Successful community policing is built on positive relationships between law-enforcement officials and the public. So the results of a recent ACLU of Wisconsin survey about attitudes among Milwaukeeans toward the police are concerning.
Milwaukeeans who live in heavily patrolled black and Latino neighborhoods and who have had contact with the police are less likely to trust law enforcement than people who haven’t had contact with officers. The survey’s subjects were primarily 14 to 24 years old.
Survey respondents who’ve had contact with officers are less likely to think that calling the police is helpful or to assist with an investigation. Even survey respondents who said they’ve had significant contact with police that wasn’t negative said they were less likely to alert police to a crime or help solve it.
ACLU of Wisconsin executive director Chris Ahmuty said the sheer volume of officer-initiated stops — 243,328 (in 2013) in a city of about 600,000 people — could be undermining the public’s trust in Milwaukee police.
We agree with Ahmuty that the goals of community-policing programs are not being served by MPD’s aggressive program of targeted stops — neither the volume of stops nor the way they’re being handled. If MPD hopes to curb the terrible crime rates in some minority neighborhoods, leaders in the department need to rethink and refine the program.