MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee officials and community leaders developing a citywide community-policing plan are looking to Baltimore for ideas on how residents can have a more meaningful role in shaping police work. The Community Collaborative Commission, whose members include community activists and nonprofit leaders, has spent years working on police policy, community-oriented policing and oversight of reforms. The group said earlier this summer that its Milwaukee plan was nearing completion. Baltimore’s community-policing framework offers a detailed outline of responsibilities, practices and accountability. Tim Baack, president and CEO of Pathfinders and a member of Milwaukee’s commission, said the city can adapt elements of that model without treating the two communities as identical. “What works in Baltimore may or may not work in similar ways here,” Baack said. “But there’s enough of the framework that it’s not like we have to start from scratch.” The Milwaukee Police Department says community policing is already embedded in its policies. Department rules call for all members to participate in community and problem-oriented policing every day, and MPD has worked with the commission and the Fire and Police Commission on community engagement sessions since 2022. But local oversight officials have questioned how consistently that commitment reaches beyond command staff and specialized community-liaison officers. A January memo from the Fire and Police Commission said MPD relies too heavily on those personnel for community engagement instead of making the work a responsibility shared throughout the department. Four elements of Baltimore’s plan are particularly relevant to Milwaukee’s debate. ### Community policing should involve every officer Baltimore’s plan declares that every officer is a community-policing officer. The idea is that community policing should influence routine interactions, enforcement decisions and training — not be limited to officers assigned to neighborhood outreach. Bridget Whitaker, executive director of Safe & Sound and a Milwaukee commission member, said community policing should shape how officers interact with residents and make decisions across the department. MPD has expressed a similar goal, saying community policing is the responsibility of every officer. The challenge, reflected in the Fire and Police Commission’s memo, is ensuring that the principle is consistently applied in daily practice. ### Visibility is not the same as engagement Baltimore’s plan distinguishes between officers being visible in a neighborhood and building relationships with the people who live there. Informal conversations, listening and collaboration are central to the approach. “Presence matters, but meaningful engagement requires interaction, listening, relationship building and collaboration,” Whitaker said. MPD’s 2025 review of community and problem-oriented policing also cautions that attending community events by itself does not constitute community policing. Events can contribute, the review says, when residents and police exchange information and work together on solutions. The Fire and Police Commission has drawn a related distinction between involvement and collaboration. Under involvement, police may identify a problem and select the response. Collaboration gives residents a role in identifying concerns, shaping solutions and determining whether those solutions worked. MPD says residents already participate through district crime and safety meetings, community partnership units, neighborhood organizations and other forums. But Baltimore-based community organizer Ralikh Hayes said residents there still lack a formal process to require follow-through when they ask the city to take specific action. “There’s no formal mechanism of ‘we want this specifically,’ and then accountability if they see it or don’t,” Hayes said. ### Address the causes of problems Problem-oriented policing seeks to understand why a public-safety problem is occurring rather than responding only to individual incidents. Baltimore’s plan uses a four-part process: identify the problem, analyze its causes, develop a response and assess the results. MPD says it already follows that approach through the SARA model — scanning, analysis, response and assessment. Baack said Milwaukee will need to tailor any borrowed strategies to its own neighborhoods and circumstances. Hayes made a similar point about Baltimore, where different communities face different challenges. “Baltimore is not a one-size-fits-all place,” Hayes said. “Every neighborhood is different and has different issues.” ### Make community work count in evaluations Baltimore’s plan incorporates community-policing work into officer evaluations, promotions and other career decisions. That provision drew particular attention from Whitaker, who said agencies show their real priorities through what they measure and reward. The Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission has recommended that officers’ problem-solving work be considered in performance evaluations, promotions and transfers. For Baack, the clearest measure of whether Milwaukee’s plan succeeds will come from residents themselves. “The plan will be successful when the community says it’s successful,” he said. The commission’s work comes as Milwaukee continues to debate how police accountability and public safety should operate in practice. The central question is not only whether community-policing policies exist on paper, but whether residents have meaningful influence over police priorities and a way to judge the results.