Wauwatosa residents press city to fire Officer Joseph Mensah, overhaul policing after three fatal shootings

Hundreds of people filled a public listening session in Wauwatosa on July 22 to demand the firing of Officer Joseph Mensah and broader changes to the Wauwatosa Police Department following three fatal encounters in recent years.

The session brought family members of the victims, attorneys, state lawmakers and longtime residents to the microphone to press the mayor and common council for immediate action. “This man is still walking around with his revolver ... I'm not gonna rest until it's done,” said Tracy Cole, the mother of Alvin Cole, addressing the council.

The calls for removal were tied to three deaths attributed to Officer Mensah over a roughly five‑year span and to concerns about racial profiling and the department’s handling of previous investigations. Attorney Kimberly Motley, who represents the Cole, Anderson and Gonzalez families, told the meeting, “Alvin Cole did not shoot his gun at any police officer,” and urged continued investigation and public records production. An attorney who identified herself as of counsel with Motley Legal said traffic‑stop and use‑of‑force data show wide racial disparities; she said about “70 to 71 percent” of traffic stops involved Black drivers in a city she described as roughly 86 percent white.

Why it matters: speakers said the events reflect both specific failures — they urged that Officer Mensah be fired and criminally charged — and long‑running patterns in Wauwatosa policing and civic life that they said have made people of color feel unsafe. Several speakers tied their demands to institutional changes including better…