Part of the reimagining of police includes sending psychologists and social workers, who are unarmed, in lieu of armed police officers to certain calls.
Among those calls would likely be minor neighbor disputes, like one community service officer had with his neighbor in Milwaukee when he was shot and killed, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Community Service Officer Naeem Sarosh, 35, was attempting to complain about grass clippings to his neighbor Mohammed Afzal, 65, when Afzal responded by shooting and killing him.
The Sentinel reported that the two had many disputes living next to each other for years and it came to a head last Monday when Sarosh complained to Afzal about grass clippings after the latter had finished cutting his lawn.
The interaction was caught on a camera affixed to Afzal’s home, the complaint said. After knocking, Sarosh turns away from the door and walks back to his side of the property and awaits Afzal’s answer.
The two then appear to have a relaxed conversation, the complaint said. Sarosh stands with his hands in his pockets, leaning slightly backward and makes no sudden movements. He motions toward the grass as he speaks while Afzal stands in the door threshold.
But then Afzal suddenly raises a gun and fires at Sarosh, who turns and runs back toward his home. Afzal fires a second time, striking Sarosh in the back.
Afzal said he answered the door with his gun in has hand and fired it because Sarosh had his hands in his pockets and he believed he could have a weapon.
This was not a call that Sarosh was called to, but this is the type of situation a community service officer would be called to, unarmed, according to a press release from 2006 that describes what a community service officer would be in Milwaukee.
“The final report of the Community Services Staffing Task Force, chaired by Ald. Terry L. Witkowski, calls on the Common Council to pass enabling legislation to create the community service officer position,” the press release said.
“The CSO would be a civilian position in the police department that responds to non-emergency calls for service, traffic control, traffic incidents and other matters not requiring an armed...
