This month Leadership Kenosha had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the legal system of the City of Kenosha. We started our day at Kenosha Police Department with a tour. During this time we were able to view aspects of the Department that every day citizens may not have the opportunity to observe including: a brief observation of dispatch and the workings of that unit, an overview of what a police officer’s day might look like, and meet and greets with various roles within the department.
After our tour, we participated in a session on positive conflict management. We were able to explore, as a group, what conflict is, why we tend to not like conflict, and ways we can treat conflict as positive and not negative. The group had an opportunity to put some of these techniques into practice with in person debate and discussion.
Before we left the Police Department for the day, we met with a panel that consisted of the Chief Circuit Court Judge, Deputy District Attorney, Public Defender Supervisor, and the Chief of Police. The group had the chance to ask questions about how the City’s judicial system works and what the City is doing to serve the citizens. The panel was able to speak to areas they saw room for improvement and were able to provide the group with steps we can take to impact outcomes of our community.
Leadership Kenosha finished the day at the Kenosha Correctional Facility. We toured the facility and spoke with a panel of persons in care. The panel shared their experience within the correctional system as well as some of their personal life details.
All of these experiences were opportunities. There is much more behind the scenes than what we see day to day. We all have external influences and biases that shape our thoughts of how our legal system works. During this session some of those may have been challenged for us. This experience also gave us the opportunity to see the City from a different perspective. We go about our day and don’t see the hard work that many people are putting in to bettering our community and helping our citizens.
—Heather Halbach
Posted on
January 23, 2024