WAUWATOSA — Wauwatosa Police Officer Joseph Mensah is resigning from the police department, the city announced Tuesday.
According to a release by the City of Wauwatosa, the Wauwatosa Common Council entered into a separation agreement between Joseph Mensah, the Wauwatosa Peace Officer’s Association, and the City of Wauwatosa.
Mayor Dennis McBride releasing a statement: “Now is the time for all of us to come together and heal. We’ve made substantial progress during 2020, and in the coming year we’ll continue to focus on positive change for our community. As before, I’m committed to working with the Common Council, the city’s Equity and Inclusion Commission, and members of the public to make that happen.
City leaders noted in their statement Tuesday “several steps” taken over the past few months “towards creating more equity” — work that is ongoing:
- Training for city employees on implicit bias, Milwaukee’s history and racial disparities, and for supervisors on ways to ensure a more equitable workplace, as well as stopping implicit biases from impacting hiring decisions.
- Adopting the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC)’s pledge to “Make Milwaukee a Region of Choice.” As part of this pledge, the city is to increase diverse management by 25% and diverse employment by 15% by 2025. Wauwatosa was the first municipality to join this effort.
- Banning chokeholds and carotid restraints on August 4, 2020.
- Posting police policies on the city’s website to enhance transparency.
- Creating an online complaint and commendation form for members of the public to submit comment about the Police Department without reporting to the Police Department building to do so.
- Purchasing body-worn cameras for the Wauwatosa Police Department.
- Hosting three community conversations in partnership with the Zeidler Group to hear from community stakeholders about how to build greater equity in Wauwatosa.
- Dedicating a focus area to the next Wauwatosa strategic plan about equity.
Stay tuned to WTMJ both on-air and online as we gather more details on this story
