Lessons Police Have Learned From Dahmer’s Case

The handling of missing persons cases, particularly those involving marginalized communities, has long been a topic of controversy forever. Ruben Burgos, a former Milwaukee Police Officer, spoke out about how the police department’s priorities and attitudes contributed to the lack of attention given to certain missing persons cases and how this has changed over the years.

Decades ago, the process for filing a missing person report often didn’t lead to immediate action. 

“The statement was, ‘Go to the police station, report it.’ Well, no, I’m here now. I’ll take the report and do the investigation,” Burgos said.

The gay male victim demographic that Dahmer focused on which did not get a lot of attention back in the eighties and nineties.

“He chose a specific group that back in the late eighties or nineties, there was a lot of attention to the gay population, gay male population was kind of ostracized and hidden behind doors,” said Burgos.

The gay community then was more open after the incident with Dahmer.

“That’s what they really learned at the time, and it really helped that the community, the gay community, moved, stepped up and became more open and more demanding of attention, definitely,” said Burgos.

Efforts to address historical events with Dahmer within the LGBTQ community have been a focus. 

“We’ve had LGBTQ police officers and supervisors that led the way to make sure that they’re not, that their communities are marginalized as much as it was in the past,” said Burgos.

Inclusivity was further demonstrated by involving LGBTQ officers in outreach efforts. 

“We had gay officers who went out, who were put as spokespersons,” Burgos explained.

A new lesson police learned after Dahmer was to investigate more thoroughly.

The Milwaukee Police Department has been actively engaging with the committee as a whole to improve relations.

“They have to treat it that way and reach out to the communities and [go] to the events, going to seminars and things, so the community sees the police in a positive environment and just reaching out and talking to people,” Burgos said.

Burgos, who teaches at UW-Milwaukee, recalled a significant shift in response protocols that highlighted the importance of immediate action. 

“When an 8-year-old girl came up missing and was walking home from school, there was a big task force put together to look for her. That was a change we had that was important,” he shared.

Reflecting on past controversies, Ruben acknowledged the criticism following MPD offiers giving teenage Konerak Sinthasomphone back to Dahmer over the protestations of community member Glenda Cleveland. Dahmer then killed the teen.

“Yes, there was a lot of backlash. Most in the media of the returning of Konerak,” he said.

“The biggest thing they learned was that every missing person has to be investigated thoroughly,” said Burgos

Burgos believes Sinthasomphone should’ve been ‘looked at’ and ‘really investigated.’

“They could have stopped that homicide and a couple of others that happened afterwards. Right then and there, if they paid attention to that case and stopped right there, they would’ve saved that boy’s life,” said Burgos.

There is more training for police officers now, according to Burgos.

“We have a good policy and procedure now, a better policy and procedure on how to deal with critical missings and missing persons,” said Burgos.

Training and preparedness have also improved in addressing missing persons cases.

 “There was some new training about responding to critical missings and responding to missings, generically,” Ruben noted.

Burgos added that Dahmer “was very eloquent and smooth talker so he could talk his way out of the situation with the police.”

Burgos mentioned he saw him in person several times.

“Shortly after he was arrested, I was promoted to detective and several times, they brought them to re-interview him in the detective bureau: January, February, March trial dates,” said Burgos.

Burgos described it as “unique” when Dahmer walked into a room.

“When he’d walk through, everything would stop. Everything would get quiet. Everything would stop. Everybody would look at him and, you know, we knew he’d killed so many people. We thought he’d killed so many people. We would just stop and stare at him; he was almost a celebrity,” said Burgos.

Dahmer was a “smooth talker” and convinced police he was in a relationship with Sinthasomphone.

“The police didn’t give it enough attention, and they gave him back to Dahmer, and Dahmer killed him,” said Burgos.

“They had no ID on him, no record. Even if they went back to his apartment to see his ID, where’s his paperwork, they would not have been able to find it, and he wasn’t who Dahmer said he was. Just check, positively identify who the boy was. They would’ve stopped everything,” said Burgos.

Training new recruits involved instilling empathy and respect for victims. 

“I always told my recruits, ‘Treat [the] victim of this person as they would if you’d want your family treated,’” Burgos said.

Accountability remains a cornerstone of ethical policing.

“The officers have to know that there is a consequence to misconduct and that it’s enforced,” Burgos said.

Looking toward the future, Ruben highlighted the use of technology to aid investigations. 

He said he believes artificial intelligence can play a role in the future where “every time there’s more than two or three people of this category reported missing, a red flag” could go off.

Policies and oversight have also been strengthened to ensure thorough handling of critical cases. 

“Again, we have good policy procedures making sure the supervisors are monitoring what the police officer is doing when it comes to critical missing reports,” Burgos said.

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This story is part of a semester-long investigative reporting project into missing people’s cases in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. It was created by an advanced reporting class in the Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies program at UW-Milwaukee. Other stories from the project are available here.