Bill Sell

Milwaukeans Write To Support Chief Nanette Hegerty’s commitment to justice in the Frank Jude Case

Dear neighbors, sisters, brothers,

Milwaukeans have been writing letters to Chief of Police,
Nanette Hegerty, and crying for justice. The Code of Silence is
terrorism, the power of the state protecting police who abuse
their office and intimidate citizens.

Chief Hegerty has asked for the support of the community in
her efforts to rid the police department of the scourage of
the Code of Silence. Please support her efforts by writing
a personal note of support today.

If you send us a copy of your letter to the Chief,
we will include your comments here
(anonymously or with your name, as you choose).

Mail to and
send a copy to
to be added to this page.

Dear Chief Hegerty:

I should like to compliment you on your first rate
service to Milwaukee. As a resident of Shorewood I am in
close touch with the activities of your department. Needless to
say, I and the rest of the community have been sorely upset at
the recent Jude verdict. I can only hope, and your tenure so far
gives me hope, that you will seek to find suitable remedies to
what appears to be a total miscarriage of justice.

Dear Chief Nanette Hegerty:

I would like to add my voice to the chorus, in expressing my
dismay at the outcome of the Jude case. Although I have not
scrutinized your every utterance on the matter, it appears to me
that you have both the native humanity and the political savvy
required to recognize that this event was representative of a
deep-lying, corrosive condition in the Milwaukee Police
Department, and that NOW is the TIME to capitalize on the
public outcry and media attention and MAKE the CHANGES
that must be made.

Please: Grab the out-stretched hands and hold on tightly! There
are many committed people in this community who will help
you, if you will become part of the leadership for real,
meaningful change. There are experts all over the world whose
brilliant insights can be harnessed to set things right. This is
your chance - don’t blow it!

Very sincerely and respectfully yours,

I walked home from rehearsal last night for young playwright
… presenting her new play - I’m on her senior committee at
MU. I jumped on a 10 [bus] on the west side of the viaduct.
When I got off at 53rd, I noticed a motorcycle cop behind the
bus with his lights flashing. He approached the bus with his
gun drawn. I kept walking towards my place. Then he holstered
his weapon … and he left. I don’t know what it was about, but
I’ve seen more Milwaukee police draw their weapons for no
good reason than I ever did in NYC.

Another time I was taking care of friends’ lovable, slobbery
brindle Boxer, Scoobie. I was talking to a friend in my back
yard, and I looked up and there was a cop with his gun drawn.
I’d left the front door open, and he said he thought it might be a
burglary in progress. He had his gun out because Scoobie had
tiger stripes, and dogs with tigers stripes are vicious. He wasn’t
kidding! He would’ve killed the dog.

My great-grandfather, Michael O’Connor, was a lieutenant on
the Milwaukee Police Department, so I would have reason to
give them slack. But I think there’s a poison there that has been
there since before Brier. Since at least Polcyn and Johnson.

Mike Neville