Milwaukee County sheriff, police chief discuss safety at MU Law School panel

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Memorial Day marked the unofficial start to summer, and CBS 58 reported on the violent holiday weekend in Milwaukee. Three people were killed and more than a dozen injured in shootings. Now, Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman and  Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball are addressing their plans to make summer safer as part of the "On the Issues" panel at Marquette Law School's Lubar Center.

During the discussion, Chief Norman asked the public to trust his department.

"We can't get to reckless driving, we can't get to violent crime, we can't get to the things that's going in neighborhoods if we do not trust each other," Norman said.

Norman described community trust as his, "greatest concern" for the Milwaukee Police Department.

"Holding me accountable to another prior predecessor is not only unfair, but it really hampers what we can do moving forward," Norman said. "This is a different department. It's a different department. Give us that benefit of the doubt."

Meantime, Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball said her greatest concern is proper staffing, especially for correctional officers.

"We want to hire the right people. We want people that are willing to do the job and would do it the way we expect them to do, and the way you'd expect," Ball said.

Those points were the culmination of a discussion based on Milwaukee's public safety, specifically heading into summer event season.

"Everything shouldn't be on law enforcement's shoulders. Everybody bears responsibility for the safety of this community," Ball said.

The departments will be proactive with extra duty, barriers, security partnerships, and visibility, but they need the community's help.

"You're only as good as the other eyes and ears that you can rely on," Norman said.

Thursday's panel also touched on reckless driving mitigation.

"We're using data and identifying those hot zones, the time of day, the type of activity, as well as the day of the week, and we are putting our resources in those areas," Ball said.