MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee police officers, community leaders, and neighbors are working together to build safer communities.
Public input sessions have been happening since July 2022, today a meeting was held in aldermanic district 6.
The central question at the meetings: How do we make our communities safer?
"We are going aldermanic district to aldermanic district across all 15 of our communities districts to really get public input as to what makes a community safe," said Tim Baack with the Community Collaborative Commission.
The goal of these meetings is to figure out what Milwaukeeans want to see when it comes to the implementation of community policing and a community safety plan.
"What the conversations have had in common is that in general people understand that public safety is a lot more than just law enforcement. This is much more than just about policing. Policing is a piece of that, an important piece. But it has to do with broader quality-of-life issues. Are our neighborhoods clean? Are they safe?" said Baack.
Isaac Hayes, a pastor in the community, is one of the people who came to the Saturday meeting. He knows change starts block by block.
"I think about the relationship with law enforcement and with the community. I think this is an opportunity to develop those relationships, to heal any lack of trust and to build trust and to continue to be there for each other," Hayes said.
Attendees were asked to respond to certain questions, for example, "Identify the characteristic of a safe community."
The responses and conversations will ultimately inform a report from the Wisconsin public policy forum.
"From there, that will help shape and form the Milwaukee Police Department's public safety or community safety plan," Bacck explained.
There are several more meetings coming up throughout the summer:
· Saturday, June 24th, 2023 - Aldermanic District 3, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., at East Branch Library located at 2320 North Cramer Street.
· Saturday, July 22, 2023 - Aldermanic District 15, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., at Washington Park Library located at 2121 North Sherman Boulevard.
· Saturday, August 26, 2023 - Aldermanic District 2, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., at Capitol Branch Library located at 3969 North 74th Street
· Saturday, September 23, 2023 -Aldermanic District 1, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m, Villard Square Library located at 5190 North 35th Street.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
