Nationwide racial tensions that have simmered in recent weeks over the deaths of African-Americans at the hands of police have not been lost on local law enforcement, even though the Shawano area does not have a large African-American population.
The concern locally, according to Shawano Police Chief Mark Kohl, are the misperceptions and miscommunication that can sometime exist between law enforcement and this area’s Native American residents.
Kohl briefly headed the Shawano Police Department back in 2001 and returned in April to take command again.
He said there were misperceptions on both sides that persisted when he was here in 2001 — stoked by comments, Kohl said, attributed to a previous chief of police, and some of those perceptions still exist.
“There was a perception that the Shawano Police Department goes after people of Native American heritage,” Kohl said.
Though there have been no formal complaints against Shawano officers, Kohl said he has seen postings in social media that have perpetuated that view.
“During the pow-wow, there were opinions out there on social media that Shawano police and the sheriff’s department were stopping cars during the pow-wow weekend, and they were focusing on tribal plates,” he said.
Kohl said a check of actual stops that weekend showed that less than a half dozen of the 27 cars pulled over had tribal plates.
Even so, Kohl said, he takes such allegations seriously.
“We can’t have those things happen,” he said. “Racism and a stereotypical response to different cultures will not be tolerated here.”
Kohl said the department will investigate any allegations, even if a formal complaint isn’t lodged.
“We shall investigate and we’ll let people know what the result of that investigation is,” he said.
Kohl said he has reached out to Menominee tribal leaders, and held a meeting with several tribal leaders last month, to discuss ways of furthering cooperation and communication.
“We want to collaborate, communicate and put our efforts together to fight crime and create good crime prevention programs, but also take down those stereotypical perceptions that at least that some may have not only on their side, but also on our side,” Kohl said.
With vacancies opening up on the force next year, Kohl said the department is also hoping to recruit Native American officers.
“I’m a firm believer that we should be representative of the community we serve,” Kohl said.
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