Anne E. Schwartz, Public Relations Manager for the Milwaukee Police Department, sports a resume more complete than three women her age. You might remember Schwartz when she was a reporter at Channel 12 or Channel 4, or perhaps when she was the managing editor at the Waukesha Freeman or as a young reporter for the old Milwaukee Journal's Green Sheet.
But you probably remember her work on the biggest story she ever covered: the gruesome tale of Jeffrey Dahmer, which she broke nationally in 1991. Her reporting earned her a book deal, a gig on Court TV and even a Pulitzer Prize nomination. And in a career that has twisted and turned through Milwaukee's media landscape, the sassy, frankly honest and incredibly dedicated Schwartz is back working with the people whom she identifies with most: Milwaukee cops.
For the last three years, Schwartz has put the public face on a department led by Chief Nan Hegerty, weathering some difficult stories but always pledging the "unfiltered truth." It's a commitment that this former police beat reporter takes very seriously.
We sat down with Schwartz recently for another edition of Milwaukee Talks:
OMC: In your position, do you feel ready for any question the media can ask you, because you've already been on the other side?
Anne E. Schwartz: That's really why the chief wanted to put me in this position. I spent 26 years on the other side, asking the questions. But the immediacy of the job of journalist is very different now. You used to have time to put the story together. Back when I started at the Journal as a stringer for the Green Sheet in '87, it was wonderful. I got to be in the newsroom when I wasn't waitressing at the old Coffee Trader. But now, I'm rarely surprised by a question. I can always figure out the questions they're going to ask.
I have to laugh, because I was always a "glass full" kind of person, but the chief jokes that I'm her "glass empty" person. I always think about how something is going to be bad.
OMC: So you literally play "bad cop?"
Schwartz: I always come up with the (scenarios in which) the story is going to be bad.
OMC: Do you craft your messages, then, with the knowledge of how it will be perceived?
Schwartz: Sure, my job is to shape the public perception of the Milwaukee Police Department.
OMC: In the briefing room this morning, I noticed how young the TV and print reporters were.
Schwartz: Oh yeah, I felt really old in there. Sometimes I'll talk about the Dahmer case, and some of them weren't even around.
OMC: Do you think it's interesting that a police beat is typically a starter job in the media?
Schwartz: I always thought it was the best beat in the newsroom. Every single place I've worked -- and clearly, I've worked in a lot of places -- I always wanted the police beat. And I was good at it, because I enjoyed it. A lot of times (reporters) don't enjoy it, because it takes you to neighborhoods that you're not used to going to. Sometimes you have to talk to cops who don't like the media. And the victims ... it's a very difficult job.
I was a professor for many years at Carroll College and now at MATC. At Carroll, I taught a beginning newswriting course, and I loved that. You don't get to complain about the business and the people doing the job if you don't have some sort of hand in helping or educating.
Through MATC and the Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command, I teach media relations to law enforcement officers all over the country. I give them a seminar on media relations, like how to deal with the media in officer shootings. Or what do you do when big media comes to town, or writing policy and procedures. I also teach building relationships with the media in getting pro-active stories out there, and they even learn how to write a press release.
OMC: You have one of the most interesting resumes of anyone I have ever met. Can you give our readers the abridged Anne E. Schwartz story?
Schwartz: I always wanted to be a writer. I never wanted to be anything else. I went to Missouri's journalism school, where you write for the local paper. You make real people angry when you spell their names wrong. I was covering crime even then.
I got out of school and went to Washington, D.C. I'm fluent in Spanish, so I worked for an organization called the Council For Hemispheric Affairs. They were concerned even back in 1982 about immigration reform. I did a lot of reporting on the Hill for their newsletter.
OMC: Why did you come back to Milwaukee?
Schwartz: My mother died in 1987 and I came back here to help my dad -- I'm an only child. I contacted one of our old neighbors who's still the drama critic at the Journal Sentinel and asked if there was any way to get my foot in the door there. He brought me in to talk about being a stringer, and they said they would give me a try. I started stringing for the Green Sheet, and I never thought there was a silly story. Anything they asked me to, I would do. And I think I got that reputation in the business, for good or bad. I was aggressive about getting stories.
Eventually they had an opening for the weekend cops reporter, and this was probably the worst shift in the world -- 3:30 p.m. to midnight, 1:30 a.m. on Saturday.
OMC: So it was great for your social life?
Schwartz: For me, being able to write the cover stories, I didn't care. My office was here at the Police Building. I shared it with a Sentinel reporter. This was before we had cell phones, so if we had a really hot tip, we had to run out in the hallway and use a pay phone to call it in.
OMC: Was it hard to be a woman in the industry then?
Schwartz: Yeah, it was a little different, because there weren't a ton of females in the department. I just kind of tried to make my way. But the cops always said that I was fair, which is all I ask of the media now.
OMC: OK, you're killing me with anticipation. And then?
Schwartz: And then I got a call from a source on July 22, 1991, who says, "You're not going to believe what we found in this apartment." I've never revealed the source's name, but it's the person who changed my life, I suppose. At first, I thought he was messing with me.
I got to the scene, because it sounded too weird. When I got there, I knew some of the officers, and I was allowed to go into (Jeffrey Dahmer's) apartment. This is right when this happened, and none of the media was there. I was the first person on the scene, and the only reporter allowed in the apartment. The first TV that started showing up was about 4 or 5 in the morning, and I was there before midnight.
It was pretty clear that this was something that nobody could really grasp. That was the piece that I wrote about in the paper the next day. There was the big headline: "Body parts litter apartment," but then there was a mood piece about what had happened to the neighborhood.
OMC: Was it hard to separate your job from the disturbing images you saw that night?
Schwartz: I always had distance, maybe more than was healthy. I always saw it as an amazing story. I try not to look at them and have that personal reaction. I was shown Polaroid photos that Dahmer had taken of his victims in various stages of dismemberment. Those were very difficult to look at.
OMC: Was this the best story you ever wrote?
Schwartz: Yes, it was. You see these shows and they talk about your best moment, and I can always remember the absolute best moment of my life to date. It was the morning of July 23. I had worked all night. It was a single byline story, and they ran it on the front page of The New York Times with my byline. That's how I got a book deal.
OMC: And you were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, right?
Schwartz: I was told that the paper did nominate its coverage, but I never got a letter. They nominated their staff.
OMC: And somehow, this story did not lead to a full-time job at the paper?
Schwartz: No, not for me. I was a part-time reporter. I was so crushed, but every time something happened that seemed awful, something better came to fill its place. I had the book deal -- in fact, I signed a two-book deal -- don't ask where the second book is. I was asked by Court TV to cover the trial. Locally, the news director at Channel 12 asked me to come be a part of his nightly coverage. So every night after I covered the trial during the day for Reuters and Court TV, I'd come to Channel 12 at night. When the trial was over, Channel 12 offered me a contract to be a reporter and cover crime. Then I moved from Channel 12 to Channel 4, then to the Waukesha Freeman, where I was managing editor for four years. Then I was at the Business Journal briefly, because they offered me a lot of money.
While I was there, I had lunch with then State Senate Majority Leader Mary Panzer, who said she was interested in having someone work as the communications director for the Senate Republicans. I said I would be interested in that, because it was becoming clear to me that I wouldn't be able to work in print media anymore here, that there wouldn't be a place for me.
I went to work for her in '03, and that's when Nan Hegerty became Chief of Police. We had spoken, and she expressed interest in bringing back a public relations position to the Milwaukee Police Department.
OMC: How did you know the chief?
Schwartz: I've known her for a long time, maybe 15 years, through work. I enjoyed her, and after she became the U.S. Marshall, we developed a friendship. But I didn't get hired because we were friends; she really believed in me and thought this was a great fit. I have not a single day where I woke up and said, "Yuck, I don't want to go to work today."
OMC: I could be wrong, but it seems to me that, despite the Frank Jude, Jr. case, there's less negativity surrounding MPD than there was during the Art Jones era. Why is that?
Schwartz: The community loves the chief. They believe that she has their best interest at heart. They believe that if they complain about something in their neighborhood, she will find someone who will help those people. She has created liaisons to the African-American and Hispanic communities. We have partnerships with the local sports teams to build a positive image in the community. We don't want young people to grow up hating the police.
OMC: I found it interesting, for example, that people didn't blame the police for any part of the disappearance of those two young boys last year.
Schwartz: That comes from the Henning and Parker families, because they were so positive. Gary Henning and Dennis Frasier, the uncle and grandfather of Quadravian Henning, graduated from our Citizen's Academy, because they were so impressed with the job the police did during that investigation. It was a big deal for me, personally, because the FBI said that I would do the talking for the investigation.
OMC: Is that their style?
Schwartz: No, not at all. But to have that kind of trust from that agency and from this chief was really good.
OMC: Your job is pretty much 24/7. You're always on the record and always in the public eye ...
Schwartz: I'm also a bad date, because you never know when I'm gonna run out of the room.
OMC: Is that challenging at this point in your life?
Schwartz: I just turned 46, and this is exactly where I want to be. I have a job that I love. How many people can say that? But it is challenging, because I never know. I have a pager on all the time, no matter where I am.
OMC: For someone who has done many things in her career, do you expect to stay at this job for a while?
Schwartz: I'd love to stay in this position. I get to so many good things -- I love it here. I'm a 46-year-old single woman, but I also have all the male company I could ever need. I have always loved being around cops. I love their courage, their stories, their bravery. I love their sense of humor, which is a little strange. It's a fun place to be.
OMC: Why do you stay in Milwaukee?
Schwartz: Because I'm from here. I was born in New York, but I'm from here, and I love this city. I've made a name for myself -- for good or for bad -- but I like it here. My family is here.
OMC: In your vast free time, where are some of the places you like to go?
Schwartz: Well, Crazy Water, of course, because my cousin owns it. La Perla is a favorite. I'm a cigar smoker, so I love to go to places that are cigar-friendly. I know it doesn't seem like a terribly lady-like habit, but I enjoy it. I like to go to Yanni and the bar at the Capital Grille.
OMC: Do you find yourself getting recognized in public?
Schwartz: I do, but they usually say thank you for the job you do, and that's so gratifying to hear that. I wish they'd say that to our officers instead of to me.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
