Click green box to listen to our unedited interview with Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn. He tells Ann-Elise Henzl how he came up the idea for neighborhood-specific policing plans.
In just a couple of sentences, James Harpole can tell you what's troubling the neighborhoods immediately west of Marquette University. Harpole is captain of MPD District Three.
"You see a high amount of loitering, whether it's drug-related loitering, prostitution-related, open intoxication, public drinking. We see the disorderly type behaviors, those visible signs of disorder that tend to make the neighborhood look like it's a bad neighborhood, when in reality it's really a great neighborhood, very vital neighborhood," Harpole says.
Harpole calls that area vital because of its active neighborhood groups, thriving businesses, and beautiful, historic mansions. He says most of the problems are related to other structures.
"The multiple unit apartment buildings which dot that neighborhood and are a haven for that type of activity to occur," Harpole says.
Activities such as illegal drug sales. Dealers have set up shop in apartment buildings, believing their locked lobbies keep police from entering.
When Chief Edward Flynn told captains to be creative in solving such neighborhood problems, Harpole assigned patrol officers to walk their beat, to better connect with the community. Some have gone so far as to give their cell phone numbers to landlords, so they can report problem tenants. In exchange landlords have handed police keys to unlock lobbies in search of illegal activities.
It’s not officers alone who are tending to District Three's troubles. Captain Harpole has also deployed a Community Prosecution Unit. It includes officer James McNichol. He told me about the unit, on a drive through the district in a black unmarked squad car.
"Right now it's a three-person team in addition to one DA, four probation parole agents, and a DNS supervisor -- Department of Neighborhood Services," McNichol said.
McNichol's unit can therefore address a host of problems plaguing the neighborhood. For example, the team can issue tickets to the owners of nuisance properties. McNichol's partner, Officer Misty Torres, says now that officers are familiar with the area, they've found simple solutions to problems, such as drug use near corner stores. Her team found that they were selling items popular with drug dealers.
"When I say drug paraphernalia, I mean things like blunt wrappers that are normally supposed to be sold to smoke tobacco. They're being sold to smoke marijuana. They don't even sell tobacco in their stores. And another thing is the Chore Boy, it's usually used to scrub pots and pans, but that's not really what they're using them for. They're individually selling these items, so we know that they're using them to actually filter the crack pipes that people smoke crack out of," Torres said.
So, Torres says she and her partners suggested the stores remove those items. They did, and the loitering ended. Torres says it's "awesome" to be involved in proactive policing. Occasionally now, residents will venture out and tell officers where crimes are occurring. Her partner, Officer James McNichol, believes the effort will reduce crime in a way previous approaches haven't.
"Traditionally the police department usually deploys resources into the area, makes arrests, and then pulls its resources out. What we're trying to do is actually set up, or deploy, resources into the area, work with landlords, work with property owners, work with businesses to try to take control of their neighborhood, and do away with that entrenched criminal activity that we were talking about earlier," McNichol says.
The person behind the anti-crime plan, Captain Harpole, says he's had good feedback from the community. But he says it's too early to know whether the measures will work, long-term. What he finds challenging is giving extra attention to certain areas, while making sure others are fully staffed. He hasn’t gotten any additional funding to pay for the increased police presence. Chief Edward Flynn says the department will always have a tight budget, so it's up to captains to use staffing effectively.
"This isn't about just crying for resources. People don't want to hear excuses, they want to see results. So let's see what you can get done with what you have," Flynn says.
We'll hear more about how the neighborhood-specific policing approaches are working this month, when Flynn begins sharing progress reports with the community.
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