‘It's accountability’: Some sharp exchanges at town hall meeting as Adam Procell lays out his vision to combat violence

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The city of Milwaukee’s new director of the Office of Community Wellness and Safety faced community members Thursday, Oct. 2, for the first time since being named to the position.

Adam Procell held a town hall meeting to share his vision for the office. He also fielded questions and several concerns.

Procell has been open about his criminal past, spinning it as an asset. But there were some sharp exchanges at the meeting as he sought to earn the community’s trust.

He was incarcerated for more than 20 years for shooting and killing someone when he was 15.

Procell explained what the father of his victim said. “At my sentencing, he called me a coward for shooting his son in the back with a gun.”

Procell says that experience helps him understand and combat violence, but not everyone agrees with the approach.

One man told him, “As a person who’s been to 27 funerals because of violence, not just people I knew but people I intimately knew, it seems like you’re romanticizing the fact that you did that.”

Procell told him, “It's accountability. Because I can't ask the community to hold themselves accountable if I don't, on every level, at all times, hold myself accountable.”

At a town hall, Procell addressed concerns and said he welcomed uncomfortable questions.

He was an outside choice for the director role. Three finalists were named and he was not one of them.

Some people didn’t like not having a chance to weigh in. One man told him of the three other candidates, “The audience had the chance to listen to their plan and we had a chance to ask them questions like we did now.”

The forum also allowed people to raise issues that did not directly involve Procell. Another man said, “We can’t act like there’s not an issue of trust between authority and civilians.”

Procell laid out several priorities he wants to focus on, including young people and violence intervention.

Many people were supportive of Procell and the Office of Community Wellness and Safety.

Several crime metrics are trending in the right direction, but Procell told us he does not have target numbers in mind “Because, at the end of the day, that’s still 100 people a day who are not living on this earth,” he told us.

In the meeting, he reaffirmed his commitment to the challenge ahead and said if he’s not the right person for the job, the city should find someone who is. “At the end of the day,” Procell said, “if I can’t get it done, no hard feelings. At least I gave it every single thing that I could to try to help keep you safe.”

Procell told the audience he’s doing something his family warned against: he’s reading the comments on social media. He said he wants to know what people are thinking, and that includes their skepticism and frustration.