The South Milwaukee Police and Fire Commission has chosen our next Police Chief: longstanding Milwaukee Police Department leader William Jessup.
The commission offered Jessup the job at its meeting on Thursday night, contingent on standard pre-employment testing.
Jessup has been with the Milwaukee Police Department for 27 years and currently serves as an assistant chief for MPD, heading its Investigations & Intelligence and Risk Management Bureaus, which include the Training Academy, Human Resources, Information Technology, Communications, Internal Affairs, Public Relations, and budgeting. Mr. Jessup has commanded MPD’s District 7 operations on the city’s northwest side, and has previously served as an MPD inspector, deputy inspector, lieutenant, detective and officer.
Jessup also has personal ties to the South Shore, having grown up in Cudahy, and working as a paid on call firefighter and emergency medical technician there before beginning his professional career in law enforcement.
William Jessup will officially start in January, and replace Ann Wellens, who is retiring after 28 years on the SMPD, including 12 as its chief. We wish Ann well, and welcome Bill to South Milwaukee.
Excellent choice.
Bringing in an outsider is a two way proposition. You get their expertise from where they came from but you also have to explain a lot of your policies that are different. I feel the more open discussions we have, the better chance we have of keeping the new chief. The use of security cameras could be one of the topics discussed..