does media posts and puts out information on the website 414 Milwaukee Mil Town. This site has a variety of information regarding the city on it. One interesting thing on this site is old cold case homicides that are listed which hopefully can help solve some of these cases.
We usually think about the police officers when we talk about community policing. But this shows that the civilians on the department are also particularly important when it comes to the mission of putting trust back into the department. Let us remember that many civilians work for MPD including dispatchers, telecommunicators, secretaries, police aides, and garage personnel. It would be impossible to properly run the department without these personnel.