Flynn spoke during a one-hour conversation with Mike Gousha, part of the former TV anchor's "On the Issues" series.,”Just days after being sworn in as the new Milwaukee police chief, Ed Flynn said at the Marquette Law School Thursday afternoon the city is determined to improve, and he's ready to take on the challenge. KK

Flynn spoke during a one-hour conversation with Mike Gousha, part of the former TV anchor's "On the Issues" series. KK

"I think there's a communal will here to see things improve and to be better," said Flynn, who was sworn in Monday as the 18th police chief in the city's history.

Flynn, the former police commissioner of Springfield, Mass., said he was drawn to the Milwaukee job because of both the challenges and opportunities the city faces.KK

"If you love what you do, you want to do it somewhere where all of your abilities are going to be thoroughly challenged," Flynn said. "I love policing in urban environments. I think urban policing in a diverse, democratic society is some of the most important work there is."

Flynn said he will employ community-oriented policing as a means to improve neighborhoods.

"The building block of effective policing is the neighborhood and the policing districts are made up of neighborhoods, Flynn said. "Our challenge is to make sure that neighborhoods feel that the police department is responding to their priorities."

But citizen calls for non-emergency services increase response time for serious emergencies, and takes away officers from the "public space," Flynn said.

"One of the challenges of community-policing is how do we get communities to accept that maybe it's not a good idea to have us go to your house for every single thing if you still want us to deal with the abandoned cars, graffiti, gangs, kids on the corner and the stuff that makes you afraid to go outside."

A complete report on Police Chief Edward Flynn's conversation at the Marquette Law School will be in Tuesday's Tribune.

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