OMC: Milwaukee used to be the city where they said you still get a ticket for jaywalking. But the community seems to have a better relationship with its police now. Even the Frank Jude, Jr., incident -- did people blame the officers more than they blamed the force? How is the situation better and how could it improve?

DJ: The Police Chief runs the department, but he or she does not do the hiring. The Fire and Police Commission does. So, when you have people who are recommended to not be hired by our background investigators and you have to hire them, you're going to wind up with people you didn't want to begin with. People who shouldn't be on the job, and that needs to change.

And, we are short a little less than 200 coppers. If the Common Council would approve them and let our department staff up, there would be more officers on the street, and that can deter crime on its own.

OMC: What else would you advocate?

DJ: Bringing up the staffing to where it should be. We could be more efficient and do a better job. We're doing a good job with what we have, but it could be better.

OMC: As you get ready to pass the torch, what lessons are you leaving your team? How would you like to be remembered?

DJ: I always wanted to make sure that with all the guys I worked with, if something happened to me, they could step up and take over. I trained the people to do my position. I would like to be remembered as a person who was fair, as a person who cared about his troops. Progressive enough to be able to get equipment that's to today's standards. Some of the equipment we had a few years ago was from the '60s and '70s -- older than some of the guys on the job. When Jones was on the job and I wanted to do firearms training, he told me to stand in the bay at the Police Academy and squirt water on the guys. That's goofy.

OMC: When you took me out in the harbor last summer, you jumped into the cold lake and made your team pull you out. They looked at me like, "I can't stop him, so we might as well play along." Did you lead by example? Was there a lot of trust in your unit?

DJ: You spend more time with these people than you do with the people at home. You build relationships that are long-lasting. You get to know your men and look out for their welfare. You do that how ever you have to, even if that means you have to sacrifice some things. Those are things I learned in the Marine Corps.

OMC: Sounds like you played a father figure role with your team.

DJ: Some of my contemporaries have said that I act too much like their father and not like their sergeant, and I said, "Well, I don't really care what you guys think, because that's the way that I am."

OMC: Are you getting emotional in these final few days?

DJ: Oh yes. I get pretty doggone emotional.

OMC: Your last day is Feb. 19. What are you going to do?

DJ: I'm going to come in at 6:30 a.m., attend role call like I always do, and if the captain asks me to say a few words, I hope that they give me about an hour. No, I'm just going to say thank you for the privilege of working with them. It's been an honor to work in this department.