At the time, Milwaukee had an extremely high crime rate, fueled by local gangs, mobs, thieves and robbers.

Milwaukee's first chief of police was William Beck, a former NYPD detective, and its first policemen were Fred Keppler, John Hardy, George Fische, James Rice, L.G.

[2] The office of police chief, like the department in general, was subject to political forces for most of its history; for example, in 1878 new Mayor John Black appointed fellow Democrat Daniel Kennedy as chief, and Kennedy promptly fired 25 Republican patrolmen (as part of the spoils system then prevalent).

[4][failed verification] On November 24, 1917, a large black powder bomb,[5] wrapped as a package, was discovered by Maude L. Richter, a social worker, next to an evangelical church in the third ward.

[5][8] The station keeper was showing it to the shift commander, Lieutenant Flood, right before a scheduled inspection, when it exploded.

[5][8] It was suspected at the time that the bomb had been placed outside the church by anarchists, particularly the Galleanist faction led by adherents of Luigi Galleani.

Those responsible for the 1917 bombing never were apprehended, but days later, eleven alleged Italian anarchists went to trial on unrelated charges involving a fracas that had occurred two months before.

[14] According to an investigation by the federal Department of Justice, in the second half of the 1970s, 22 people died while in the custody of the Milwaukee police.

[15] In September 1990, the department established a canine unit composed of six German shepherd dogs and six handler officers.

[24] In the early morning hours of May 27, 1991, 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone (the younger brother of a boy Dahmer had molested) was discovered on the street, wandering nude.

Jeffrey Dahmer, who had drugged and raped the boy, told police that they had an argument while drinking, and that Sinthasomphone was his 19-year-old lover.

[27][28] In 1994, two Milwaukee police officers, Gabriel Bedoya and John Koch, went on a shooting spree in the city of Chicago.

They fired shots at random into buildings on the Gold Coast of Chicago, including the residence of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin.

When denied entry to a nightclub, Bedoya shot the bouncer at close range in the head, killing him, and the two fled back to Milwaukee.

[30][31] In March 2005, press reports recount that Officer Alfonzo Glover shot Wilbert Prado eight times, killing him, after an off-duty traffic altercation.

[34][35][33] In November 2011, Officer Michael Edwards was in a shopping mall food court when his handgun accidentally discharged, causing a piece of debris to injure a bystander.

[41] In March 2012, a number of police officers were investigated for conducting strip searches in public on people they had arrested.

Despite video and document proof of having broken laws and violating department policies, these officers did not face criminal charges or departmental disciplining.

Officer Stephanie Seitz was investigated for perjury,[47][48] but Chief Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern declined to charge her with a crime.

[49] On April 30, 2014, a police officer, Christopher Manney, fatally shot and killed Dontre Hamilton, a 31-year-old African-American man who had been resting in downtown Milwaukee's Red Arrow Park.

Police Chief Edward Flynn fired Manney in October, saying he had violated department policy regarding a pat-down.

[52] On August 31, 2017, 19-year-old Jerry Smith Jr was shot & wounded by two officers on the rooftop of an apartment building near 29th and Wisconsin Avenue.

[56] Brown has expressed that he has rejected the offer in part due to his ability and sense of responsibility to use his platform as an NBA player to raise awareness.

[64] The current colors of MPD vehicles are black and white with "MILWAUKEE POLICE" and the department's badge emblazoned on both sides.

[66] As of 2018[update], Milwaukee police officers are armed with the Smith & Wesson M&P .40 S&W, which is the standard issue weapon for the department.

The most recent on-duty death was on February 7, 2023, where an officer was shot and killed while attempting to place an armed robbery suspect into custody.