MILWAUKEE — In just a week, TMJ4 has learned about four Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) officers charged with or arrested for various crimes.
On Jan. 19, we reported on a detective who was arrested for sexual assault. That same day, another MPD member was arrested for battery allegations.
This week, we learned of two more officers that have been charged with crimes. Officer Martinese McDaniel was charged with child abuse. Detective Shaletta Whiters was charged earlier this month with obstructing an officer and disorderly conduct.
The Milwaukee Police Association (MPA) knows these cases can lead to a loss of public trust in officers and departments as a whole.
"I don't know what happened in any of these cases or the individual instances of them. But when you have incidents like these and it makes public news, it obviously erodes some that trust the community has in law enforcement," said MPA President Andrew Wagner.
Loss of public trust is becoming more and more of a problem, not just in Milwaukee but across the country.
A Gallup Poll shows Americans' confidence in the police has declined since 2016. In 2020 less than 50% of Americans said they had "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in the police.
Gaining public trust is something Wagner said officers work on daily and is no easy task.
"It's hard and that's why we gain that back each (and) every day and by every action we take," he said. "Part of our rules are violation of public trust. So, that's a rules violation so they can be disciplined all the way up to termination."
Wagner didn't want to speak to incidents happening in other departments, like in Memphis where five officers are charged with murder.
However, here in Milwaukee, he believes officers should be held to very high standards.
"There's no special circumstances for an officer. If anything, they're looked at more harshly than citizens and they should be. I think that is a line that an officer should hold, that is above the community, of professionalism, and I think that's what we expect out of our officers," Wagner said.
While the four Milwaukee cases play out in court, there will also be an internal review in the department. The union said it is legally bound to represent officers through that internal process.
"But if their criminal actions are bringing discredit upon the rest of our membership where we believe that their actions have caused severe discredit, then we will not represent them after we have to legally," Wagner added. "We expect them to be held accountable and they should be and we're not going to hide behind that. We'll make sure we're protecting the 14,000 good men and women of the police department."
Even though public perception has dropped, Wagner doesn't believe it's a major factor when it comes to issues the department has had with recruitment.
"Whether it's hours of work or the time away from holidays and things like that, I think there's a bigger picture. Is this a factor? It can be, but I think there's larger issues that are affecting recruitment," Wagner said.
