Milwaukee PD: Organization Problems?

Spoke with a Milwaukee copper the other day.

He's very happy with the Glock decision--that is, to get rid of the Glock 22 (.40cal) in favor of the S&W M&P .40cal sidearm. Apparently, as reported on Patrick's blog, the newest Glock 22 has an under-barrel rail allowing attachment of a flashlight. That's not unusual; a lot of handguns have those rails. However, the addition of that piece of poly has changed the physics of the barrel-lockup and it caused stovepiping when the magazine was feeding its last few rounds.

Good decision.

But some other issues arose.

Ed Flynn's re-org of the MPD moved control from 7th/State to the various District commanders, which is an exercise of the principle of subsidiarity. That's usually a good thing, except that such a move, by its nature, is oriented only to those problems which are limited to the District in question.

Fine for a specific-neighborhood problem, or for enforcement of anti-cruising laws.

But NOT fine for city-wide problems, such as gangs and drugs.

In effect, the new command structure "silos" each District's drug or gang people, and City-wide communication regarding drug- or gang-related activities is hampered.

So far, things have gone well. But one wonders how long that can last.