For the Milwaukee Police Department and Fire and Police Commission
Chapter 3
Recruitment, Hiring, and Personnel Practices
Finding 1
MPD does not have a racial, ethnic, and gender diversity composition through all ranks and components that is reflective of the community it serves.
FPC and MPD should create a Diversity and Inclusion Program aligned at a sufficiently high level in MPD to allow direct access to the chief, and be charged with and provided resources for improving diversity within the Department.
The FPC does not have a formal program, but in terms of hiring and recruiting diversity has been a primary focus of the FPC’s recruiting efforts. The FPC’s ultimate goal is to have Milwaukee’s Police and Fire Departments’ demographic makeup, as closely as possible, mirror the city as a whole.
There could be a process in which every recruitment/hiring effort has a summary report on the diversity and applicant flow. These reports could include a written examination of barriers, steps taken to remove them, and feedback from participants & community members.
While this process has been undertaken internally and informally among FPC staff and Commissioners for recent recruitment efforts, a formal publicly presented report would be an ideal vehicle to invite community participation in the problem solving process.
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Diversity in MPD should include the hiring of individuals with disabilities.
Don't expect that a diverse police force will result in different behavior; I dare you to find evidence that ethnically representative police forces have better community relations or less use of force.
So while it's all fine and good to want more underrepresented groups to be hired, but realize that it's not going to change anything.