Milwaukee Ald. Bob Donovan gained a pugilistic reputation literally overnight. The alderman had his chin cut in a scuffle with a unruly drunk harassing people in front of a South Side grocery store. The man was also urinating. As bystanders stood by doing nothing, the alderman -- on his way to a meeting -- accosted the man and the drunk proceeded to hit Donovan and the two went to the ground in what could be described as something out of the World Combat League.

In introductions at a Common Council committee meeting the following day, Donovan was addressed as "Ald. Bob 'Dukes' Donovan" and "Ald. Balboa."

The latter title came from Police Chief Ed Flynn, who congratulated Donovan by saying, "It's important that at least you went the distance."

Chief Orator: Speaking of Flynn, he has become quite deft at addressing the Common Council. When asked to discuss problems with the department's $7.3 million Crime Data System, which hasn't worked since MPD got it, the chief basically said management in the department wasn't smart enough to deal with it. But he said it in a way that no one can quite come away offended.

Flynn, who inherited the system when he took the reigns earlier this year, said MPD supervisors overseeing the system were "somewhat overmatched" when it came to working with the vendor to fix the problems. He said perhaps the department wasn't able to "get the attention of those who speak the language."

Flynn nabbed headlines early when he reached out to business leaders in town asking for technology assistance for the department. He said he and a few local CEOs met with the CEO of Tiburon, the system's vendor, and "it was kind of fun to watch those guys slap this guy around."

He said he wouldn't fill a deputy inspector position and instead hire an IT expert for the department to deal with the technology needs of the department.

"Ultimately, it's a supervisory issue," he said. "I've got a lot of optimism about the adaptability of our people and our willingness to adapt is very much dependent upon how rapidly we're able to get the thing to work."

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