Lifting the Veil and Learning about the Men and Women of the Shorewood Police Department

As the editor behind Shorewood Patch, I’ve written my fair share of stories about burglars, drunken driving arrests, drug offenses — .  

And even with my twice-weekly trips to the , I’m blind to a lot of the work officers and detectives do behind the scenes, mainly privy to just the conclusions of their investigations.

How do they catch a burglar wreaking havoc on local homeowners? How do they nab the worst criminals committing Internet crimes against children? What’s it like to shoot an officer’s gun? And what is that officer actually doing while I sit in my car for 15 minutes during a traffic stop?

As a journalist, I’m been trained and wired to be curious, and my inquiring mind needed to see beyond the veil and truly understand how the local police force operates and find the truth behind local crime.

That’s why on Thursday, several residents and I met for the first week of the 10-week Citizen's Police Academy, where I'll hopefully find more about the stories I produce on Patch.

For the 10 weeks, I’ll document how and why the 25 sworn police officers, lieutenants, sergeants, detectives and chief on our local police force do what they do.

The class will learn about the criminal justice system, traffic enforcement, drugs, narcotics and criminal investigations, how to handle a weapon and even one member of the class will get up close and personal with a Taser.

Maybe, come week 3, you’ll have a good laugh when you watch video of 50,000 volts of electricity pulsing through my body.

What week 1 was about

The first class was primarily an introduction to law enforcement as a whole, how the Shorewood Police Department is structured, a little bit about its 92-year history, the plight of public perception for police officers and how to become an officer in the village.

The class is run by 24-year police veteran Sgt. Jeff Schmidt and Shorewood Sgt. Mike Kerr.

Schmidt started the class with a stark overview of what law enforcement is battling nationwide: the crime clock. The numbers from 2010 paint a picture of why our society needs policing.

There is a murder every 35.6 minutes, rape every 6.2 minutes, robbery every 1.4 minutes, aggravated assault every 40.5 seconds, burglary every 14.6 seconds, theft every 5.1 seconds, and vehicle theft every 42.8 seconds.

In fulfilling their duties, police attempt to be proactive, but Schmidt laid out the difficultly of preventing crime by comparing the work to that of fire personnel, who are reactive and not patrolling in "prevention" mode.

Schmidt said there is a wall some citizens put up when talking with police, kind of a "you don't want to see the police unless you're hurt or in danger" attitude. He emphasized the importance of the community’s involvement by quoting Albert Einstein: “The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it."

Schmidt said a non-responsive community could lead to what is known as the “broken windows theory,” where crimes go unreported, creating a ripple effect, inviting more serious crimes into the community and creating a “climate for crime," dramatically decreasing the quality of life.

Shorewood's law enforcement history

Organized law enforcement is nearing its 100th anniversary in Shorewood. After changing its name from East Milwaukee, Shorewood started its police force in 1920 with a three-man department.

Emil F. Bartels was appointed as the department’s police chief and remained in the post until he retired in 1968. He passed away less than a year after retiring.

Back in the day, advertisements for open police positions solicited men, and only men, who were big and strong and between the age of 21 and 32 for a monthly salary of $681 to $766.

Nowadays, those interested in becoming a sworn officer go through a rigorous application process including a written, physical and psychological test, two interviews, an extensive background check, drug screen and blessing of the village’s Police and Fire Commission.

Then, applicants still need to attend the 13-week Police Academy. But the process still isn't over; there’s another 14 to 16 weeks of training within the department.

With training behind you, you’ll finally be ready to join the force, but you’ll be evaluated on a monthly basis while on a probationary period. And of course, there is always annual training to be completed.

So begins the journey. Check back each week, when I’ll have something new to share about the department.