March
2007
Chief Hegerty Plays Prostitution Politics with Violent Crime Control
Yesterday’s big news in town — Milwaukee Police called off one of their habitual, costly, self-gratifying prostitution stings because the hotel (the county jail) was booked up — calls into question how serious law enforcement is about the rise in violent crime in Milwaukee.
When MPD Chief Nan Hegerty threw the hooker bomb at a news conference Thursday, the obvious implication was that Sheriff David Clarke is mismanaging the jail (the Watchdog faithful will be familiar with Gretchen Schuldt’s reporting last year on some of the problems at the jail.)
But yesterday’s big story said more about Chief Hegerty than it did about Sheriff Dave: By blaming Clarke for preventing her business-as-usual policing strategies, Hegerty managed to show again that she has never had a plan to help make Milwaukee a safer place. The stated purpose of Hegerty’s press conference, by the way, was to tell the media how she intended to use all of those new police officers city taxpayers anted up for in the last city budget. Here’s the so-called plan to fight violent crime, folks, as we see it:
“More patrols. That’s right, more patrols in violent crime areas. Oh, and by the way, we tried to lock up a hundred or so nonviolent prostitutes the other day … but we were unable to make reservations at the jail.” (Apparently, the chief called ahead.)
Shift camera to Sheriff Dave, who explained that there was a backlog in the booking area (the source of many a jail management problem) for a couple of hours on the day in question, but that everyone who needed a room eventually managed to find an available bed in a pod. His operative metaphor is long lines at the grocery store.
Clarke then correctly pointed out that the chief (and by proxy Mayor Tom Barrett) were taking a political jab at his highness for backing, if not instigating, south side Ald. Bob Donovan’s whacky crime-stopping plan, which included Clarke’s pet idea to take sheriff’s deputies off the freeways and put them on street patrol in Milwaukee.
Nobody mentioned that one of Hegerty’s first big ideas as police chief was to round up all the prostitutes she could find. It cost county taxpayers $45,000-plus to pay for their room and board. Most were released within a day or two and went right back to doing what they were doing before they were swept up by Hegerty’s gendarmes.
Barrett announced last month that the city will embark on a study to provide some direction into better law enforcement strategies. Barrett now has a chance to renew the task force work of the late 1990’s, which was blinded by the Norquist administration nearly seven years ago. The task force stemmed from criminal justice summits held by Judge Patrick Sheedy, was led by District Attorney E. Michael McCann and included metro police and the Sheriff’s Department, Dept. of Corrections officials, criminal justice reform and community advocates. It was an attempt to bring together the disparate players of the criminal justice and law enforcement communities to find some effective, cooperative community corrections/policing strategies — in the face of the city of Milwaukee’s resistance to community policing strategies.
The differences this time are: 1) Barrett is mayor; 2) This study group will ostensibly look more specifically at policing strategies; and 3) Barrett is preparing to hire a new police chief. In any case, cooperation from all of the players in law enforcement and criminal justice will be necessary for any effective strategies to emerge.
Hegerty exploited the serious and troubling rise of violent crime in the city this week to point the finger at Clarke, to imply, “manage your jail and I might be able to do my job.” This is counterproductive, obviously. Clarke is known more for grandstanding and pointing fingers than working with others, but he did no real harm in backing some ideas from a city alderman (Bob Donovan). Hegerty only gave Clarke an opportunity to show that he’s, at very least, a better politician than she is.
It’s not as though Hegerty has any better ideas. But let’s hope Barrett eventually does. They are long overdue. So is some cooperation from our local law enforcement agencies.
Note: For more on MPD prostitution stings and their (negative) impact, see the Benedict Center web site. The Benedict Center is a local nonprofit criminal justice reform agency that runs a nationally-reknowned Womens Harm Reduction program.
John-david Morgan
Clarke Watch, John-David Morgan, Watchdogging Criminal Justice
RSS feed
Link
FACTS ARE FACTS. YES the jail has been mismanaged. Clarke WILL pull staff from the jail when it’s warm and stick them at the lakefront, without proper equipment and against most of their wishes. WHEN - not if - that happens, the jail WILL shut down. The majority of staff are pulled from 2nd shift. The LT is already running with minimum staffing. If Clarke pulls five people that means the jail is under its minimum staffing by five, which causes the jail to shut down. There is no OVERTIME authorized at the jail and staff shortages are REQUIRED (by Clarke), misleading the public to believe that the jail is being managed properly. Because staff is pulled from the jail, the result misleads the public into thinking Clarke has increased staffing at the Parks Patrol division - NOT TRUE. Staff is being mandatoried to work the lakefront for Clarke’s political well being, while there are shortages everywhere else.
However, MPD CAN find something better to do than HOOKER STINGS on warm days. They also need to check their own jail - the PPS. If you can’t manage your own jail Chief, you might not want to throw stones. PPS holds prisoners for two shifts before delivering them to the jail. They drop off 20-30 prisoners on day shifts, 15-20 on second, and drop 60 on third. Seems like a major management problem to me. Chief, I HATE to say it, but Clarke has you on this one.
AND IT PAINS ME SO TO SAY IT.
Good post and I know how much it pains you to give any form of compliment to Clarke. But here’s another thing that Clarke said, he effectively said to the Chief that the jail has plenty of room for VIOLENT criminals and basically challenged Hegerty to bring in some of those instead of the easy bait of hooker stings. I couldn’t agree more…give Clarke the problem of too many VIOLENT criminals and less of quality of life ones.
I’m not sure where I gave Clarke a compliment. I did state he can’t manage his jail just like his counterpart the Chief. When it comes to jail..they both fail. That is what I said in a nut shell.
uhhhh okay?
GREAT comment Bill….
Occasionally, we fall prey to shock value tactics, a la Fox News. Hence, the relatively complimentary take on Clarke’s handling of Hegerty’s big plan to crack down on violent crime by arresting prostitutes, however backhanded it may have been.
Barrett, Clarke, the next chief, DA Chisholm, Division of Community Corrections (DOC), the judges (Kremers is good on this), the public defenders, the people running programs like WCS and the Benedict Center, the court commissioners, everyone, need to get together and come up with a community safety plan. Scott Walker and Mike McGee, Jr., too.
Time to fill Milwaukee’s leadership void on our community response to crime.
and I quote , “I HATE to say it, but Clarke has you on this one.”
“staff shortages are REQUIRED (by Clarke), misleading the public to believe that the jail is being managed properly”
Why don’t you guys trade in the much-needed Corvettes?
why don’t we elect a REAL sheriff? The corvette is a antique Clarke tours in his new Dodge Ram decked out with Sheriff logos as well as the Pontiac Firebird– Bill, really, find your facts….. or let it go.
ps. Bill—- we own ONE corvette- bought by Sheriif Artison… Whew!! that bad boy is costing milwaukee county a TON right????
That remark didn’t have anything to do with Clarke good or bad, it was directed at the overtime remark. You are starting to annoy me. Go pick a fight with someone else.
yes sir mr bill sir facts are facts and having them before you argue is always a good thing… yes a fight with someone prepared is in my list. and yes you are annoying bill.
Way to take the high road.
Jim or John - Why are so many people afraid to post with their real name?
jim or john why do so many people need to get the last word?? from : Afraidto Userealname
One small correction to this discourse. The Corvette to which you refer is indeed old, but it was not a purchase. It was seized from a drug dealer a decade ago, and was outfitted with equipment paid for from seized drug assets.
Like the blog, come and have a look at mine if you like (www.netvirgin.org/wordpess) - concentrates on whether it’s time to just ban tobacco outright, or is Government and The Corporate World simply making too much money from it? Basically, I want it to become a debate on the interference in our daily lives by the disconnected “Lords and Masters” in power, and what can the average tom, dick or harry do about it.
To answer Bill on tags like “deputyinsider”: Deputyinsider is a Milwaukee County Sheriff. No reason he should be fired or in other ways punished by his boss (Clarke) for having opinions and great insights on internal MCSD stuff.
I’m just saying if you believe in something, then stand up for it.