Milwaukee Police Chief Candidates Address Community’s Concerns

The three finalists for the Milwaukee Police chief position addressed the publics concerns over policing in Milwaukee and outlined what the Police Department would look like under them.

The city of Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission held a meeting on Nov. 21 with the three finalists for the police chief position. The three finalists in the meeting were Malik Aziz, Chris Davis and Hoyt Mahaley, all of whom answered questions from community members.

The town hall style meeting for the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission occurred just a few days before the final vote was to take place to decide who the police chief will be. That first vote ended in a tie as did the second, leaving who will be chief of police still undecided.

According to Malik Aziz, he is a Major for the Dallas Police department. He started out with the Dallas sheriff’s office in 1989 then moved to Dallas Police. Aziz is the local president of the Black Police Association in Texas.

The Milwaukee branch of the NAACP has announced their support of candidate Aziz on Monday, Dec. 7.

According to Chris Davis, he is currently the deputy chief with the Portland Police Department and has been in that role for a year. Prior to that he was the assistant chief of the operations branch. As of January, he will be working in policing for 27 years.

Davis believes that the one thing that keeps him in law enforcement for so long is the opportunity it prevents to provide meaningful service to people.

“You don’t have to look far in this day in age to find examples of ways we can improve to provide that service, said Davis. “I think that this moment that we’re in right now allows us to rethink the way we provide police service across the country and reach the point where we can provide fair, well trained service for everyone.”

According to Mahaley, he is a supervisory special agent with the FBI and has worked for a variety of departments within the FBI.

Mahaley grew up in Milwaukee Wisconsin, before moving away at the age of 30 to join the FBI. His parents were both worked as social workers for Milwaukee county and saw their fair share of abuse and assault cases. He claims to have experienced his fair share of crime within the city of Milwaukee ever since he was a child.

“Ever since I was a young person, I have experienced a lot of crime and have been a victim of a lot of crime. Whether it be People breaking into my house or when my brother was hung on the monkey bars at school,” said Mahaley. “Working with victims of assault birthed a passion for law enforcement inside of me.”

According to the moderator of the meeting, a poll by the Fire and Police commission asked members of the Milwaukee community to vote on which question they found most important to ask each candidate. The question asked for each candidate’s personal philosophy on policing in the city of Milwaukee.

When asked this question, Aziz stated that his philosophy encompasses giving everyone the respect and dignity that they deserve in the policing process. Above all else he mentions that the department must ensure that they have the people’s best interest at heart and that is possible with strong leadership.

“We must provide a stable platform and base in order for us to move forward in these complex times of policing that have been compounded to the last several years,” said Aziz. “This includes improved training for use of force and de-escalation techniques in order to find alternate solutions.”

When asked about his personal philosophy on policing “to serve and protect is the primary foundation of what I believe in,” said Mahaley. Mahaley later suggests that a police department under him would ensure to hold people accountable for their actions within the department.

The rest of the meeting consisted of many members of the community asking questions to the candidates about certain issues and events that have recently occurred in Milwaukee and how they would handle it differently.

The next date for the Common Council has yet to be decided, but is expected to occur sometime after a seventh member is appointed to prevent another tie.

The current acting chief Michael Brunson preparing to retire on Dec. 23, leaving the common council not much time to vote on his replacement.