Policing in Milwaukee

The Milwaukee Police Department was one of the most distinguished police agencies in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century. During that era not only was Milwaukee one of America’s most crime free cities, its police department led in control of corruption, utilization of police technology, and the development of community relations programs— one of the precursors of community policing. By the end of the century, however, Milwaukee struggled with a demoralized police department, with an antagonistic relationship between its police department and minority communities, and with soaring crime. Kelling, who has studied policing for over forty years, explores the history of policing through the story of the fascinating changes in the operations of the Milwaukee Police Department in the twenty and twenty-first centuries and what it portends for the future.