Hey Milwaukee Bad Guys, There’s A New Maestro in Town!
When Edward Flynn was appointed Milwaukee’s new police chief, the community engaged in a group swoon. Flynn hit all the right notes as he met with the various key constituencies in town.
Politicians, law enforcement officials, community activists and the business community all applauded the choice and Mayor Tom Barrett was praised for using the heft of his office to twist arms and influence this critical appointment (which, of course, was made by the Fire and Police Commission and not by the Mayor).
Chief Flynn is closely associated with the philosophy of community policing and everyone seems to agree that this is a wonderful thing. But community policing is one of those generic terms, like democracy, good schools and market economies, which appeal to most everyone but are not always so easy to put into action.
While it’s way too early to issue a judgment on the chief’s performance, you have to say that so far, so good.
Second of all, he has expanded the presence of beat cops in busy neighborhoods. I’ve seen more police walking around in the last few weeks than I have in years. This is a key component of community policing. Beat cops walking around neighborhoods obviously isn’t a new idea; but it happens be incredibly effective. Who’d have thought?
Yesterday, Chief Flynn held a news conference at the District 5 headquarters to call attention to an early, if modest, success. Police conducted a crackdown in the neighborhood around N. 19th Street and W. Nash where a gang known as the Nash Street Boys was believed to be dealing drugs and intimidating people. A group of law enforcement officers including Milwaukee police and FBI agents conducted arrests of 39 individuals suspected of gang involvement on Feb. 14th.
In the month following the Valentine’s Day arrests, total criminal activity decreased by one third (24 incidents in the month before contrasted with 16 incidents since). Chief Flynn was joined at the news conference by Mayor Barrett, District Attorney John Chisholm, as well as a cross section of uniformed officers and appreciative residents.
Chief Flynn pointed out that this was only the beginning but part of community policing is to focus on results and these positive results were worth noticing.
But I found the most noteworthy aspect of the announcement were the broad smiles on the faces of the young police officers. Flynn remarked that they were smiling because successful police work is fun. But after the news conference, the officers made it clear that they enthusiastically support the chief’s program.
“It’s taken away a lot of the red tape and lets us do our jobs,” said Officer Teresa Heidemann. “We get to be cops.”
It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Chief Flynn. Somehow, his department released a report on the investigation of past voting irregularities without clearing it with him. It included policy recommendations that he said did not belong in a police document.
You’d like to say that the town has a new sheriff but that office is already filled. Since he’s been striking the right notes and committed to harmonious relationships, let’s call him the “Maestro” (with apologies to Mark Metcalf).
Meanwhile, The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction held a public forum today to discuss the designation of Milwaukee Public Schools as a District Identified for Improvement. While DPI Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster went to great lengths to acknowledge the special circumstances facing MPS, the federal No Child Left Behind legislation requires the state to get involved when a school district seriously underperforms as MPS has over the course of two years in a row.
Anyone have an idea where to find a “Maestro of Schools?”
