A few weeks ago on InterCHANGE on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10, I listed the qualities I believe the next city of Milwaukee Police Chief needs to have:
1) First and foremost, the next chief must take an all-out aggressive approach to fighting crime. I don’t care if he/she comes from within or outside the department, the next chief must fight crime with a vengeance.
2) The next chief must gain the respect and must support the rank and file, something previous chiefs have failed at.
3) The next chief must have the public relations skills to win the trust of the community so that the public will want to work and cooperate with officers.
Yesterday, in my weekly “Weekends” segment, I included a WTMJ-TV story in which Mayor Tom Barrett is quoted:
“The first thing I’m looking for is someone who is going to be very aggressive and proactive as a police chief. The job of the police chief, first and foremost, is to fight crime and reduce crime,” Barrett said.
The other issue the mayor raised is getting a new police chief who can get out in the community and earn respect, especially to help the department recover from the credibility damage of the Frank Jude Jr. beating.Selecting the next police chief will be the most important decision the mayor makes before next year’s re-election. Barrett must demonstrate, at the very least, a willingness to battle crime. He’s done nothing in this area during his tenure whatsoever.
Milwaukee Police officer Richard Sandoval writes a great column in the June issue of “Badge,” the Milwaukee Police Association’s newspaper. In the piece entitled, “We’ll See What He’s Made of,” Sandoval correctly points out that Barrett will actually select the next police chief, not the supposed “independent” Fire and Police Commission:
I’m all for putting as many officers on the street as money allows, but additional things have to happen as well. You can put a cop on every corner making arrests; but if those arrests aren’t prosecuted, and the convictions don’t result in incarcerations, then it’s all for nothing. This means that the DA’s office, the judges and the Corrections Department have to be on board as well.Sandoval then praised new DA John Chisholm, and continues:
The next step is to address the severe problem of the weak sentences being handed down by many judges. Way too much probation is given for repeat offenders, many of which continuously show they don’t deserve probation by offending again and again. Yet our judges, many of which are extremely liberal, continue to ignore this obvious problem and don’t modify their sentences accordingly. This is one of the main causes of our crime “crisis,” and yes, it is a crisis. We need to speak out at the polls and put tougher judges in place. Many of the weak ones continually run unopposed. This needs to change, or the crime rate will keep rising. When there are no real consequences for wrongdoing, the wrongdoers won’t change.
Last, but certainly not least, the Department of Corrections is a complete joke. I cannot tell you how many time s I have witnessed criminals ion probation or parole supervision, commit additional crimes and remain free. Those that do get locked up take a deal where they only serve a percentage of their remaining time in custody. It’s never usually more than one third of their remaining time.
Milwaukee needs a TOUGH Police Chief. I don’t care what he/she looks like. We’ve done the warm and fuzzy hiring process here for decades, and it hasn’t worked. Who cares what the squeaky wheels say. The usual suspects have been getting greased for years and have only helped to drive up the crime rate. We need a no-nonsense, experienced (preferably first hand policing), and independent Police Chief. We need a strong leader who can lead by example. The majority of the citizens of Milwaukee, you know the ones that are leading busy lives and don’t have time to be marching, protesting, and chronically complaining about what the city owes them, want a tough Chief. They want the homicide rate to plummet, not drop a few numbers. They want to come out of their homes at all hours without fear of being victimized by some thug, yes thug, which should be in jail as opposed to running free terrorizing the neighborhood.
How weak have we become when a strong, proven leader is forced to retire because he used the word thug to refer to the criminal element? Now everyone is using it including the Mayor. The difference is when that former Captain used it, it meant something and wasn’t just tough talk without action. I’m hearing and reading a lot of tough talk, but so far, no real action. I’ve heard at the time of this letter that the former retired captain I referred to won’t even be given an interview for the job. That troubles me because that’s the type of Chief we need, someone that can motivate the troops to ant to 
