Shorewood Residents Need Better Ways To File Complaints About PD

SHOREWOOD, WI— Following an audit of the Shorewood Police Department, consultants released a draft of their report that shows complaints about the PD need to be taken more seriously.

This week, consultants hired by the Village of Shorewood will present the community with findings about the Village Police Department.

Alexander Weiss Consulting (AWC) has been assessing the Village's Police Department for the last few months to develop an organization study for the Village. This study will help identify best practices; find ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of services; collect feedback related to the services being performed; and prioritize future initiatives.

"As we gathered information about policing in Shorewood, we were struck by an
incongruity. Many of the people we spoke with expressed dissatisfaction with the police;
some told us about specific cases in which, in their view, the police had acted improperly," a draft of the report read. "Some elected officials reported having received numerous complaints about the police and indicated that they passed these complaints onto Village officials or to the chief of police. Nevertheless, when we examined the complaint files, we found only three complaints for 2018, and three for 2019, and some of these were generated internally."

AWC believes there was "clearly" a disconnect between the way in which residents complained about the police to us and the relative paucity of complaints in the official files.

"In our view, there are three critical issues to explain this incongruity: the handling of informal complaints, the process for filing formal complaints, and communication channels for resolving issues," according to the author of the report. "A lot will depend on the nature and level of distrust of police and/or a lack of confidence in the ability of the police to treat complaints objectively and take their complaints seriously."

AWC completed the draft study and will present the preliminary results to the Village Board and community on Thursday, November 19 at 6:30 p.m. The report also includes data about the staffing needs for the PD and how the PD interacts with people that are a variety of races.

You can click here to review the draft copy of the study.

Village Board members will have an opportunity to ask questions and provide their initial thoughts on the draft study.

There will also be a portion of the meeting that will allow public comment to provide their thoughts and perspectives.

AWC will utilize the comments shared in this meeting to consider modifications to the study before it becomes final.