Unless things change soon, it appears unlikely that the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee Public Schools will meet the Feb. 17 deadline to place at least 25 student resource officers in schools.

Wisconsin Act 12, a law enacted in summer 2023, mandated that police officers be placed in MPS and stipulated that they must first complete 40 hours of training through the National Association of School Resource Officers.

This has yet to happen.

A school resource officer is a law enforcement officer who works full time in collaboration with a school district, according to Act 12.

School resource officers typically carry firearms, according to the National Association of School Resource Officers.

No trainings scheduled

Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, said no Milwaukee Police Department officers have completed or are scheduled to take the weeklong training before Feb. 17. 

“We are never going to recommend that an officer start working in a school without first being put through this training,” Canady said. “We’re talking about the most unique assignment in law enforcement: putting men and women in schools and trusting them to do good work with adolescents in the school environment.”

MPD did not confirm its timeline for training or whether it has enough officers who have completed the training in the past.

Even if there were officers with past training, though, that wouldn’t necessarily be the best or safest option, Canady said.

“We don’t have a timeline on when you should retake the training,” but “there have been massive changes” in the past five years, Canady said. 

Subjects that have been updated or added include training on how adolescent brains develop, forms of bias and how to understand trauma, he said.

A spokesperson for MPD deferred all questions to the City Attorney’s Office, stating the department is “unaware of the status of the agreement.”

Several attempts to speak with the City Attorney’s Office were unsuccessful as were attempts to speak with every member of the Milwaukee Board of School Directors except one. 

Training is the most important concern when it comes to officers in schools for Henry Leonard, Milwaukee Public Schools board director of District 7.

Without this training, Leonard said he fears “a haphazard approach to this and it turns into a disaster.”

Next steps

There are no consequences for having not met the 2024 deadline stipulated by Act 12, according to an analyst with the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, a nonpartisan agency that provides research and legal services to lawmakers.

An additional hearing has been scheduled if the Feb. 17 deadline is not met.

Jeff Fleming, a spokesman for Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, said there have been some productive meetings between the city and MPS.

“The Mayor is optimistic the outstanding issues can be resolved,” he wrote in an email to NNS.

How we got here

In 2016, MPS pulled officers from inside its schools and, four years later, ended a contract with MPD for patrols outside its buildings.

Act 12 required the city to beef up its police force by 2034 and ordered officers back into MPS by Jan. 1, 2024. That deadline came and passed as the school district and city jostled over who would pay the estimated $2 million cost to fund the officers. 

Pressure to bring officers back into schools picked up after a mother of an MPS student who was bullied sued the city and school district for not meeting Act 12 requirements.

Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge David Borowski decided in favor of the mother, ruling that the city of Milwaukee and MPS are responsible for getting officers in schools by Feb. 17.

Impact on current officer shortage

NNS reported in December about hiring challenges within MPD as the number of new recruits wasn’t enough to offset the retirement and departure of other officers or potentially the new requirements of Act 12.

Leon Todd, executive director of the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission, said officers placed at MPS would come from the current ranks of the MPD, which could stretch the department’s already thin ranks.

“One of our top priorities is to grow the size of MPD, and we obviously want to limit the strain,” Todd said. “While these officers would be placed in MPS and wouldn’t be available to take other calls for service, the number of calls are going to be reduced as they won’t need to respond because they will already have officers in schools.”

According to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, there were 40,643 calls to police from MPS-associated addresses from 2013 to 2024, although 7% of those calls were during nighttime hours.

The Fire and Police Commission is typically in charge of hiring all new officers. But because the school resource officers are going to be current officers, Todd said, the police chief or the department’s executive command staff will decide who is sent into schools. 

Canady emphasized the importance of carefully selecting those officers.

“There should be input from the school community,” Canady said. “These should be officers who are veterans, who have been with the department at least three years, so we know something about their character. They should be officers who have shown sincere interest in working with youth.” 

Leaders Igniting Transformation, a youth-led nonprofit in Milwaukee, doesn’t want officers back in schools at all. 

“We are angry and terrified at the thought of placing armed police officers back in Milwaukee classrooms, who have shown time and time again that they are unfit to work with students and have no place in our schools,” a recent statement from the group said.

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

Will police officers be placed in Milwaukee public schools before Feb. 17 deadline? Not likely is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

In many ways, Hamid Abd-Al-Jabbar’s life story involved redemption. A victim of abuse who was exposed to alcohol and drugs while growing up on Milwaukee’s North Side, he made dangerous choices as a teenager. By age 19, he landed in prison after shooting and killing a man during a 1988 drug house robbery. 

But he worked on himself while incarcerated, his wife Desilynn Smith recalled. After he walked out of prison for good, he found a calling as a peace activist. He became a violence interrupter for Milwaukee’s 414 Life program, aiming to prevent gun violence through de-escalation and intervention. 

Abd-Al-Jabbar may have looked healed on the outside, but he never moved past the trauma that shaped much of his life, Smith said. He wouldn’t ask for help.

That’s why Smith still grieves. Her husband died in February 2021 after ingesting a drug mixture that included fentanyl and cocaine. He was 51.

Smith now wears his fingerprint on a charm bracelet as a physical reminder of the man she knew and loved for most of her life.

“He never learned how to cope with things in a healthy way,” said Smith, executive director of Uniting Garden Homes, Inc., an organization that provides mental health and substance use services on Milwaukee’s North Side. “In our communities addiction is frowned upon, so people don’t get the help they need.”

Abd-Al-Jabbar is part of a generation of Milwaukee’s older Black men who are disproportionately dying from drug poisonings and overdoses, even as the opioid epidemic slows for others.

Milwaukee County is among dozens of U.S. counties where drugs are disproportionately killing a generation of Black men, born between 1951 and 1970, an analysis by The Baltimore Banner, The New York Times and Stanford University’s Big Local News found. Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and Wisconsin Watch are collaborating with them and eight other newsrooms to examine this pattern.

Times and Banner reporters initially identified the pattern in Baltimore. They later found the same effect in dozens of counties nationwide.

In Milwaukee, Black men of the generation accounted for 12.5% of all drug deaths between 2018 and 2022. That’s despite making up just 2.3% of the total population. 

The county’s older Black men were lost to drugs at rates 14.2 times higher than all people nationally and 5.5 times higher than all other Milwaukee County residents. 

Six other Wisconsin counties — Brown, Dane, Kenosha, Racine, Rock and Waukesha — ranked among the top 408 nationally in drug deaths during the years analyzed. But Milwaukee was the only one in Wisconsin where this generation of Black men died at such staggering rates.

Milwaukee trend accelerates

The trend in Milwaukee County has only accelerated since 2022, the last year of the Times and Banner analysis, even as the county’s total drug deaths decline, Milwaukee NNS and Wisconsin Watch found.

Drugs killed 74 of the county’s older Black men in 2024. The group made up 17.3% of all drug deaths  — up from 16.2% in 2023 and 14.1% the previous year, medical examiner data shows.

Abd-Al-Jabbar’s story shares similarities with many of those men. Most used cocaine that was cut with stronger fentanyl — the faster-acting drug has fueled the national opioid epidemic. Most had a history of incarceration. 

They lived in a state that imprisons Black men at one of the country’s highest rates. Wisconsin is also home to some of the country’s widest disparities in education, public health, housing and income. Milwaukee, its biggest city, helps drive those trends. 

Marc Levine, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee researcher, concluded in 2020 that “Black Milwaukee is generally worse off today than it was 40 or 50 years ago” when considering dozens of quality of life indicators.

Meanwhile, limited options and lingering stigma prevent a generation of Black men from accessing drug treatment, local experts told Milwaukee NNS and Wisconsin Watch.  

“Black men experience higher rates of community violence, are often untreated for mental health issues and experience greater levels of systemic racism than other groups,” said Lia Knox, a Milwaukee mental wellness consultant. “These all elevate their risk of incarceration, addiction and also death.” 

A network of organizations providing comprehensive treatment offers hope, but these resources fall far short of meeting community needs. 

A silent struggle 

Smith and Abd-Al-Jabbar first started dating at 14, and they had a child together at 16. But as their relationship blossomed, Smith said, Abd-Al-Jabbar silently struggled with what she suspects was an undiagnosed mental health illness linked to childhood trauma.

“A lot of the bad behaviors he had were learned behaviors,” Smith said. 

Abd-Al-Jabbar became suicidal as a teen and began robbing drug dealers. 

When he entered prison, Abd-Al-Jabbar read and wrote at a fifth grade level and coped like a 10-year-old, Smith said. By age 21, she said, he’d already spent two years in solitary confinement. But he had the resolve to change. He began to read voraciously and converted to Islam. 

He was released from prison after 11 years, but returned multiple times before leaving for good in 2018. Smith and Abd-Al-Jabbar married, and he started earning praise for preventing bloodshed as a violence interrupter. 

Still, he struggled under the pressures of his new calling. The work added weight to the trauma he carried into and out of prison. His mental health only worsened, Smith said, and he turned back to drugs as a coping mechanism.   

“The main thing he learned in prison was how to survive,” she said. 

Most men lost were formerly incarcerated

At least half of Milwaukee’s older Black men lost to drugs in 2024 served time in state prison, Milwaukee NNS and Wisconsin Watch found by cross-referencing Department of Corrections and medical examiner records. More than a dozen other men on that list interacted with the criminal justice system in some way. Some served time in jail. For others, full records weren’t available.

Most of the men left prison decades or years before they died. But three died within about a year of their release. A 55-year-old North Side man died just 22 days after release. 

National studies have found high rates of substance use disorders among people who are incarcerated but low rates of treatment. Jails and prisons often fail to meet the demands for such services. 

In Wisconsin, DOC officials and prisoners say drugs are routinely entering prisons, putting prisoners and staff at risk and increasing challenges for people facing addiction. 

Thousands wait for treatment in prison

The DOC as of last December enrolled 815 people in substance abuse treatment programs, but its waitlist for such services was far higher: more than 11,700.   

“You don’t really get the treatment you need in prison,” said Randy Mack, a 66-year-old Black man who served time in Wisconsin’s Columbia, Fox Lake, Green Bay and Kettle Moraine correctional institutions.

Leaving prison can be a particularly vulnerable time for relapse, Mack said. Some men manage to stop using drugs while incarcerated. They think they are safe, only to struggle when they leave. 

“You get back out on the streets and you see the same people and fall into the same traps,” Mack said. 

Knox, the wellness consultant, agrees. After being disconnected from their communities, many men, especially older ones, leave prison feeling isolated and unable to ask for help. They turn to drugs. 

“Now with the opioids, they’re overdosing and dying more often,” she said. 

For those who complete drug treatment in prison, the DOC offers a 12-month medicated-assisted treatment program to reduce the chances of drug overdoses. Those who qualify receive a first injection of the drug naltrexone shortly before their release from prison. They continue to receive monthly injections and therapy for a year. 

Access to the program is uneven across the state. Corrections officials have sought to expand it using settlement money from national opioids litigation. In its latest two-year budget request the department set a goal for hiring more vendors to administer the program. 

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers plans to release his full budget proposal next month. His past proposals have sought millions of dollars for treatment and other rehabilitation programs. The Republican-controlled Legislature has rejected or reduced funding in most cases.

Mack said he received some help while in prison, but it wasn’t intense enough to make a breakthrough. Now he’s getting more holistic treatment from Serenity Inns, a North Side recovery program for men. 

Executive Director Kenneth Ginlack said the organization helps men through up to 20 hours of mental health and substance use treatment each week. 

What’s key, Ginlack said, is that most of his staff, including himself, are in recovery. 

“We understand them not just from a recovery standpoint, but we were able to go back to our own experiences and talk to them about that,” he said. “That’s how we build trust in the community.” 

Fentanyl catches cocaine users unaware

Many of the older men dying were longtime users of stimulants, like crack cocaine, Ginlack said, adding they had “no idea that the stimulants are cut with fentanyl.”

They don’t feel the need to use test strips to check for fentanyl or carry Narcan to reverse the effects of opioid poisoning, he said. 

Last year, 84% of older Black men killed by drugs had cocaine in their system, and 61% had fentanyl, Milwaukee NNS and Wisconsin Watch found. More than half ingested both drugs. 

Months after relapsing, Alfred Carter, 61, decided he was ready to kick his cocaine habit. 

When he showed up to a Milwaukee detox center in October, he was shocked to learn he had fentanyl in his system. 

“What made it so bad is that I hear all the stories about people putting fentanyl in cocaine, but I said not my people,” Carter said. “It puts a healthy fear in my life, because at any time I can overdose — not even knowing that I’m taking it.” 

Awareness is slowly increasing, Ginlack said, as more men in his program share stories about losing loved ones.

Milwaukee’s need outpaces resources 

Expanding on its original outpatient treatment center on West Brown Street, Serenity Inns now also runs a residential treatment facility and a transitional living program and opened a drop-in clinic in January.

Still, those don’t come close to meeting demands for its services. 

“We’re the only treatment center in Milwaukee County that takes people without insurance, so a lot of other centers send people our way,” said Ginlack, who said the county typically runs about 200 beds short of meeting demand.

“My biggest fear is someone calls for that bed and the next day they have a fatal overdose because one wasn’t available.”  

‘I don’t want to lose hope’

Carter and Mack each intend to complete their programs soon. It’s Mack’s fourth time in treatment and his second stint at Serenity Inns. This time, he expects to succeed. He wants to move into Serenity Inns’ apartment building — continuing his recovery and working toward becoming a drug counselor. 

“My thinking pattern has changed,” Mack said. “I’m going to use the tools we learned in treatment and avoid high-risk situations.” 

Carter wants to restore his life to what it was before. He spent years as a carpenter before his life unraveled and he ended up in prison. He knows he can’t take that life back if he returns to drugs.

“I have to be able to say no and not get high. It doesn’t do me any good, and it could kill me,” he said. “I have to associate myself with being clean. I don’t want to lose hope.”

As Smith reflects on her partner’s life and death, she recognizes his journey taught her plenty, too.  “I was hit hard with the reality that I was too embarrassed to ask for help for my husband and best friend,” she said. “I shouldn’t have had that fear.”

Need help for yourself or a loved one?

You can find a comprehensive list of substance abuse treatment services by visiting our resource guide: Where to find substance use resources in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee is losing a generation of Black men to drug crisis is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Attempts to implement a red flag gun control measure in Wisconsin have been rebuffed several times in recent years, but some legislators hope the results of November’s election can change that. 

“When the political dynamic shifts in the Legislature, we have a better shot at not only introducing the (red flag) legislation but giving it a fair public hearing,” said Dora Drake, current state representative and senator-elect. “The people of Wisconsin overwhelmingly support red flag laws.”

Red flag laws, also known as Extreme Risk Protection Orders, allow judges to issue court orders to temporarily restrict access to guns by individuals who could pose a threat to themselves or others.

A red flag resolution was last introduced in Wisconsin in July 2023 but was shelved along with other resolutions in April.

In an interview before the election, Drake said she was hopeful that Democrats, who overwhelmingly support red flag laws, would assume a majority control in the Wisconsin Assembly.

That didn’t happen.

Instead, when the Wisconsin Legislature returns, Republicans will be in charge but have the narrowest majority since 2011, when they took control.

A push for stronger gun control laws

Drake said Wisconsin Republican lawmakers have not done enough when it comes to gun control measures. As a result, she said, people are at risk.

“As Democrats, we just want common sense laws on gun control, and that doesn’t mean we’re trying to take away someone’s Second Amendment rights,” she said. “People are tired of life being unnecessarily taken away.”

Jacob Taylor, communications director for Sen. LaTonya Johnson, said he thinks Gov. Tony Evers will once again include Extreme Risk Protection Orders policy in his biennial budget proposal. If Republicans remove it, he said, it will be reintroduced by Johnson and other legislators.

Red flag “legislation will remain a priority for Senator Johnson and other Democrats committed to reducing gun violence in our state,” Taylor said.

Twenty-one other states, including neighboring states Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota, have already enacted red flag measures.

In March, the U.S. Department of Justice launched the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center, which provides training and technical assistance to law enforcement, judges, social service providers and others on how to implement red flag laws.

Gun laws don’t address core issues, opponents say

Nik Clark, founder and chairman of Wisconsin Carry Inc., a group that advocates for Second Amendment protections, said his organization is against red flag laws for a number of reasons.

Specifically, he doesn’t believe the laws will reduce crime.

“Ninety-five percent of crime is committed by people who are already felons and not even allowed to have a gun,” Clark said.

He said red flag laws and other gun control measures such as universal background checks are attempts by the government to weaken due processes for gun owners, making it easier for their weapons to be unlawfully seized.

He said taking away people’s rights to legally bear arms won’t make communities safer.

“If someone is willing to harm someone else, they don’t care about any laws,” Clark said. “We spend so much time on trying to prevent things, and we need to spend more time on preparedness to address them.”

What do Extreme Risk Protection Order laws do?

Nick Matuszewski is the director of policy and program at WAVE Educational Fund, Wisconsin’s oldest anti-violence advocacy group.

He said Extreme Risk Protection Order laws add a layer of protection for communities by improving the system in which a gun can be removed from people in crisis or are looking to harm themselves or others.

These laws “can be applied in cases where family members and other folks in the community are able to notice that there are dangers,” Matuszewski said. 

He said red flag laws are known to reduce firearm suicides and can help prevent mass shootings.

“Unfortunately, there are too many folks in the state legislature . . . beholden to the gun lobby and are unwilling to enact a gun policy that infringes upon that relationship,” Matuszewski said.

What happens next?

Now that the dust has mostly settled from Election Day and Republicans still control the Assembly and Senate, will anything change?

Drake said lawmakers need to work together to move the needle in the right direction when it comes to preventing gun violence.

“We’ve already experienced so much trauma in our own communities, but there are things we can do to be preventative and intervene before more lives are lost, like implementing red flag laws,” she said. 

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

Will Wisconsin enact a red flag gun control law? The results of the recent election may not help is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Gun violence homicides dropped by nearly 17% in Wisconsin over the first eight months of 2024 compared to the same time period in 2023, according to a report by the Center for American Progress, a nonpartisan policy institute.

The report, released in September, also found that gun violence victimizations, defined as all firearm-related injuries and deaths, dropped in Milwaukee nearly 20% over that same time period.

“I think this decrease is happening for a number of reasons, but one is due to community violence intervention measures that are working,” said Nicholas Matuszewski, executive director of Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort, a statewide grassroots organization.

Local violence intervention efforts include 414 Life, a violence interruption program; and Project Ujima, which provides services to families and children who’ve been impacted by violence.

In addition, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley announced in late October the launch of the national gun violence program “Advance Peace.”

“Advance Peace is an investment in solutions to decreasing gun violence that will help ensure Milwaukee County is a safe and healthy community where families and children can thrive,” Crowley said in a news release announcing the program.

‘Numbers are dropping’

Matuszewski said Milwaukee and the state are national leaders in community violence intervention efforts, citing the work of the City of Milwaukee Office of Community Wellness and Safety and also programs supported statewide through Wisconsin Community Safety Fund grants.

The Wisconsin Community Safety Fund grants provided 10 organizations, including the Alma Center in Milwaukee, with $10.4 million in funding to reduce violence stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“After the pandemic, we had a huge increase in gun ownership and gun purchases which naturally led to more gun violence,” Matuszewski said. “Those numbers are dropping now.”

While many cities cited in the report have seen gun violence return or drop to pre-pandemic levels, Milwaukee is still on pace to experience more shootings this year than in 2019, the year before the pandemic.

According to data from the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission dashboard, there were 442 nonfatal shootings in 2019. Those numbers rose to more than 750 each year from 2020 to 2023. So far this year, the city has experienced 471 shootings, according to information on the dashboard. 

‘Too many shootings’

Travis Hope, a community activist who conducts street outreach on Milwaukee’s South Side, said gun violence still occurs at an alarming rate in the city.

“Too many shootings are still happening and impacting families, communities and especially young people,” Hope said.

According to data from the Milwaukee Police Department, there have been 119 homicides in the city so far this year, compared to 153 during the same time period in 2023 and 192 in 2022.

The number of nonfatal shootings in Milwaukee also is down significantly, with 471 so far this year, compared to 769 at this time in 2023 and 788 in 2022.

Officials address drop in gun violence in Milwaukee

During a news conference discussing the reduction in shootings, among other crimes in the city, Mayor Cavalier Johnson cited the work of the Milwaukee Police Department as one reason for the drop in shootings and other crime this year.

“The work that they do is a big factor, a huge factor, in making Milwaukee safer,” he said.

Johnson said that in addition to law enforcement, intervention efforts have also been key in reducing crime.

“When we prevent a crime through intervention, that makes each and every one of us safer,” he said.

Ashanti Hamilton, director of the Office of Community Safety and Wellness, said that while the decrease in homicides and nonfatal shootings is promising, more work needs to be done.

“Reducing violence is an ongoing process,” he said. “Sustainable change requires addressing the root causes of crime, and this means looking beyond the immediate crime reduction strategies and focusing on broader social, economic and systemic changes that contribute to violence.”

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

Report: Gun violence down across Wisconsin, including Milwaukee is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

The Milwaukee Police Department has a hiring problem.

It can’t find enough recruits to offset retirements and the departure of others. 

Ald. Lamont Westmoreland, who represents the 5th District on the city’s Northwest Side, said residents are feeling the impact.

“Lack of police presence, long wait times on calls, all tied back to the lack of sworn officers that MPD has,” Westmoreland said.

Leon Todd, executive director of the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission, which has primary responsibility in the city for recruiting, testing and hiring new officers, agrees.

“Having more officers and growing the size of MPD will do a host of things to improve public safety,” he said. “Shorter response times, higher clearance rates, more proactive time for officers to do follow-up or investigative work and have greater visibility and engagement opportunities in the community all drive down crime in various ways.”

In 2023, the Milwaukee Fire and Police Academy graduated 101 new police officers, while the Milwaukee Police Department lost 112 officers to retirement, resignation or termination, Westmoreland said.

The pace of recruitment is slow again this year, with departures of officers once again outpacing new police cadets.

The city also risks missing mandates that require beefing up the number of police officers in the city as part of the Act 12 Wisconsin funding law or face millions in fines. Act 12 created avenues to implement local sales taxes as a way to pump more money into the budget and offset spiraling costs.

“I have no issue with the mandate because I do think that we need more officers on the streets,” Westmoreland said. “At the same time, you can’t force people to apply for the job.”

Recruitment challenges and efforts

Westmoreland said Milwaukee is among a number of urban cities that are facing similar hiring challenges, including competition from better-paying suburban police departments with less dangerous work environments.

“We can’t use that as a crutch,” Westmoreland said. “We’ve got to be creative with the approach of recruitment.”

Todd said the Fire and Police Commission has made several adjustments over the past few years to find new police, including hiring two staff members dedicated to recruitment, participating in more community events and job fairs and ramping up marketing efforts to city residents.

“One of the things we’ve tried to do is highlight the stories of officers to let residents know that they are people that care about the community and want to help make it safer,” Todd said.

The commission also now accepts applications year-round instead of shorter windows of a few months. It also changed the testing process to allow for online entrance exams, eliminating additional barriers for applicants. 

Changes since pandemic and civil unrest

Kristine Rodriguez, a deputy for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office who also supports recruitment efforts, said her organization faces similar challenges as MPD, especially since COVID and the George Floyd protests.

“Some of the things that happened during that time still resonate with people,” she said.

She said pay is also an issue, with suburban departments offering hiring bonuses and higher starting pays. They also work fewer hours sometimes, she said, as staffing shortages can result in mandatory overtime and fewer days off.

The current starting salary for recruits at MPD is $47,673.69 and increases to $63,564.75 upon graduation from the academy. Police officers can earn up to $84,743.87 while supervisors and other specialists can earn more.

‘Under a microscope’

Another possible deterrent, Rodriguez said, is the scrutiny officers face nowadays.

“You’re under a microscope 24/7 and that might scare some candidates away,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said that her department places a heavy emphasis on community engagement, cultural competency and mental health training and that its relationship with the community has improved. She said the job itself is extremely fulfilling.

“We know that our heart is in the right place, and that’s what makes the job the most rewarding is doing good for the community,” she said.

Others weigh in

Gregory Barachy, who’s worked for the Milwaukee Fire Department for 29 years, said he thinks that being a police officer is probably less desirable now because of the danger and the lack of accountability for those who commit crimes.

“Crime is insane here, car theft is an epidemic along with the driving that goes with it,” Barachy said. “And then if you happen to arrest someone, they are released without penalty to do it again. Why would someone want to risk their lives for that?”

Barachy, who recently began a position with the Milwaukee Overdose Response Initiative, said the fire department has also experienced a huge reduction in applicants.

“We only had a list of 250 this time, while 20 years ago the list was 10,000,” he said.

Carla Jones, whose partner was mistaken as a suspect and arrested by Brookfield police in November 2023, said she believes fewer people want to become police officers because of a lack of support they receive.

“Some of the main reasons people are joining law enforcement less and less is the lack of morale or real support officers are given,” Jones said. “They’re not doing that because they’re working on a reactive mentality.” 

A call to disinvest

Devin Anderson is membership and campaign director for the African American Roundtable, which launched the Liberate MKE campaign in 2019 to push for divestment in law enforcement and more investment in community programming.

“In order to build a more just Milwaukee, we have to be moving money away from police and policing,” Anderson said. “We’d rather see fully funded libraries.”

Anderson said that residents want more safety and that some view policing as the only way to achieve that. But, he said, creating a safer city requires addressing root causes of crime, which the police department doesn’t do.

“They respond after something happens,” Anderson said. “What people actually want is more investments in their neighborhood.”

Testing a challenge

Two years ago, Eddie Juarez-Perez saw an ad seeking new cadets for the Milwaukee Police Department.

“I decided to answer the call for service,” he said.

Juarez-Perez applied and passed the background check and written and physical exam. But he failed a psychological exam taken by all potential recruits.

“They said I was deemed not suitable for the position,” Juarez-Perez said.

He isn’t giving up.

“I look at being a police officer as being a public servant,” Juarez-Perez said. “I love my city and want to help people have a good quality of life here.”

Rodriguez said she’s been working to recruit more women involved in law enforcement. But some she said are unable to meet the physical requirements needed to join.

“I think that definitely is a barrier for a lot of women who don’t have upper body strength or have time to train,” she said.

MPD hosts fit camps and other support to help potential cadets meet physical and testing requirements to become an officer.

“We’re trying to give people the best opportunity to prepare and succeed,” Todd said.

For more information

The Fire and Police Commission is recruiting for its next academy cohort.

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

Help wanted: Can the Milwaukee Police Department fix its hiring problem? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

For Mariah Johnson, losing her brother to a speeding driver in 2021 is the hardest thing she’s ever endured in her life. 

“The moment my brother died, I felt like my light turned out a little bit,” said Johnson, a 30-year-old mother of two girls. “But, I also think that I went through this so I can make a difference in my city, take my pain of the loss of my brother and turn it into something that helps other people.”  

Johnson’s brother, Jerrold Wellinger, was driving back home with his friend, Davante Gaines, when both were killed by a driver who was racing another car down 60th Street and Hampton Avenue in Milwaukee. 

A popular TikToker, who goes by the name MariahDaWeatherBookie, Johnson is sharing her brother’s story as part of an effort by the city of Milwaukee to prevent reckless driving. 

“Speeding – We Can Live Without It” is a social media billboard and grassroots awareness campaign that aims to increase traffic safety and change driving habits in a city plagued by reckless driving. 

“These are our streets,” Johnson said. “As a community we need to come together and stop (reckless driving). We can all slow down.” 

Campaign resonates with residents

Slowing down, said Jessica Wineberg, director of the Vision Zero Initiative for the city of Milwaukee, is a surefire way to help prevent tragedies such as Johnson’s. 

“You could be that person who hits someone and changes their life forever, or you can just slow down,” she said. 

So far, according to Wineberg, the campaign is resonating with residents, with one video garnering more than 200,000 views on social media. 

Billboards featuring the campaign have also been placed at city intersections that have experienced crash-related injuries. 

Community members share their stories

Milwaukee residents who have been impacted by speeding have been sharing their messages on a social wall created as part of the campaign. 

One story was about Marcus Robinson, a father of four who was hit and killed by a speeding SUV in downtown Milwaukee on Aug. 11. 

“Marcus never made it home to his family and the driver of that (sports utility vehicle) never stopped and still has not been arrested. Now his loved ones are forced to go on without him and without having justice,” read the post. 

Another message was shared by Gloria Shaw, a woman who lost her only son, Xavier Davis, to a hit-and-run in 2022. 

“He was an amazing young man with a very bright future ahead of him in TV video production,” Shaw wrote. “We are still looking for the truck and person who hit and killed my Sonshine.” 

According to Wineberg, traffic deaths and injuries are down compared to last year.  

“Where we have changed the built environment, we are seeing less crashes,” said Wineberg, referring to the wide-scale engineering changes that have been implemented as part of the Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic deaths in the city. 

Jerrold’s story

Raised on Milwaukee’s North Side, Jerrold Wellinger was quite the character, said his sister.  Sometimes, Johnson said, he was the next Tony Hawk and other times a wrestler. 

“We grew up poor with a single mother, but we always rented ‘Wrestlemania,’” she said. “My brother would be flipping off the couch watching it.” 

She described him as strong-willed and not afraid to speak his mind, but like her, he had a silly side. 

“He was the one person in life that understood my personality because we both are goofy,” Johnson said. 

Turning tragedy into action

Johnson said her brother’s death led her to community work, leading chats with kids about reckless driving and conducting other outreach on the issue. She currently works with teens as a program coordinator for the PEAK Initiative.

PEAK is a year-round program that promotes leadership development for kids from first grade through high school. 

Through PEAK, Johnson has been able to help organize a block party and pop-ups, where she urges residents to think about how their driving can impact others. 

“I tell them, it’s not just speeding, it’s driving while on your phone or even just driving 10 miles over the speed limit,” she said. “We all have to be honest with ourselves and realize that we are all part of the problem, but we’re also the solution.” 

Reckless driving prevention information and resources

Learn more about the city of Milwaukee’s Vision Zero plan. 

The “Speeding – We Can Live Without It” website offers resources and information to help prevent reckless driving.

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

Milwaukee campaign aims to curb deadly reckless driving is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Sebastian Florentino, 14, was shot and killed on Jan. 21, 2023.

Alijah S. Golden-Richmond, also 14, was shot and killed this year on Aug. 14.

The boys were the first and last of 40 homicide victims in Milwaukee County 17 years of age or younger since Jan. 1, 2023, according to data provided by Karen Domagalski, operations manager for the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Minors represent 13% of all homicide victims in Milwaukee County since 2023.

(Milwaukee County homicide data differs from city of Milwaukee homicide data. County data includes cases from Milwaukee suburbs such as West Allis and Cudahy and also homicides determined to be justified by the District Attorney’s Office, according to Domagalski.)

“It is a sad statistic to hear how many murders there are of the young people in our city, but it also isn’t surprising to me since Milwaukee doesn’t care about our youth,” said Kevin Sas-Perez, who has worked as a youth pastor and with youths through various organizations over the past 15 years.

“I believe the number one thing youth are looking for is to be loved and to belong, but we’re not doing a good job of meeting that or any other needs for our youth.”

Lennia Fields, a mother who lived and worked in Milwaukee but currently resides in Las Vegas, also believes youths need more support to prevent them from becoming victims of violence.

“Our youth need more positive role models and programs that can shield and protect them from their environment and themselves,” said Fields, who lost her mother to homicide in 2000. “Therapy for their traumas should be provided at the school or neighborhood centers.”

Keeping guns out of the hands of youths

Of the 40 youth homicide victims since 2023, all but three died from gun violence. Many were shot and killed by other teens.

Anneliese Dickman is a senior manager for Brady, an organization that advocates against and provides solutions to gun violence.  She said the guns should never have gotten into a minor’s hands.

“Somewhere along the line there are adults who, mistakenly or purposely, allowed access to a gun, and that is 100% preventable,” Dickman said. “That’s where adults have failed.”

National trends in youth homicides

According to a 2023 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, homicide is the leading cause of death of children in the U.S.

The study, which examined national data on child homicides from 1999 to 2020, found that the age-adjusted homicide rate for children from 0 to 17 years old was 2.8 per 100,000 children in 2020 and that males were disproportionately impacted.

In Milwaukee County, the population was estimated at around 916,000, with between 19.5% and 26% being under the age of 18, according to the U.S. Census Bureau Data.

That would place Milwaukee County’s age-adjusted homicide rate for 2023 at between 10.8 and 14.6 victims per 100,000 children, much higher than the national average; 85% of youth homicide victims in Milwaukee County were males.

What can the community do?

Tracey Anderson, a Milwaukee father of seven, said the community should focus on the parents of the teens who are committing violent crimes.

“The community needs more accountability from the parents who made these wayward juveniles,” Anderson said.

Unfortunately, he said, too many parents lack the skills to raise children or even live responsibly themselves.

“Some parents are even worse than their kids, so obviously we know what direction they’re headed,” Anderson said. 

Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman recently issued a “call to action” to parents and others to become more involved in helping reduce youth violence.

“We need you at the table. Our youth need you at the table. Be a part of the solution,” he said. “What are you doing to help?”

Parents responded with ideas of their own.

“We can do all we want, but there has to be consequences that mean something,” said South Side mother Jamie Berta Gilane.

Investing in our youths

Sas-Perez, who has been involved with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, Milwaukee Recreation and other local programs that serve youths, said that for things to change in Milwaukee, there has to be much more investment in young people, both personally and financially.

“Spend more time talking to and listening to our youth, and when they are telling us what they want and need, we should take it seriously and then put our money into creatively meeting the wants and needs,” Sas-Perez said.

“Having more robust youth programming, increased investment in our schools and better pay for those working with youth is the start of helping decrease the number of youth murdered.”

Youth violence prevention resources in Milwaukee

Project Ujima

Phone: 414-266-2557

What it does: Project Ujima is a community program that helps victims of violence and provides services at Children’s Wisconsin, your home and the community.

414 LIFE MKE

Phone: 414-439-5525

What it does: 414 Life is a violence interruption team based in Milwaukee. Its goals are to stop the spread of gun violence through de-escalation and mediation of conflicts and educating the public to change the norms around gun violence.

Credible Messenger Program

Phone: 414-257-7721

What it does: The goal of Credible Messenger’s transformative mentoring is to provide prevention and intervention with youth, keeping them from both entering the youth justice system and having deeper involvement with the youth justice system.

Office of Community Wellness and Safety

Phone: 414-286-5468

What it does: The office supports various violence prevention initiatives in the city of Milwaukee.

Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee

Phone: 414-267-8100

Address: 1558 N. 6th St. 

What it does: The organization serves thousands of youths daily in Milwaukee through a variety of academic and recreational programming.

Kids Matter Inc. 

Phone: 414-344-1220

Address: 1850 N. MLK Jr Drive #202

What it does: The organization helps abused and neglected children heal and thrive while also providing support to foster and kinship children to help prevent further child abuse. 

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

Gun violence takes deadly toll on Milwaukee County youths is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

In response to what he described as increased brazenness among teens using firearms to steal property and commit other violent crimes, Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman has called on parents and others in the community to intervene.

“We need you at the table. Our youth need you at the table. Be a part of the solution,” he said. “What are you doing to help?”

Some in the community are responding to Norman’s calls to action with their own. 

Northwest Side resident Patricia Wilson said anyone who witnesses a crime, involving a youth or someone else, should step up.

But, she said, when you call the police, the department doesn’t do much. She wants more accountability.

“If a teacher has a majority of their students fail each year, the teacher is reprimanded and placed on a performance improvement plan, but the police department has hundreds of unsolved homicides every year, and their performance is never questioned,” Wilson said. 

Kiomara Avila said parents are being blamed for issues that result from raising children in an unsafe environment. She said the solution lies with safer neighborhoods, better schools and more programming for youths.

“Stop washing your hands by saying it’s an ‘at home’ problem,” Avila said.

Catherine Lyons, a retired grandmother, believes that many of the issues that people are facing with youths begin at home.

“If there are no rules at home, what makes anyone think they’ll adhere to rules outside of the home?” Lyons asked.

Consequences for youths

Jamie Berta Gilane, who was carjacked and thrown from her car by a teenager in front of her daughter in 2022, said police and prosecutors don’t do enough to discourage young people from committing crimes.

The youth who stole her car eventually crashed her vehicle into a tree, she said. He was charged as a juvenile.

“We can do all we want, but there has to be consequences that mean something,” Gilane said.

Norman addressed the criminal justice system in his statement, saying that once an arrest is made and evidence is presented, the consequences are out of the police department’s hands.

“From our end, these consequences are not changing our youth’s behavior,” he said. “The kids we are arresting are reoffending. The community must intervene.”

Investing in young people

Amanda Avalos is co-executive director of Leaders Igniting Transformation, or LIT, which organizes young people behind issues that relate to social, racial and economic justice.

She said arresting and locking people up doesn’t make the community safer. 

“Research shows that the safest communities are those where people have access to quality education, affordable housing and health care, economic opportunity, and shared public spaces,” Avalos said.

“In addition to asking what individuals can do to address these problems, Chief Norman should ask our elected officials to invest in what all young people in Milwaukee need to thrive in our society.”

‘Be present’

Michele Bria, chief executive officer for Journey House, a South Side organization that provides arts, academics, athletics and workforce development opportunities for youths and families, said she appreciated Norman’s call to action and openness to collaboration.

She wants residents and others to become more involved with local youths.

“Be present for our youth and listen to their aspirations and dreams. Help guide our young people to be all that they can be,” Bria said.

Bridget Whitaker, executive director of Safe & Sound, an organization that works with law enforcement, residents and others to increase safety, said she felt sincerity in Norman’s plea for help.

She wants the community to move away from an “it’s not my problem” mindset.

“I am a firm believer that the youth that end up in news headlines about a stolen vehicle or violent situation is a child that was left behind – a child that was not provided with the love and affection to believe that they mattered,” Whitaker said.

Whitaker said her organization is working to reduce youth violence using various strategies, including a six-week series that engages young people on issues such as gun, family and dating violence.

“MPD cannot end violence alone, and (Chief Norman’s statement) highlights the urgent need for more people to get involved and inquire about how we can best support,” she said. 

James Lair, a Milwaukee father of four, agreed.

“Cops can’t do it all,” he said. “Teachers, families, parents, the whole neighborhood need to help raise these kids.”

He said when he grew up in the ’80s and ’90s, neighborhoods were safer because everyone looked out for young people.

“Now everyone feels like ‘it’s not my problem,’ until something happens to them or their family,” he said.

A version of this story was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service.

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

Milwaukee weighs in on how to decrease youth violence is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

As drug overdose deaths continue to scourge the community, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley has announced a series of new projects aimed at stemming the tide of death and destruction caused by opioid addiction. 

“My administration is proposing upstream investments to help address racial and health disparities and ensure residents can access the resources and support they need – because lives depend on it,” Crowley said.

The projects, seven in total, are funded by $8.5 million from the $102 million in opioid settlement funds and will focus on opioid use disorder abatement, prevention and recovery programs for the next three years, Crowley said.

The settlement came after Wisconsin and other states filed a federal lawsuit against opioid manufacturers accused of fueling the epidemic. 

The funds will be administered by Milwaukee County’s Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Emergency Management and the Department of Administrative Services. 

Drug overdose deaths continue at slower pace

Although the projects announced by Crowley are focused on combating the opioid epidemic, local efforts to reduce drug overdose deaths appear to be working. 

Through July 16, there were 204 confirmed drug overdose deaths in Milwaukee County, with 89 additional cases pending toxicology reports, according to data provided by Karen Domagalski, operations manager for the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office. Through the same time period in 2023, there were 354 drug overdose deaths in Milwaukee County. 

Although the pace of drug overdose deaths has slowed in the county, disparities in deaths continue to be particularly acute among African Americans, data shows. 

Forty-three percent of drug overdose victims in Milwaukee County this year have been African American. African Americans have the highest rate of drug overdose deaths based on their population in the county (27%). Forty-six percent of victims this year were white; 20% were Hispanic; and two victims were Native American. Sixty-three percent of victims were men and 37% were women. 

Projects proposed by Crowley

One of the projects proposed by Crowley is the creation of a new public health campaign that targets the issue of opioid overdoses and the use of adulterants in Black and Brown communities.

Adulterants are substances often added to other drugs such as opioids and a contributing factor in many overdose deaths.  

Another project proposed by Crowley is to create a pilot “overdose prediction model.” 

The model would help individuals at risk for an overdose, help assess community needs and support integration of other data collected by the county. 

Another plan is to integrate treatment access during and after incarceration. High-risk individuals would be identified and referred by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office, the Community Reintegration Center and the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office. 

Ken Ginlack, executive director and CEO of Serenity Inns, a drug treatment facility for men located at 2825 W. Brown St., said the proposed projects show a strong commitment to marginalized communities. 

“By ensuring that treatment and resources are available to all individuals, regardless of their background or financial situation, Milwaukee County is taking a crucial step towards equity in health care,” Ginlack said. “These efforts will save lives and provide individuals with the tools they need to achieve long-term recovery and stability.” 

The other projects include grief outreach and grief-informed care, expanded paramedic coverage, adding 20 harm-reduction beds to a county-run center that serves the homeless and an overall enhancement and alignment of treatment services. 

Additional reaction to projects

Michelle Jaskulski, who serves on the advisory board for the Addiction Policy Forum and is an executive assistant for 4th Dimension Sobriety, a sober living facility, said she sees value in each of the projects. 

However, she said, she would have liked to see an expansion of outreach services for families of individuals who are actively using drugs. 

“This population has virtually no resources or support,” she said. 

She also wonders whether funds used for the awareness campaign and data collection would be better used to increase treatment services. 

“I recognize the necessity but it’s hard when people are in immediate need and aren’t able to access care while funds are used for these types of projects,” Jaskulski said. 

Rafael Mercado, founder of Team HAVOC, a group that distributes Narcan and other resources in drug overdose hotspots, said he also would like to see more investment in treatment facilities. 

“We need more inner city treatment centers that provide both detox services as well as in-patient living centers with 24/7 access,” he said.

The projects were adopted July 31 by the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors.

Where to get help in Milwaukee

First Step Community Recovery Center, 2835 N. 32nd St., 414-930-4529.

Gateway to Change, 2319 W. Capitol Drive, 414-442-2033.

10th Street Comprehensive Treatment Center, 4800 S. 10th St., 855-801-3867.

Rogers Behavioral Health, 414-865-2500.

Community Access to Recovery Services, or CARS: 1220 W. Vliet St., 414-289-6085.

Meta House, 2625 N. Weil St., 414-962-1200.

Community Medical Services, 2814 S. 108th St., 414-885-3525.

United Community Center, 1028 S. 9th St., 414-384-3100. 

Visit Addictions.com’s Milwaukee resource page to find more alcohol and drug rehab centers in Milwaukee that feature free treatment and detox centers.

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

Milwaukee County unveils new projects to stem tide of opioid overdose deaths is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Angelique Sharpe now sadly knows firsthand how frequently police interactions can turn deadly for Black men. 

Her brother, Samuel Sharpe Jr., was shot and killed on North 14th and West Vliet streets in Milwaukee on July 16 by Columbus, Ohio, police officers who were in the city to work at the Republican National Convention.

Police treat Black men “like their lives are just disposable,” she said. “He was ambushed from behind.”

According to the Milwaukee Police Department, five officers opened fire on Sharpe Jr. after he ignored orders to drop two knives he was carrying and lunged toward another man. 

“Someone’s life was in danger,” said Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman during a news conference. “These officers, who were not from this area, took it upon themselves to act and save someone’s life today.”

Angelique Sharpe, a business and economic development specialist in Milwaukee, said it was actually her brother’s life that was in danger. 

“I talked to Sam on Saturday. This guy had threatened to kill my brother, his dog and burn up his tent,” said Angelique Sharpe, adding that her brother suffered from advanced multiple sclerosis, which affected his balance and also his hearing. “They didn’t even know he was trying to defend himself.” 

The other individual involved in the altercation has not been publicly identified. 

Additional reaction

On Thursday afternoon, Jacob Gatlin II, a community activist and former neighbor of Sharpe Jr., recorded cell phone video as he approached the scene of the shooting.

“When you give someone commands from hundreds of yards away, how are they supposed to hear anything, especially when they’re trying to defend themselves from someone else,” Gatlin said. “It’s a busy street. It’s crowded. It’s loud. How are they supposed to hear?”

Earlier in the week, dozens of protesters marched to the site of the shooting, chanting “Justice for Samuel Sharpe.”

“We’re here today for a community vigil to honor Samuel Sharpe Jr.,” said Alan Chavoya, a member of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Oppression, which organized the rally. “We’re here with the people of Milwaukee, the long list we have, of victims of police crimes.” 

Fears over out-of-town police warranted, advocates say

The Coalition to March on the RNC 2024, a group that has clashed with officials over protest routes during the RNC, issued a statement condemning Sharpe Jr.’s shooting. 

“For years, the coalition has warned city officials of the dangers of bringing 4,500 police officers from outside of our state,” read a statement by the coalition. “The incident today is something that was predicted by Black and Brown communities since the RNC was announced for Milwaukee. It is painful to say that these predictions came true.” 

Angelique Sharpe said unfamiliarity with the community is the main problem when you bring in police from outside of the area. 

“These people have no attachment so it’s easier for them to have no regard for lives,” she said. “You didn’t know these people; you don’t know our community.” 

Gatlin said the city chose to remove officers who patrol the area and knew Samuel Sharpe Jr. and bring in outsiders. 

“These officers were on mobile bikes patrolling in a city they know nothing about,” Gatlin said. “You want to gun down people that you don’t even know.” 

A statement issued by the Milwaukee Police Department said that the Columbus police were not responding to calls in the area of the shooting, nearly a mile outside of the RNC security zone. 

“At the time of the incident, the CPD (Columbus Police Department) bicycle unit officers were briefing and debriefing the day’s events,” read part of the statement. 

The release added that officers from Columbus responded to demonstrations on North 14th and West Vliet streets the day before the shooting. 

Officers’ actions defended

Ald. Scott Spiker, who represents the 13th Aldermanic District on the South Side, also issued a statement. He said that while Sharpe Jr.’s death is a tragedy, he defends the actions of the officers and disagrees with the response by some in the community. 

“Some have said that ‘this is what happens when’ you have out-of-town officers policing a city with which they are not familiar,” Spiker stated. “Any officers on the scene responding to a threat of deadly force mere yards away would have responded similarly to protect the public, it could be said, and done so justly.”

The ACLU of Wisconsin has filed open records requests related to the conduct of out-of-state law enforcement agencies in Milwaukee to work at the RNC.  

What happens now?

Although she said she’s devastated and angry, Angelique Sharpe said she also is worried about her mother as she helps to prepare for her brother’s final arrangements.

“He was a true mama’s boy,” she said. 

Sharpe Jr. had lived with his mother in a totally renovated basement until 10 months ago, Angelique Sharpe said. But he wanted to live on the streets where he could help others. 

“He felt like it was his duty to make sure that all the shelterless people knew that Jehovah had not forgotten about them and let them know about God’s promises,” she said. 

Along with his dog, Ices, Sharpe Jr. lived in a tent city with others near the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, 1531 W. Vliet St. 

His family cleaned out his tent Friday, allowing his friends to look through and find whatever they wanted to take. 

Meanwhile, they are still waiting to share what they know with the Greenfield Police Department, which is overseeing the investigation of Sharpe Jr.’s death. 

“They (police) have not contacted us,” Angelique Sharpe said. “The only time they came over was to show us a picture of a ventilator on his face.” 

A version of this story was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, a nonprofit news organization that covers Milwaukee’s diverse neighborhoods.

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

Family of man killed by officers during RNC in Milwaukee seeks answers is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Milwaukee resident Maria Beltran relied on the Social Development Commission for years for home improvements, including the installation of new furnaces and weatherization.

The Social Development Commission, or SDC, is a quasi-governmental community action agency responsible for providing a variety of services to low-income residents in Milwaukee County.

Among those services are weatherization and lead abatement. Those and other services have remained in limbo since the SDC’s weatherization program was suspended in March by the Wisconsin Department of Administration for misallocation of funds and the organization as a whole suspended operations in late April. 

Beltran’s house recently was being lead-abated through the SDC’s Lead Safe Homes Program. That program was halted by its funder, according to William Sulton, the SDC’s attorney. The program helped homeowners create lead-safe housing units by identifying hazards and eliminating them.

The lead abatement work at Beltran’s home was supposed to be completed by one of SDC’s subcontractors, Weatherization Services LLC. However, after about a year and a half, the work is still not completed. 

What happens now that SDC is closed?

Although the company did conduct some work on the home, there are a number of items still on a punch list, which meant they were incomplete when SDC’s Lead Safe Homes Program was shut down, according to an email exchange among Beltran, members of SDC and Weatherization Services LLC.

“A lot of people were waiting to get their homes done, and now there is no one to monitor getting these jobs complete,” said Beltran, whose two children have tested positive for lead in their blood.

According to Beltran, no one has contacted her regarding her case. 

Sulton said the SDC no longer oversees those projects.

Beltran fears that the lead abatement process, which has dragged on since she first applied to the program in 2019, is going to be a lot harder to access.

Vendors also unpaid

In addition to complaints from residents who are waiting for their weatherization and lead abatement projects to be completed, some vendors also said that they have not been paid by SDC. 

Jon Yakish, owner of Micro Analytical, Inc., said his company hasn’t been paid for asbestos testing work completed for the SDC in recent months. 

“We were getting paid monthly,” said Yakish, adding that his company has worked with SDC since about 2019. “There’s still some outstanding invoices.” 

Yakish said he has received some communications, one from SDC, and another that he believes was from those working on the state audit, but no concrete answers. 

“There’s obviously a strong desire to get us paid, if there’s money left,” he said. “We’ll just sit tight and see what they say.”

Sulton said the SDC board has made a claim against its own insurance company to try to cover some of the vendor payments and is also in communications with the state to find solutions.

“The bottom line is funds were misallocated from the weatherization program that should have been used to pay vendors but are no longer available,” he said.

Sulton said the SDC recognizes the significant problem the nonpayment has caused vendors, particularly small business owners.

“We are trying to work out a solution. They certainly should expect payment, and the board is working on that,” he said. 

Issues arise before SDC’s closing

Ofelia Mondragon, the former Healthy Home lead abatement manager for SDC, noted that there were concerns over payments from SDC in the months before the shutdown. 

“I’ve worked for SDC for almost 14 years, and I almost never saw overdue checks or balances to any contractor until the last months of working there,” Mondragon said. “People were calling and asking where money was for work they did and I didn’t have an answer.”

Some contractors said they invested tens of thousands of dollars into SDC work and are worried they may never see that money, according to Mondragon. 

“It’s heartbreaking. I was the one recruiting the contractors. I told them they were going to get paid,” Mondragon said.

“Now we know the problem was bigger than we thought,” she said. 

‘I hope they find the money’

Lead abatement cases are now being handled by the Milwaukee Health Department.

Caroline Reinwald, public information officer for the health department, said in an email to NNS: “MHD is reaching out on individual cases.”

Tatyana Warrick, communications director for the Wisconsin Department of Administration, which is overseeing the audit of SDC, said any unfinished weatherization work was transferred to two other companies for completion: La Casa De Esperanza and Partners for Community Development. 

Despite her difficulties, Beltran stressed the importance of the SDC in Milwaukee. “I hope they find the money. I hope they do come back,” she said. 

What do you want to know?

Do you have questions you want answered about the SDC? Thoughts you want to share? We are here for you. Let us know what’s on your mind by emailing us or commenting. You can also text us through News414, and our reporters will work hard to get the answers you deserve.

A version of this story was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, a nonprofit news organization that covers Milwaukee’s diverse neighborhoods.

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

‘It’s heartbreaking’: Milwaukee residents, vendors left in limbo after Social Development Commission’s shutdown is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Nearly 10 years after her son, Dontre Hamilton, was shot and killed by a Milwaukee Police Department officer, Maria Hamilton is still fighting for change.

“The system failed me and my family, and I still want justice,” she said. “It wasn’t about Dontre being mentally ill, it was about a system created to do exactly what it did.”  

What the system did, she said, was fail to protect her son and hold people accountable for his death. 

Dontre Hamilton, who was 31 and suffered from schizophrenia, was approached by officers while sleeping at Red Arrow Park in downtown Milwaukee on April 30, 2014.

A confrontation ensued before he was shot 14 times and killed by officer Christopher Manney. Manney was fired for violating police department policy for patting down Dontre without cause but was never charged in his death. 

Hamilton said she’s still upset that Manney was not prosecuted, and she’s disappointed that a new policy mandating the release of police body cam footage within 48 hours is being held up in the courts. She said it’s another example of the police department lacking transparency. 

“We need for (police) to start giving the community information, start recording data and come out and tell the people: ‘Hey, we’ve tackled this; we’ve changed this; we’re working on this,’” she said.

Other policies have improved since killing, family says

Still, Hamilton said, there have been some wins since her son’s death. 

Officers who are assigned body cameras must wear them at all times on duty. Use-of-force policies have been updated, and crisis intervention training is mandatory for officers. The city now deploys Crisis Assessment Response Teams, which pairs officers and clinicians, to mental health calls.

In a statement to NNS, the Milwaukee Police Department said: “The Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) has worked tirelessly to rebuild our community’s trust and have made great strides. MPD can proudly claim its Use of Force policy is consistent with the nationally recognized ‘8 Can’t Wait’ campaign.  In addition, all our officers are trained in Crisis Intervention, De-Escalation Training and in Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement.”    

“MPD believes that no one should cause harm to our community, and that includes our own.  We hold our members to the highest professional standards and work hard to instill a culture of professionalism and community engagement.”

Nate Hamilton, Dontre Hamilton’s older brother, said he’s happy with those changes, adding the leadership transition at MPD from Alfonso Morales to current Chief Jeffrey Norman has also been positive.

“Where we are now is probably better than before Dontre died,” said Hamilton, who chairs the Community Collaborative Commission, or CCC.

The CCC has worked with the MPD to develop standards for community-oriented policing and to improve law enforcement practices.

“We want to create a different outlook on how police engage with the community,” he said.

‘There’s still some strain’

When asked if he felt that police and community relations have improved since his brother’s death, he said it depends on the situation.

“There’s still some strain,” he said. “I personally have had some positive police interactions over the past 10 years.” 

Markasa Tucker-Harris, a community activist, started organizing by working with the Hamilton family in 2014. She said nothing has changed since Dontre Hamilton’s death, because there has been no divestment from MPD. 

“Policing as a system is violent; the roots historically and systemically are violent and continue to be,” said Tucker-Harris, executive director of the African American Roundtable, or AART. “People don’t need to be murdered to experience harm, which they are.” 

Milwaukee County Board Supervisor Sequanna Taylor, who sponsored the effort to install a memorial bench and plaque in Hamilton’s memory at Red Arrow Park in 2022, said she believes policy changes have improved policing but have not created the level of change that people need.

“In some ways, it may be a smaller snail walk than some want to see,” Taylor said. “We would all like to see more.” 

Promoting peace on Dontre Day

With the 10th anniversary of her son’s death on April 30, Maria Hamilton and her supporters want to use Dontre Day as a time to honor her son’s memory and to promote peace and unity in Milwaukee.

Each year, community members come together at Red Arrow Park to celebrate the life of Dontre Hamilton. 

This year’s activities include a rescreening of “The Blood is at the Doorstep,” a documentary highlighting the Hamilton family’s fight for justice, at the Oriental Theatre, 2230 N. Farwell Ave., at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 26. 

A community event will be held at Red Arrow Park from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 27. The family also is hosting a fundraiser dinner from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, April 28 at Trendsetters, 6633 W. Mill Road.

Maria Hamilton said mothers from around the world who have lost children to violence will be in Milwaukee this weekend to support each other.

She said her work with Mothers for Justice United, a group she founded to provide therapy and other support for women, “Dontre Day,” and other advocacy efforts are part of her healing process. But, most important, they support the change she wants to see.

“We have to keep fighting for policy change to be the city we know we can be instead of being known as the worst place to raise a Black child,” Hamilton said. “It’s a daily uphill battle but I’m in it for the long haul.” 

A version of this story was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, a nonprofit news organization that covers Milwaukee’s diverse neighborhoods.

10 years after his death, Dontre Hamilton’s family seeks police reforms in Milwaukee is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.