Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman was re-appointed to his second four-year term on June 26.
The city’s Fire and Police Commission, the oversight body that handles hiring of the police chief, voted unanimously to reappoint the lifelong Milwaukee resident to his post as chief. Norman, who first joined the department in 1996, could remain in Milwaukee until nearly the turn of the decade.
Norman’s re-appointment will come with a significant raise to $243,000, up from the $177,112.44 he made a year ago. The new contract will begin on Nov. 15.
“It’s an honor and a pleasure to be in a position to be considered for reappointment, understanding there is a lot of things we can be proud of with our department, with our community,” said Norman, who appeared virtually from a law enforcement conference.
Norman’s rehiring was expected following a majority of commissioners signaling support for re-hiring Norman at a June 6 meeting. Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, who has no formal say in the hiring, previously said he supported it as well.
Some community support seemed to be in place as well, with different community groups signaling their support for him as well in submitted letters or in public testimony. However, at the June 26 meeting, some of the first community opposition to Norman’s reappointment was shared by activists to the hiring body.
“I’m convinced that Chief Norman’s reappointment is in the best interest of the police department and the city of Milwaukee,” said Miriam Horwitz, chair of the Fire and Police Commission, who supported his reappointment. “There has never been a chief who has not had some criticism, because the job of being the chief of police inherently requires some decision making that not everybody agrees with.”
Horwitz and other commissioners cited Norman’s work to implement community policing and largely a decline in city crime since he became chief.
Many detractors were members of the activist group the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. They raised concerns with the department’s interest in facial recognition technology and his virtual attendance from the meeting.
Norman previously told the Journal Sentinel he would take the offer, if the commission extended it.
Norman, who is in his 29th year in law enforcement, has spent his entire policing career with the city’s department.
He was hired as acting chief of the department in 2020 and named police chief the following year, following the retirement of another acting chief and the controversial removal of former chief Alfonso Morales in 2020.
The Milwaukee native was first hired in 1996 and served as a lieutenant in the homicide unit and captain of District 3, which includes parts of the central city and west side.
Norman was hired as chief, in part, due to his track record of community engagement.
Since being named chief, Norman has led the department through the crime spikes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, heavy local and state policy change after George Floyd’s murder prompted national outrage and policing during the Republican National Convention.
Rocky periods have occurred during his tenure as well.
During the Republican National Convention, he and the department came under scrutiny after Columbus, Ohio, police officers shot and killed Sam Sharpe Jr. The officers, who did not face charges in the shooting, shot him about a mile from the convention’s perimeter after the officers saw Sharpe appear to move toward another man while wielding knives.
The department also came under scrutiny for its handling of events in the lead-up to the homicide of Bobbie Lou Schoeffling. Schoeffling, a 31-year-old mother of two, had been reporting abuse and threats from her ex-boyfriend.
In 2024, Norman was a finalist for the police chief position in Austin, Texas, but was ultimately passed on for the role. At that time, a department spokesperson said Norman remained “steadfast” in his commitment to Milwaukee.
The chief previously declined to tell the Journal Sentinel in May whether he has applied for other jobs as his term approaches its end in Milwaukee. He said he was focused on reappointment locally.
The shooting of Sharpe, along with the communication surrounding it, and Norman’s interest in another department was cited as a reason not to reappoint the chief by Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression activist Alan Chavoya during the Fire and Police Commission meeting.
“We don’t trust Chief Norman,” Chavoya said. “I cannot stand idly by.”
His physical absence prompted Commissioner Krissie Fung to attempt to stall the vote to a future meeting. She was critical of the hiring body’s decision to hold the meeting when Norman could not attend and to hold community comment sessions on his rehiring the same day as the No Kings protest. It failed to pass.
Norman’s virtual attendance was alerted to the Fire and Police Commission in advance and Leon Todd, the executive director of the body, and Horwitz assured him it would not be an issue, Todd said.
“That is a situation in which we have set him up for failure,” Fung said.
Norman’s pay appears to have been negotiated in the months leading up to his reappointment discussions. The Fire and Police Commission’s executive committee met in closed session four times regarding senior law enforcement pay.
While the city of Milwaukee’s Common Council sets the pay range for the chief of police position, the Fire and Police Commission ultimately selects what the salary is in that range.
Todd, the commission’s executive director, previously told the Journal Sentinel he could not address what was discussed in those meetings.
David Clarey is a public safety reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached at dclarey@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee’s Police Chief Jeffrey Norman reappointed to new four-year term
Reporting by David Clarey, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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