‘This Doesn’t Add Up’: Milwaukee’s Fire And Police Commission Under Fire

The Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission’s executive director, Griselda Aldrete, is under fire after a long-time staffer resigned alleging detailed criticisms of mismanagement and concern from Common Council members about transparency. Meanwhile, members of the fire and police departments are standing behind her.

Aldrete was criticized Monday by a former staffer for restructuring “the FPC organizational chart so that she no longer directly supervises,” and “intentionally chosen to withdraw and take a hands off approach to her statutory obligations.”

During a Milwaukee Steering and Rules Committee meeting Thursday, Aldrete defended her work as the head of the commission.

“Honestly I love the job,” Aldrete said during the meeting. “I love how I’m being stretched, I love how I’m growing, I love how I’m utilizing a lot of different skill sets that I probably don’t know I have yet. But I’m also prioritizing, and part of the prioritization means I have to have open dialogue with the departments to know how I’m going to prioritize not just my time but our department’s time.”

After hearing from Aldrete, Alderman Robert Donovan called for an investigation into both Aldrete and Milwaukee’s Fire and Police Commission (FPC).

Established in 1885 by the Wisconsin Legislature, the FPC is the country’s oldest citizens review boards. The commission establishes recruitment and testing standards, hears disciplinary appeals, investigates citizen complaints, and disciplines for misconduct. It consists of seven part-time citizen board members and 28 full-time professional staff positions who are led by the executive director.

Currently under Aldrete, only 14 professional staff positions are filled. Aldrete, who was appointed by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and confirmed by the Common Council on July 30, started full time on Sept. 10. During Thursday’s committee meeting, she said four people had resigned, three people had been fired, and two people are on family or medical leave. Aldrete said she has hired four more staff members but the commission still has six vacancies.

“In order for me to know when I’ll be at full strength, I also need the opportunity and space to assess what this department also needs,” Aldrete said.

She continued to say that the commission is handling a lot of disciplinary appeals, 42 open records requests, eight investigations and 19 standard operation procedures reviews.

“I have to assess … all of the things the FPC as an oversight body has to do and then prioritize,” Aldrete said.

Thursday’s meeting follows the Monday resignation of a commission investigator, who put in her notice with a public four-page resignation letter. Cheryl Patane was an 11-year veteran with the commission and resigned in protest of the new management team’s procedures. She said in her letter, “the current management team has in a very short period of time demonstrated a frightening ignorance of FPC operations.”

The commission also lost its operations manager, Clifton Crump, in early September before Aldrete started full time. In an email announcing his resignation, Crump said he was a scapegoat for the “longstanding structural and historical problems of the FPC.”

While past staffers remain concerned, Barrett released a statement following the meeting, praising Aldrete for her work.

“Under the leadership of Fire and Police Commission Director Griselda Aldrete, the department is undergoing changes to increase accountability and transparency. The Mayor is very supportive of these efforts,” he wrote.

Aldrete is also seeing support from the police and fire departments. During the meeting, both departments testified and praised the executive director for accomplishing goals put on hold by previous staff.

“I have communication with her at least six to seven times a week regarding situations related to the police department. We have a very open line of communication.” Milwaukee Police Department Assistant Chief Michael Brunson said. “I think that she’s come in and done a fantastic job with the shortages that she has.”

The FPC handles the recruitment and training process for both departments. They said Aldrete and her team have answered more questions and have filled positions the departments have been asking for since 2017.

“We are getting an extremely large amount of work done right now in the past three in a half to four months.” Milwaukee Fire Department’s Assistant Chief Aaron Lipski said.

But some members of the Common Council were unsure why the departments didn’t voice concerns or frustrations before Aldrete took her position. Alders Robert Bauman and Nicholas Kovac didn’t understand how quickly the work is being done with a staff shortage.

“This doesn’t add up.” Bauman exclaimed during the meeting. “You are doing twice the work with half the staff according to the police departments and fire departments.”