The Fire and Police Commission has finally picked a permanent Police Chief. Jeffery Norman was unanimously chosen for a four-year term. Norman is taking over at an extremely critical time for the department and the city of Milwaukee. Many citizens cite the crime rate as being particularly important in how they feel about life in general. Shootings and homicides are starting to be routine and daily. Armed robberies and car jackings are on the uptick. Car thefts are rising and out of control with younger and younger juveniles being involved. Pedestrian deaths are also rising with some coming from reckless driving. Many of these drivers are speeding, plus running stop signs and red lights.
Chief Norman has a very tough task ahead of him and he will need the help of the public. Norman states he looks at relationships and he hope to build trust within the various communities. Right now, he states he has good trust within some areas, littles less trust in some and not at all in others. He realizes there is a lot of work to gain the trust of many people. People do not want to interact and give you information if they do not trust you. The officers will have to buy in to community policing and in brace it if the chief wants this to work. The front-line supervisors, sergeants, will be the key to this working.
This can be the start of improvement in the city which is very much needed. Citizens and police must come together and learn to trust each other. There will be much work on both sides. I have two quick suggestions on car thefts and pedestrian deaths. We used to use bait cars back when I was an officer. The suspects would get in a car we set up to steal. Once inside and started, the car would cut off and the doors would lock atomically. Many suspects were caught like this. On the pedestrian front we had people attempt to cross streets to see if cars would yield right away. If not, they would receive a citation. This is just some of the things that I believe will help.
This will not be easy, not at all. It did not happen overnight so it will take time to get a handle on all these situations. But eventually it will be worth the fight to take our city back. Let us all do our part.