Police Chief Sees Progress Since Oak Creek, Newtown Shootings

With gun-related legislation stalled, it may feel like not much has changed in the wake of mass shootings in Oak Creek, Aurora, Colo. and Newtown, Ct. 

But Police Chief John Edwards said much has been done under the radar that may not have happened if not for those incidents. 

In Oak Creek, safety measures have been improved in schools thanks to work between the school district and police and fire departments, Edwards said, adding that the same has been done throughout the nation. 

Next month, the department is helping put on a safety and security seminar for Milwaukee-area churches. Held at Oak Creek Assembly of God, national church security expert Carl Chinn and others will address emergency readiness for ministries. 

In the months since the Sikh temple attack, which took the lives of six people, Edwards has advocated less controversial, more practical steps instead of focusing on polarizing ideas, like banning assault weapons.

He said progress has been made toward more information sharing between schools, police and mental health professionals.

That was a key part of two national summits he attended that brought together attorneys, researchers, school administrators and law enforcement officials. Guns were never brought up in those meetings—the group focused on violence as a whole, Edwards said. 

That was the same message he brought to President Barack Obama at a White House meeting in January. He told the president the focus should be not on gun violence, but simply "violence."

"My position is, I don't think guns are the problem," Edwards said. 

"It's about enforcing laws that are there, it’s about dealing with people with mental illness, felons who shouldn’t have guns, military people who were discharged dishonorably who shouldn’t have guns. We should have access to those records."

Not that everyone understood his position. 

Just by virtue of attending a White House meeting with Obama, Edwards said he received death threats. Phone calls and emails came in from throughout the country from people who assumed he shared all of the president's views.

The chief said he responded to each one and explained his views. Many were surprised what they heard.

"Because I went to the White House, people assumed my stance was 'get rid of all guns,'" said Edwards, who is an avid hunter. 

"I told the president, 'Of your 23 executive orders, there are some very good things in there,'" such as a law requiring stolen guns to be reported, Edwards said. "But nobody’s seen them because you lead with assault weapons ban and magazine ban." 

A year ago, the chief probably could not have imagined he would be thrust into a nationwide fury over how to stop violence. But after the attack on the Sikh temple, prominent people came asking for his opinion. 

"It was," Edwards said in an interview in his office earlier this week, "a very interesting year."

Video by Charlie Gorney

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