Posted on Thursday, 11th March 2010 by Roland_Melnick
Over the past 6 days, we’ve witnessed the media blitz surrounding the arrest of Joel Hoffman, also known as Joel Lynch. There isn’t much being kept secret anymore as this Milwaukee County Circuit Court criminal complaint describing NINE criminal counts alleges.
Badger Blogger has spoken with members of the Milwaukee Police Department regarding Hoffman. While appropriately tight-lipped over sensitive details of the investigation, they did share some disturbing revelations about Hoffman and changes within the Milwaukee Police Department that possibly enabled Hoffman to continue his crime spree.
Source: WISN.com
Hoffman was arrested at the Suburban Motel, 4600 South 27th Street in Milwaukee. A hotel with cheap rooms that attracts fugitives looking to “lay low.” When arrested, it was learned that Hoffman had apparently persuaded a gullible girlfriend, NOT the one he lived with, to rent the room on his behalf. The same woman my sources believe may have been hiding the now infamous black Dodge Charger. Hoffman’s arrest, which occurred on March 5th, 2010, was originally for the incident reported near the intersection of Maryland and Kenwood adjacent to the UWM campus.
Hoffman’s cool car…a late model black Dodge Charger has since been recovered by police and it sounds as though, if they can find a way, they may just roll it into the courtroom as State’s exhibit #1. As you read the nine count criminal complaint, you learn that it has proven to be a common evidentiary thread that has helped to tie these separate attacks occurring at separate locations and times together.
Source: cars.com
As if nine counts weren’t enough, WTMJ 4 and 620AM reported yesterday that a woman watching the media coverage now believes Hoffman is the guy who attacked her several months ago. According to the report, the woman, Sheri Storm, said she recognized the photo of Hoffman on television reports. After learning that Hoffman owns a black Charger, her confidence level shot up to 100%. According to an MPD source, directly after the incident, Storm reported her attacker drove a late model black Dodge Charger and believed the license plate to be “918KMS.” Hoffman’s actual Wisconsin plate number is “918NMS.”
Obviously, Sheri Storm did an admirable job of maintaining her composure and providing useful information that should have provided enough for police to act upon. My question is this: Having an accurate description of the car and a license plate that was merely one digit off, why didn’t the MPD identify Hoffman in the assault of Sheri Storm? Apparently, Storm’s assault was investigated by patrol officers, not investigators dedicated to this type of crime from the department’s Sensitive Crimes Division. An emerging trend, say sources, put in place by Chief Ed Flynn.
I couldn’t believe my ears. A stranger approaches a woman on a public street and sexually assaults her; detailed information which should have made this case very solvable is available, and the MPD doesn’t have a Sensitive Crimes investigator on hand to follow through with the case? How is this possible?
C.I.B….Contracting Investigations Bureau
Within the MPD today, “Detective” is a rank obtained through civil service promotion. Patrol officers that meet the basic requirements apply for the job and go through a testing process which ultimately leads to an eligibility list from which new Detectives are promoted and assigned to the Criminal Investigation Bureau.
It wasn’t always this way. It wasn’t until a group of black policemen and the League of Martin sued the City of Milwaukee claiming that the old system of the Chief arbitrarily picking patrolmen to serve in desirable investigative positions fostered favoritism, nepotism, racism and a laundry list of “-isms” that hurt the credibility and functionality of the Milwaukee Police Department. Courts and arbitrators sided with the League’s arguments. Since then, the Detective rank was formalized within the civil service process just like the ranks of Police Officer, Sergeant and Lieutenant.
Despite the legal history, Mayor Tom Barrett, his Fire & Police Commission and Chief Flynn seem determined to eliminate the rank of Detective through attrition and return to the days where “isms” control the career paths of MPD’s men and women, not due process. Prior to the arrival of Ed Flynn, standard procedure was that eligibility lists were maintained so that vacancies can be filled. Promotion lists used to be good for two years, when a new list would be created. For the first time since the Detective rank was formalized, no eligibility list for that rank currently exists…and there isn’t one in the works either.
With promotions, retirements and resignations, the number of Detectives is dwindling. This is resulting in more responsibility being heaped upon patrolmen at a time when Flynn’s main theme has been to keep patrolmen available and on the street in order to prevent crime. The reality, however, is that the police can’t be everywhere all the time. You can’t put pressure on the Patrol Bureau to maintain a high presence on the street while, at the same time, expect that they will do a thorough job investigating crime. The investigation of Sheri Storm’s assault is a prime example.
The mentality of “there’s nothing a detective does that can’t be done by a patrolman” ignores three hallmarks of good investigations: experience, training and specialization. Detectives working in specialties, like Sensitive Crimes or Homicide, go to advanced training. They work certain types of crime day-in, day-out…they become good at what they do. Flynn’s approach sends the message, “none of that matters…anyone can do this job.”
Another hallmark of good investigations under assault is specialization. Prior to Flynn, the organizational chart of the MPD broke detective assignments down into categories like Robbery, Property Crime, Violent Crime, Homicide, etc. Soon, the distinctions will be made based upon geography…not type of crime. So, just like the expectations made of the patrolmen, detectives will soon be expected to be jacks-of-all-trades…master-of -none.
Preventing Crime…Team vs. Narrow Approach
MPD Chief Ed Flynn’s primary focus has been on preventing crime. No one, including me, would argue this isn’t a worthy mission. Of course it is better to never have the crime occur in the first place. I question Flynn’s approach.
Integral to Flynn’s strategy has been his assertion that detectives play no roll in preventing crime. This assertion has not been evidenced in his public words, but can be seen clearly in the big picture of trumpeting crime prevention while continually shrinking detectives’ numbers. Numbers in some crime categories have gone down, but clearance rates are also going down. In fact, there was a time when the MPD solved over 90% of its homicide investigations…now more around the 60-70% range.
Again, as evidenced by the revelation that Joel Hoffman was within the MPD’s grasp after the assault of Sheri Storm; a thorough investigation by those experienced and trained to do such investigations would probably have led to Joel Hoffman’s incarceration and the prevention of further crimes. Thorough investigations leading to the arrest and incarceration of repeat offenders, by definition, prevent further crimes. Just ask any detective who has worked a complex case of career criminals who pull strings of robberies or burglaries…you lock up guys like that, you’re preventing every crime they would go on to commit.
What are Tom Barrett’s and Ed Flynn’s Real Motives?
Do all these changes within the MPD boil down to the philosophical? I don’t believe that. I think that in the case of the Milwaukee Police Department, the philosophy has been crafted to cover the real motivation…slashing MPD’s budget. The process for selecting MPD’s Chief was amended to let Flynn in at the last minute. Mayor Barrett is providing the mandate within which Chief Flynn must work.
On paper, eliminating the detective rank while pushing more work onto patrolmen allows the MPD to get the same work done for less money. Of course, the reality is there will be more cases like Sheri Storm’s.
Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not placing blame on the fine men and women on patrol. Actually, I’m told that it was the conscientious work of two patrolmen that led to Hoffman’s name being brought up in the UWM incident. Uniformed patrol is the front line of defense and they do good work every day, but I’m an advocate for a coordinated, team approach to attacking crime. Until we can afford a cop on every street corner, putting all your resources on patrol won’t get the job done.
If Tom Barrett doesn’t believe a quality police department is worth the money, what will that mean for Wisconsin if he becomes our Governor?
Do we want a Governor that sees public safety as just another budgetary item to take a back seat to other expenditures?
Posted in Home | Comments (17)
17 Responses to “Cool Car Helps Bring Joel Hoffman to Justice, Raises Questions on MPD Policy”
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March 11th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
After I wrote this post, one of my MPD sources has told me that two more women have come forward in the last day or so saying that Joel Hoffman assaulted them…that’s in addition to the incidents mentioned in my post above.
The media exposure seems to have definitely helped the MPD put this all together.
March 11th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
Roland, overall I couldn’t agree more with your position on this matter. As you and our other long time readers know, I was a big supporter of Flynn upon his arrival and during his first year. I specifically supported his effort to bring the Detective Bureau (particularly the Detective Bureau supervisors) back to the Department to work as a team rather than as the independent entity (think FBI and CIA) I observed throughout my career. That ruffled some feathers with friends of mine who are/were Detectives until I had the chance to explain my rationale. Most actually agreed with my assessment of the long standing problem which resulted in a “Them-Us” mentality and obstructionism within the Department thereby preventing the very kind of police work you refer to in this post. For example, I recall a conversation I had with a Detective Captain who was in charge of HIDTA. I suggested that his guys and my guys meet once a week to exchange information which might be helpful to both of our operations. His reply, “We don’t get into the street stuff”. I could go on and on with examples like this, but the point is that cooperation worked with some but not others. To be fair, I also encountered uniformed supervisors who had that attitude during my career. Pissed me off big time because we were all supposed to be on the same team with the same goal in mind.
That said, I have recently heard of some of the changes you refer to in this post and conclude that Flynn has gone way overboard in this revamping of the Department. First responding uniformed Officers have no business, let alone expertise, in handling major crime investigations which were traditionally handled by Detectives. I can see absolutely no way that this policy of having first responding Officers handle these initial investigations, which I’m told includes the collection of evidence, contributes to the reduction of response times or street patrol. To the contrary, this policy can only result in the reduction of Officer visibility unless, of course, he is eliminating the Bureau and putting them in uniform to patrol the streets in marked squads which makes no sense to me at all.
To be blunt, none of his policies you’re describing here makes any sense to me and are far from what one icon told me a couple years ago that Flynn is the “smartest police chief in the country”.
Roland, you have clearly made the very valid point of specialization and training required for these types of functions and the need for a distinction between the two ranks. What’s being implemented now is like a footbal coach saying that the positions of backs and linemen are interchangeable.
As for the positions of Acting Detective years ago, I do recall some of the background that you refer to with the lawsuit, but I also recall something about the Milwaukee Police Association (MPA Officer/Detective Union) pitching a bitch about coppers who were serving as Acting Detectives not receiving pay equal to that of Detectives even though they were performing the same function. It seems to me that Chief Breier responded to that by eliminating the Acting Detective position. There are a couple of our readers who were around back then and likely recall this much better than I do, so I hope if I’ve missed anything here that they jump in and clarify what I’ve written.
March 11th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
By the by, another question.
Evidently the perp had a sex-offender record.
What jail-time did he do? Looks to have been pretty short, no?
March 12th, 2010 at 9:53 am
Thank you Mr. Melnick. Your succinct articulation of this troublesome situation is appreciated. There are many changes, within several different government offices, that need to be made to prevent further victimization. Sexual assaults are devastating enough - when the legal system fails victims, it not only leaves others vulnerable to further assault, but adds proverbial ‘insult to injury’ to victims who receive no adequate (or compassionate) follow up (or appropriate possible prosecution of the offender) for the crime.
March 13th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Roland, you are wrong on your facts. Anybody who has been a cop for any period of time knows that sensitive crimes detectives handle felony investigations and police officers from districts have always handled the misdemeanor assaults, such as grabbing incidents. The officers who collect evidence are specially trained crime scene investigators. In some departments police officers do it all. You and others who think uniformed police officers are too stupid to investigate a robbery or burglary don’t understand the skill level and training of our police officers.
Police officers are very capable to handle most crimes. You are correct that the number of detectives is down, but the number of police officers is also down by probably a couple of hundred if not more, including the 100 uniformed cops wiped from budget. Fewer crimes to investigate should require fewer detectives on the force. Why should the uniformed ranks be sapped to support the higher level postions such as sergeants and detectives. If the officer postion is being reduced by hundreds is it fair to keep a fully staffed detective bureau and sergeant corps. I think not. The postions need to be reduced at all ranks, that is only fair.
Uniformed police officers doing grass roots level policing will give the MPD the biggest impact, not more detectives or sergeants.
Glenn posted on how he tried to get help from the drug unit and was turned down. Was it cops who drove down crime when you were in district three or was it police officers? How often did detectives come into your district to help you out. How often on hot summer nights did the detective bureau tell your lieutenants they were out of detectives and the cops should handle their own investigations?
The bottom line is uniformed cops are not stupid and every detective is not a superstar investigator. There are plenty of uniformed cops who can work circles around some of our detectives.
The specialized detective work you mention, such as homicide, etc. I am sure will not be turned over to police officers and it is foolish to think such. The basic robbery or burglary (who, what, when, where, how, why)does not take rocket science to investigate. Half the time the detectives who come out have no interest in the case because its not their district and its like you are bothering them when they get there.
Flynn has restored the honor and pride of the uniformed cop and restored them to their proper prominance in the department. The detective bureau no longer rules the police department like it did for the past 10 years. The uniformed branch is the backbone of the department yet was treated like the crazy aunt in the basement for years. Detectives and their bosses have been put back in their places where they belong-as support personnel, supporting the street cop when needed.
The patrol
March 14th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Knighthawk, I think you’re being a little too defensive in expressing your pride in yourself and others in the uniformed ranks. I also think I know a little about this stuff and am comfortable in my brief analysis of Roland’s post and Flynn’s policy. It is true that I had to work around the obstacles placed in front of us by many of Chief Jones’ policies as well as the incompetent and/or big egos of many on the Detective Bureau supervisory side as well as some on the uniformed Command side. Those big egos and incompetencies filtered down somewhat to some of our Detectives, including some of our Vice Squad personnel assigned to the Districts. Seemed some people were much more interested in who was getting credit for things than they were about accomplishing the overall mission of making neighborhoods safer and crime fighting.
Egos seem to have always been the major problem in MPD and, I’m sure, in every Police Department whether big or small.
As for your comment alleging that we think cops are “too stupid” to conduct these investigations, I think you’re reading more into this and letting your personal pride cloud your understanding of what Roland, and I, are trying to say here. I very much agree with you that we have always had some coppers who exhibited more ability and enthusiasm for the job than some of the Detectives they worked along side of and who demonstrated their big egos regularly.
The Bureau is a necessary function of the Department if the mission is to be accomplished in the most efficient and effective manner. They ARE a support operation just as the Tac Squad and every other “speciality unit” with the Patrol Bureau being the hub of the wheel. That was always my argument and will continue to be my argument, however I would never go so far as to say these support units should be diminished to the point of the seeming irrelevance once bestowed upon the Districts nor should anyone from the Districts revel in this disproportionate change that has taken place within the Department. If there is room for any reduction it is in the obese Command Staff. I again make the argument that Chief Breier got the job done with absolutely NO Assistant Chiefs and this guy has added one more to have 4 Asst Chiefs. And the Command Staff was full of people whose greatest decision in any given day was where they were going to have lunch - and if you wanted to see them sweat, just ask them a question about crime fighting. When Flynn was “grudgingly” going along with furloughs, he insisted on filling the vacant Asst Chief position caused by Dale Schunk’s long overdue retirement because he argued through his staff asst before the Common Council’s Finance & Personnel Committee, and against the request made by Alderman Bob Donovan, that to not approve this filling of the vacancy would result in a complete overhaul of the recently overhauled Command structure. To that I say bullshit!
You want more cops, here’s my answer. Better deployment; get rid of the Neighborhood Task Force and return to a District ASP operation; and trim the Command Staff including all those people whose last name ends in Chief. If you have Command Staff people working as a team rather than stuffing cigars in their mouths and stroking their egos as they did during my time, then you’d see a tremendous improvement. That would also contribute to improving the internal attitude which in turn would lead to a very significant reduction of this “them vs us” bullshit that seems to apparently be coming from the uniform side now (which is extremely disappointing to be hearing).
As for my Lieutenants calling and being denied help by the Bureau, it is true that we worked around these obstacles and that our team accomplished things that no other Districts were accomplishing - not because those coppers weren’t good enough to get the job done, but because they were not receiving any real direction and leadership from above. These were times when effectiveness meant running as a unit, not acting independently as a two man squad. And our effectiveness would have been very much greater had we received the cooperation from the heads of these other “specialty units” within the Department. As it was, we had some great “unoffical” help and communication with some of the Officers and Detectives assigned to those “specialty units”, and that was greatly appreciated by us as it very much contributed to the successes we were enjoying. Anyone who was part of our ASP teams can explain how much more effective that ASP concept was.
March 14th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
Knighthawk…I’ve never said cops are too stupid to investigate crimes. There are rockstars and shlubs in both ranks too.
If what you say about SCD never investigating a “grabbing” incident is true, I have a problem with that policy. Given all we know about sexual predators, these types of incidents should be taken more seriously.
Apparently you missed the part where I credited two patrol officers for cracking the UWM case. If I knew their names, I would have credited them directly.
Bottom line is that there was more than enough info available to ID Hoffman in Sheri Storm’s incident.
The overall point I’m making here is that budget cuts to the MPD will negatively impact the quality of service it provides.
March 14th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
This has been a really interesting thread to watch. I just wanted to thank all of you for your insightful thoughts and healthy, spirited debate.
Let’s all be glad this turd is going to get the dose of justice he so deserves.
March 15th, 2010 at 10:28 am
What about his previous employer - Shorewest? They seemed to have slipped by without anyone noticing that they hired a regsitered sex offender. I wonder how many more sex offenders are in their office.
March 15th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Your argument would cut the mustard if there were’nt more examples like this Knighthawk. Look at the case of Richard Bohannon. A murder victim, who was beat to death. Where were the superstars on that case. Had the bureau been involved, the case would have been immediately cleared as opposed to having a sick and injured report done. Where was the effort to treat Bohannon as a victim, and where was the…..canvas?
March 15th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
Larry Teet,
Most of the MPD detectives are lazy primadonas and could’nt find their buttocks with both hands. There are a few extremely talented detectives but the rest of the slobs have ruined it for the entire rank. The majority of detectives have gone for years without any real supervision because in most cases their supervisors are their buddies. Chief Flynn’s apparent goal is to get rid of the detective rank and I think it is about time.
March 16th, 2010 at 2:12 am
Obviously you work console, or are the late shift booker. Bring some meat to your argument with facts. I dont disagree that there are some people who are slugs in all ranks, many in suits. Please base your arguments on something other than your warped feelings which must have been hurt while you ate a baloney sandwich at the PPS kitchen.
March 16th, 2010 at 11:19 am
Larry:
I think you are well on your way to helping 6th Man make his point. Then, you cite one case with a “coulda woulda shoulda,” but any cop who gets his hands dirty can come up with a story on how a detective screwed something up.
That was quite the witty slam on the late shift booker (yes, sarcasm hidden in plain sight).
Your arguement doesn’t hold water as long as the MPD promotional exams (detective, sergeant, etc.) are nothing but civil service exams in which a slug police officer can do well on a test and become a detective, and thus a slug detective, with no real consequence. One of those slug detectives could have been the one that may have been sent.
March 16th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
What we all need to remember is that the last 6 chiefs have messed up the whole department pretty well. It’s been that way since the late 60’s. It’s unfortunate that the bureau has grown to be too big for it’s britches. But it was allowed and encouraged to happen. Most of the command staff past and present rose up out of the bureau. As such, the bureau has always been the belle of the ball. Now the new chief comes in, and he is not a bureau guy. He can’t figure out why we need so many Capt. and Lt. positions to supervise the CIB. Many of us never understood it either, even when we were assigned there. Stalker has it right about the tests. Any fool can take and pass a test. We have all seen both detectives who could not investigate thier way out of a paper bag, and sergeants who had no clue how to supervise a scene or what to do at some big event. They took a test and passed. That system has to be looked at and looked at hard. Many departments have officers work in the roles of detective (investigator) and sergeant (corporal) while they learn and master the job. When they get enough stamps in the book, then they get made (promoted). I’d like to see this new chief head in that direction. I’d also say to all, quit the whining and do the job. Cops, beat it down and knock on your doors. Write the detailed supps and then follow up. There is always time. (Milk out another hitch if you need to) Detectives, realize that you also need to do your part. Take what you got and run with it. If the officers were lazy and didn’t get much, tell the sergeant on em. Bust em out. That is the only way your gonna get better work from them. If you tell em, they just think your lazy. Report back to the cops once in a while on what happened with a case. Especially if you got somewhere with an officers info. That would go a long way with the patrol guys. Glenn, back when he was a Lt. used to have the cops and the detectives meet up with him and they all would talk about a case. The information would get shared, and everyone knew what direction to take next. Nobody, it seems does that anymore.
March 19th, 2010 at 11:54 am
I appreciate all the feedback. I love my job, love being a cop, and love the uniformed side of police work.
I hate to see our ranks dwindle away, while the department continues to promote into higher level positions that take away from the most important part of the department, the patrol cops! Fewer cops should equal fewer sergeants and should equal fewer detectives. This appears to be the direction the department is moving in right now.
Rocketman is right, the detective bureau has grown way too big over the years. The response to crime increases has been to make more detectives instead of finding ways to fight crime on the frontend. Chief Flynn has it right. Although I am not so sure the bosses (or some of their people for that matter) like it, moving bosses between the bureaus is also a good idea. Our bosses need to be better rounded in their knowledge base.
Don’t be fooled into thinking detectives are something special. They are simply promoted cops, some of whom have had the benefit of specialiazed training. The few really good ones work in homicide or robbery, leaving the rest of the detecitve bureau void of talent.
Milwaukee has a lot of detectives for its size and crime rate. We need more uniforms on the streets where it matters most, not more suits to take two hour lunches while the uniformed cops run ragged.
It’s time to get things right and Chief Flynn is getting things right, correcting the poor decisions made by the past 6 chiefs. We need him to stick around for a second term or who knows who will occupy that office if he doesn’t do so, that is a very scary thought.
March 19th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
I’m glad you have enjoyed the purple koolaid that has been served to you while you shuttle prisoners back and forth from CJF. Jim Jones would love a follower like you. Flynn has torn apart the ranks, and F’ed up the Dept further than any of the other cheifs. You and the rest of your cohorts will be paying for putting your trust in a snake oil salesman. While you are wondering about who will back you up in a battle for your life, your radio will malfunction and there may or may not be adequate personnell on the street to help you as your “chief” has slashed the number of all sworn members. The fight is not the bureau vs. the uniforms, its the workers vs. the city and the chief.
March 23rd, 2010 at 9:40 pm
To Larry Tate, Knighthawk, 6th Man and the rest of the coppers…I think we could all agree that the officer, detective, sergeant, lieutenant and captain ranks all have rockstars and shlubs and a whole bunch of just average people. The purpose of my posting was not to bash either rank but talk about how Mayor Barrett is diminishing the department rather than making it a priority.
You hurt yourselves and the integrity of your unions by infighting. The only people to benefit from a divided or fractured union are those who typically oppose it…in this case that would be the command staff, chief, mayor and his Fire and Police Commission. You make it easier for them to push you around, ignore your needs and concerns and drastically alter your career paths by doing an end run around your contract and legal precedents that got you there.
Regardless of your opinion about specific detectives, do you think it’s right that the rank will become extinct only to be replaced by “investigators” who are appointed rather than promoted…and make the same money as officers??? That’s the Mayor limiting your available career paths and paying you less in order to serve his agenda.
Now is the time for unity. I know that a sergeant is in a different union from officers and detectives, but Sgt. Murphy deserves the support of you guys. He is being punished for taking a stand against those who put a price tag on your safety.