Paul Grippe embraces an MPD officer after a listening circle discussion hosted by the Zeidler Center for Public Discussion Wednesday night.
Just as funeral proceedings were ending for Matthew Rittner, a 35-year-old Milwaukee Police Department officer who was killed while on duty last week, a small group of citizens and police officers gathered in the Clarke Square neighborhood to discuss coming together as a community during times of crisis.
In the last year alone, three MPD officers have been killed across the city. Before 2018, the last MPD officer who died while on duty was in 1996. This situation called for a change to a normal police and resident listening circle that was planned for the night by the Zeidler Center for Public Discussion.
Julie Barrot de Brito, the associate director of the Zeidler Center, said they were originally not expecting police officers to attend, as the funeral for Rittner occurred Wednesday. However, as the event began, three police officers showed up. “Having officers and residents come together as a community in these very, very emotional times of crisis was important,” said de Brito.
Throughout the hour-long event, citizens and police officers cried together, mourning yet another loss of an officer while discussing ways to prevent future tragedies. “Citizens are kind of understanding that we’re hurting as officers and there’s community members that are coming together and that’s beautiful,” said an MPD officer from the community outreach center. Officers and citizens asked to remain anonymous for this story.
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Citizens and officers also discussed why a mutual understanding is important when it comes to police and community relations. “I think it’s important to engage with officers as much as you can,” said Art, a citizen in the neighborhood.
“I think more communication and more gatherings to see how hard they work. It would be good for us to get to know them better… to prevent from future crises,” another citizen of the neighborhood said.
Another citizen said it’s important to focus on good community policing principles. “If you establish those relationships during peace time you might not have a crisis on your hands,” he said.
How to Cope?
The officers at the event discussed how hard it is to lose one of their own. “Sometimes, I think people see us in uniform and they think we don’t feel,” said an MPD officer. “But then when bad things happen, we have a hard time dealing with it because we don’t know what to really do.”
The emotional and physical toll of being a law enforcement officer has been well chronicled in recent years. A 2012 study from the University at Buffalo found connections between the “daily stressors of police work and obesity, suicide, sleeplessness, and cancer, as well as general health disparities between police officers and the general population.”
A 2014 study titled “Current Statistics on Police Officer Suicide,” also found that from 2008-2011, 224 police officers were murdered across the nation, while 577 died from suicide. This study also found heightened levels of health concerns among officers, including anxiety and PTSD.
There are psychologists who know how to deal specifically with police officers themselves, called police and public safety psychologists. However, there are not many cases of these psychologists being employed by a police department itself, meaning police officers might have to pay out of their own pocket to receive treatment.
The Los Angeles Police Department does have psychologists for all of their department personnel and their spouses in their Behavioral Science Services division. They discuss topics such as stress management, suicide prevention and anger management. In 2017, the LAPD started to require officers who fire their guns on the job to meet with psychologists multiple times.
The Shepherd reached out to the Milwaukee Police Department to see if they offer therapy or counseling services to their officers. They did not respond by the time this story was published.
A Future Discussion
De Brito said another future Police and Resident Listening Circle will occur in the near future. The event took place at Journey House in the Clarke Square neighborhood.
“Having the officers sit down and see that the residents care and then having the opportunity to see that the officers showed up and they were saying positive things about wanting to be engaged was nice,” said de Brito. “It was short and sweet, celebrating the memory of an officer.”
The Zeidler Center for Public Discussion, a non-profit organization, focuses on providing open spaces for public conversation. Their mission is to “foster civil dialogue and invite trust in the midst of differences.”
