Alderman Marina Dimitryevich, chair of the Milwaukee Common CouncilFinance & Personnel Committee, opened the Oct. 9 hearing on the mayorproposed 2026 budget for the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD), noting the committee would review the departmentrequest and hear from MPD leadership and budget staff. The department presented overall reductions in authorized positions and several targeted program changes, then answered detailed questions from alderpersons about recruitment, community policing and new technologies.

The mayorproposed MPD budget reduces total authorized positions and lowers overall payroll spending while increasing some operating and technology spending, MPD and City budget staff said. "Overall positions authorized went down 142," Tyler Callegaro, budget analyst, told the committee, and the budgetin totality was reduced by about $3.8 million. Callegaro said the proposal also uses a two-year average for buyouts, reduces long-standing unfunded position authority, and shifts some staffing emphasis from community service officers to police aides.

Why it matters: The package is largely an accounting and reallocation of position authority and operating resources rather than an immediate reduction in on-the-street sworn officers, MPD leaders and budget staff told the committee. Still, alderpersons pressed for detail on whether cuts affect service delivery and on the departmentapproach to civilianizing some functions and using new technologies.

Budget specifics and staffing changes
MPD budget staff said the proposal removed 192 longstanding, unfunded positions from the departmentordinance and reduced the total authorized headcount by roughly 142 compared with the adopted 2025 ordinance. Callegaro said salaries and wages would fall by roughly $4.7 million compared with the 2025 adopted level; revenue is projected to rise by about $9.92 million driven largely by charges for services.

The department is reducing the position authority for community service officers (CSOs) from 30 to 5 (the level at which the department is staffed today) while increasing the number of police aides by roughly 30. "Police aids, in general, are a good pathway to police officers," said an MPD representative; the department said it has been using police-aid positions as an on-ramp into sworn service and is putting those recruits into multiple work locations to broaden exposure.

MPD also removed 192 long-standing unfunded positions from the ordinance, Callegaro said. Operating costs are up about 9 percent overall and equipment spending is up by about $1 million; the department is increasing reimbursable vehicle maintenance and adding recurring information-technology operating costs tied to carryover purchases made in 2024.

School resource officer expansion, supervision and oversight
MPD told the committee it staffed 25 school resource officers (SROs) in 2025 and is proposing a supervisory structure to oversee the program. Chief Jeff Norman told the committee the program is meant to build relationships with youth and to provide continuity and supervision as the SRO effort expands.

"Without proper supervision, bad things happen," Norman said, explaining why MPD proposes a layered oversight model of sergeants and a captain to provide day-to-day supervision and a command-level oversight role.

Committee members pressed whether the supervisory structure is more elaborate than needed and whether the new structure would erect an expensive layer of management. Norman responded that early SRO deployment had been decentralized and hurried, and a consolidated supervision model is intended to provide consistent oversight and training.

Community service officers, police aides and recruiting
A recurring theme at the hearing was civilianization and how to enlarge non-sworn pathways into public-safety work. Alderman Scott Speicher labeled the proposal "cutting paper police" because the budget removes unfunded position authority that had remained on the books for years, and he framed the shift from CSOs to police aids as a move to strengthen the sworn pipeline.

MPD told the committee historically the CSO program never reached its expected scale; the department reported only five active CSOs recently, so the budget reflects funding at that operational level rather than an authority of 30. The department said police aides provide broader exposure to department operations and offer a stronger on-ramp into sworn service, which MPD said helps recruitment and retention in a post-Act 12 environment.

Fleet, facilities and the EV pilot
MPD reported continuing investments in fleet replacement and in an EV (electric vehicle) pilot. Assistant Chief Craig Sarno said the department had procured four EV vehicles for testing and installed chargers at pilot locations; three of the four vehicles were ready for deployment, assigned to a school-resource assignment, traffic safety and a short-run administrative vehicle. The department said it plans to rotate the vehicles across districts to gather usage data and evaluate program expansion.

MPD told the committee the fleet contains some very old vehicles (the department cited some Ford Crown Victorias from earlier eras and a patrol car with a 2001 in-service date) and said it prefers to replace patrol vehicles before the 100,000-mile warranty limit to reduce repair costs.

AI, records processing and early-intervention tools
MPD described pilot and procurement activity for AI-assisted tools in records processing, redaction and early-intervention case management. Chief Norman and assistant chiefs framed AI as both an opportunity and a governance challenge: MPD is testing automated transcription and redaction tied to body-worn camera and in-car video and bringing in a new early-intervention platform that uses analytics to detect performance issues earlier than the previous, trigger-based system.

Deputy and assistant chiefs described specific systems MPD is using or evaluating: Axon evidence services for video and transcription; a new early-intervention/case-management platform that will incorporate analytics and generative-AI features to help supervisory review; and commercial products that assist redaction and transcription. Norman told the committee MPD is exploring civilianizing its open-records function to improve response times and to reduce sworn time spent on extensive audio/video redaction.

Privacy, facial recognition and surveillance
Several alderpersons pressed MPD on facial recognition and automated license-plate reader (ALPR) use. Chief Norman said he remains "interested" in facial-recognition tools as an investigative aide but acknowledged public concern and the need for robust policy and local dialogue. He said CJIS-level access and strict controls would govern any data sharing.

"It is a very ... bad if you do or if you don't," Alderman Charlyn Moore said, reflecting the committeediscussion: some committee members urged caution and a pause until community and council questions are resolved; others described face-recognition and ALPR as tools that have helped clear violent crimes quickly in some instances.

Mental-health response, CART and alternative responses
Committee members pressed MPD on alternatives to traditional police response for mental-health calls. Norman described the Community Assistance Response Team (CART), staffing constraints and a desire to expand alternative-response options in partnership with DEC (the Department of Emergency Communications) and other city and county partners. He said that a large share of calls involve mental-health issues and that alternative-response pilots elsewhere (examples discussed included Albuquerque and Seattle models) informed MPD thinking.

Transparency, risk management and wellness
MPD highlighted investments in risk management and officer wellness. The department reported an active risk-manager program that rides shifts to provide real-time policy and documentation coaching to officers, and it described expanded officer wellness services including the Guardian app for 24/7 support and peer support protocols. Chief Norman told the committee that officer wellness and support are central to retention and to officersability to serve the public.

What the committee asked for and next steps
Alderpersons repeatedly sought additional data and follow-up memos: more detail on personnel-cost adjustments (PCA) and how the department calculated the 142-position reduction; a clearer accounting of the CSO vs. police-aid trade-offs; the planned SRO supervisory structure and expected costs; and details about AI pilots, data governance and privacy safeguards for any face-recognition deployment.

The committee did not take a vote on the MPD budget at the hearing. Chair Dimitryevich held the item to the call of the chair for further review and follow-up memos from MPD and the budget office.

Ending
MPD leadership told the committee the department would continue to work with the council on the details of the 2026 proposal and welcomed follow-up questions. The committee moved the item to the call of the chair to permit staff follow-up and additional documentation.