The last article I wrote was entitled “The Long Hot Summer is Coming”. I talked about how each summer the crime situation starts to heat up as the weather gets warmer. I recently attended a meeting at the Lubar Center, Maquette University, hosted by its director, former Judge Derek Mosley. I have attended several events at the Lubar Center, including a reckless driving event, which was very enlightening. Judge Mosley is doing an excellent job of involving the public and different officials, regarding issues of public concern. This event had MPD police chief Jeffery Norman and Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball, discussing the upcoming summer, among other issues.
Chief Norman started out by stating MPD, through the fire and police commission, is always recruiting for new officers. In the past they only recruited during certain time frames, but they realize now it should be year-round. There has been a large group of officers retiring in the past few years. In addition, some people are also leaving the profession. Hopefully this new recruiting time frame will allow for more classes and then more officers a little quicker. Sheriff Ball also talked about manpower issues stating the sheriff has a shortage in the jail. Many people in these positions use it as a steppingstone to become an officer or deputy sheriff. They are currently down 37 deputies. During their job fairs some people have been hired on the spot, which has helped somewhat. Chief Norman said there was a good effort with diversity of late with the classes and an effort to recruit 30% more females by 2030. Sheriff Ball continued they are doing a better job also with women and diversity, better than in the past. She added “we want to bring in people from the community to work for us” and “we need them to be part of the solution”.
Chief Norman states sometimes it is hard to plan for certain events like mass shootings. “Citizens are our eyes and ears, see something, say something, it doesn’t seem right, report it”. We are information driven. Sheriff Ball states they are reaching out to the various municipalities to address issues around the county for the summer. They look at what they have done in the past. In addition, they train with different entities, like in the parks. It’s hard for the sheriff to patrol all the parks because there are over 150 parks in the county plus 150 miles of expressway to cover. She attempts to put her resources where they are most needed. Chief Norman states Safe and Sound is helping with the youth. He reports his officers have a variety of training including mental health, HOT (homeless teams), plus sending out teams of officers with social workers to deal with some issues. Sheriff Ball states they also have mental health training, de-escalation techniques, plus getting people to co-operate with you. Finally Chief Norman stated he “needs the right people to be trained and I want people that want to serve”.
So MPD, the sheriff and State Patrol will attempt to keep a handle on crime issues this summer. We can do our part by calling in whenever you see something suspicious. Remember Chief Norman said if it doesn’t seem right to you, call and report it.
Leave a Reply