New director for Milwaukee's Office of Community Wellness and Safety shares goals, struggles and how he'll succeed

MILWAUKEE (CBS58) -- Milwaukee is coming off of a summer where we saw an officer killed, officer-involved shootings, reckless driving incidents, and several homicides. According to the Milwaukee Police Department, homicides are up 8% compared to last year and human trafficking is up nearly 20%.

But every other number is down, including robberies, shootings, and carjackings, which are down nearly 50%.

Today, Oct. 1, marks one month since the new director of Milwaukee's Office of Community Wellness and Safety (OCWS) took charge.

CBS 58's Montse Ricossa sat down with Adam Procell to learn more about his goals and how he believes his criminal past will help the city.

Adam Procell focused heavily on collaboration, assessment and not focusing on statistics as he measures success. One month in, he says he feels the pressure of this position and wants to find innovative ways to solve the issue of crime in our city.

“I've dedicated all of my adult life to trying to keep the community safe,” he said.

Settling into a new office located on the south side of Milwaukee, Procell believes he can make a change in a city plagued by gun violence, “the ethos of who I am and have been, is being that connector and then bringing different parts of the community together. You want to look at it as a highway. We're all on a highway, different lanes, but we're all going to the same destination. And so, it's sort of a collective impact model, where each one of us are doing our part.”

He said he believes the community working together is “the most effective way, because we don't have a lot of funding. And then the funding that we have is running out pretty shortly, so we have to find various ways to help the ecosystem grow.”

He called collaboration his “North Star” to help him identify groups, organizations, or entities to help address issues because “we can’t do this alone.”

"Are we all working together as a society? I think somewhere along the line, we've lost sight of that. I think it's so polarized right now. Now, a lot of what I'm doing is trying to help each side, whatever that each side may be, understand that we're all in this community together, and we have to find some sort of common ground."

Procell says he won't be measuring success with a number: “Putting myself in the community's role, I wouldn't want somebody that's going to arbitrarily pick a number or pluck a number out of the sky, because I don't know the future. I'm going to work every day to try to reduce that number as much as I possibly can. But I'm not delusional. I know that number probably won't ever unfortunately be zero.”

Instead, Procell wants to look at the positive impacts made. That includes measuring early childhood enrollment, taking a look at recidivism rates to see if those who were recently incarcerated are thriving, holding a job, having a better relationship with their family, or getting the critical documents needed to get a job.

“I think all these things are measurable, and we need to start looking at the positives rather than the negative.” He went on to say, “if we put a little bit more effort, funding resources into providing tangible second chances for those who are getting out of prison, I think if we can sway a lot of those individuals from harming the community, that's going to go a long way in safening our community.”

Since starting in his new position in September, Procell said he’s in the process of assessment. That means finding out what the OCWS is involved in, what they can have an impact on, and who they’re working with. “It's going to take a while. Like there's no simple answer, there's no quick fix, there's no cure all,” he shared.

Coming into this school year, a whole classroom - 23 Milwaukee Public School students - were killed in the past school year (2023-2024). Procell stated he's been working with MPS leaders and non-profits to find solutions: “as much as I would love to say, ‘this will stop it.’ If that answer was out there, somebody in this country were to figure that out. I think we're all just trying to find anything that works. When we're at a point of kids are dying, I think we need to put everything on the table, and I think we need to have some uncomfortable conversations.”

One of those uncomfortable conversations he's had is surrounding his childhood. Just three days after turning 15 years old, Procell was sentenced for life in prison for first-degree intentional homicide for the death of Robert Bruce. According to court records from 1996, Procell was a member of a gang who, alongside an accomplice, fired shots that killed Robert Bruce and injured another on S. 21st St. in Milwaukee.

Robert Bruce Family

“When I picked up a gun and I pointed at another human being I understand. I understood what was going on here. And so, for John Doe, who might pick up a gun, I might understand just a little bit better, a little bit more clearly what they're thinking,” he said.

After 25 years behind bars, Procell said he's found God and is doing everything he can to make a positive impact in the world.

The victim's father, David Bruce, says he's let anger out of his heart and saw the "turn around" Procell has made, forgiving him. In a phone call, David said he had gone out to eat with Procell and when he heard the news of the new position he felt, “very proud of him. He's struggled a lot. He's helped other young men. I'm quite happy to hear that."

Procell said he’s gotten several texts in the past few weeks from David saying, “you're exactly where you should be, and don't listen to the noise.”

Using his second chance at life, Procell says he feels pressure to help his hometown, but feels he’s prepared to make a difference. “You don't want to make the wrong mistake. As I said, I'm going to make mistakes. There's just no way around it and trying to find the proper amount of time to place on each one of these fires. And sometimes I feel like my hose doesn't even have water, and yet I'm forced to put out fires with a hose with no water. And I really feel that I can do some good within this city, because my background has been bringing people together, groups that typically have not liked one another, and aligning us all in the same direction. I think I can really do some positive things for the city.”

Just 30 days into his new role, Procell said he still wants to "assess" before structural changes and promises can be made. “I will run myself into the ground, if need be, and I will do every single thing I can as a human to try to safen our city. And if that's not enough, then it's just not enough.”

You have a chance to hear from Procell at a town hall this Thursday, Oct. 2. It will be at Washington Park Senior Center with doors opening at 5:30 p.m. and the event starting at 6 p.m.

On CBS58 on Oct. 2, we’ll feature the Milwaukee Promise Keepers, one of the groups working with the office to prevent violence before it starts.