FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 24, 2017 Contact: Fred Royal (414) 562-1000
The alleged discriminatory practices at the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) brought forth this week by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wisconsin as well as the very public response by leadership at the Milwaukee Police Department only further underscores the need to immediately begin the process of rebuilding trust between all community stakeholders including the residents of Milwaukee, its police department and the individual police officers. For this reason, CC4QP will be making two formal requests. The first is for the U.S. Department of Justice to release to the public, a report first shared with the Milwaukee Police Department last year as well as all subsequent revisions of that report detailing their findings after a thorough review of department practices. In addition, CC4QP will be inviting representatives of the police officers’ union as well as police department leadership to begin the process of creating timeline, by which all parties will work together to begin the collaborative process of implementing problem-oriented policing department wide. As serious crime continues to occur, as police officers upholding their sworn duty to provide equal protection to all continue to put themselves at risk, efforts to rebuild the trust lost between all stakeholders cannot begin soon enough. CC4QP looks forward to working in good faith with the police officers’ union and the Milwaukee Police Department with the ultimate goal of reducing crime, and improving the quality of life for all members of our one community, residents and police officers alike.
About CC4QP:
The Community Coalition for Quality Policing is a coalition whose purpose is to improve police-community relations, reduce crime, and improve the lives of officers and the people they protect and serve by implementing a new model of policing in Milwaukee. Why Change our Policing Approach? In spite of Milwaukee’s data driven approach to policing, relations between community members and police are rife with tension and conflict. These relations cost the city millions of dollars, impede law enforcement efforts, and erode public trust. Recent events only underscore the urgency for change.
According to the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, law enforcement culture should embrace a guardian—rather than a warrior—mindset.
The CC4QP recommends that Milwaukee consider a Problem Oriented Policing approach. Such a shift would increase trust between law enforcement agencies and the people they protect and serve – the foundational principle underlying healthy and productive police-community relations. According to the task force report, “Law enforcement cannot build community trust if it is seen as an occupying force coming in from outside to impose control on the community.”1
What is Problem-Oriented Policing?
Developed at University of Wisconsin-Madison, POP is a proactive policing strategy that involves the identification and analysis of specific crime and disorder problems in order to develop effective response strategies. This strategy is a replacement of traditional, reactive, incident-driven, model of policing.
What are Key Elements of Problem-Oriented Policing?
• Organizational Transformation
• Community Partnership
• Proactive Problem-Solving
What are Key Components to Problem-Oriented Policing?
• Form community partnerships with a wide-range of partners, above and beyond active resident groups
• Increase the department’s accessibility to the residents it serves
• Train personnel at every level of the department in best practices in community policing
• Work towards increasing officer buy-in about the benefits of the community policing philosophy
• Prioritize sustained and meaningful commitment by the department’s leadership to the community policing philosophy
• Integrate community policing activities into performance evaluation systems
• Continue to support systematic and standardized problem solving approaches
The Results:
Reduction in arrests, incarcerations, and crime; and increase in police morale and community quality of life.
Coalition Members:
All Peoples Church, American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin (ACLU) of Wisconsin, Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin, Inc., Felmers O. Chaney Advocacy Board, FORGE Inc., Jewish Community Relations Council of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation (JCRC), Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee, League of United Latin American Citizens of Wisconsin (LULAC), Rt. Rev. Steven Miller, Bishop of Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee, Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People-Milwaukee Branch (NAACP), Pastors United, Social Development Commission (SDC), The Urban League of Milwaukee, Voces de la Frontera, WISDOM, Wisconsin Black Historical Society, Wisconsin Council of Rabbis, YWCA
1. The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, P. 1, http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/taskforce_finalreport.pdf
2. Michael Scott and Herman Goldstein, 1988, Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, http://www.popcenter.org/about/?p=elements
