Masjid Al Qur’an hosts retirement party for two MPD officers

Photos by Sandra Whitehead

Milwaukee Police Department Community Liaison Officers Tracey Geniesse and Carrie Resnick (left, front) were honored at Masjid Al Qur’an on their retirement for their years of service to the community. Also shown (left-right) are Lt. Shannon Taylor, District 4 Captain Theresa Janick, Imam Hafiz Shafique and MPD Police Chief Jeffery Norman. 

Some may be surprised a Wisconsin mosque threw a party Wednesday for two retiring police officers, but we shouldn’t be.

“They are our family,” said Masjid Al Qur’an Imam Hafiz Shafique about Milwaukee Police Department Officers Tracey Geniesse and Carrie Resnick, who have served for a decade and a half as MPD District 4 community liaison officers and about 25 years in the MPD. 

Masjid Al Quran, at 11723 W. Brown Deer Rd., is located in the heart of MPD’s District 4, an almost 30-square-mile area with more than 90,000 residents. The two honorees have been the vital link in a unique relationship between District 4’s communities of faith and the MPD, speakers at their retirement celebration agreed. 

About 40 people gathered in the masjid’s basement Wednesday to honor the dynamic duo and share a meal. About half the attendees were Muslims from the Masjid Al Qur’an community plus a few Muslim guests from parts of Greater Milwaukee. The other half were District 4 police officers, MPD Police Chief Jeffery B. Norman and leaders of faith organizations located in District 4.

MPD’s faith-based initiative

Around 15 years ago, MPD launched the Faith-Based Initiative, which aims to build strong relationships between the police and faith-based organizations in each district. It engages faith communities in work to stabilize neighborhoods and reduce crime. These organizations and MPD could bring their resources to the table to help build a better future, an article in the 2012 MPD Annual Report explained. Community liaison officers were tasked with strengthening trust between residents and the police, and engaging faith-based organizations in the process. 

District 4 “hit the ground running,” the Community Liaison Officers told the Wisconsin Muslim Journal in an interview at their retirement party. About 35 faith-based organizations are working together in the district. Masjid Al Qur’an, an early member and the only Muslim organization in the district, jumped in with both feet.

Imam Hafiz Shafique (center) introduces his friend Phil Kremsreiter, a resident of District 4, to MPD Police Chief Jeffery Norman (right). Seated (left to right) are Masjid Al Quran president Tariq Siddiqui and board member Omar Mallick.

Faith-based organization leaders and the community liaison officers began meeting monthly to make plans. Among their first steps, volunteers donned bright orange vests with shiny lettering that said, “Milwaukee Police Department District 4 Faith Based Community Action Team” and went to the neighborhoods. In the winter, they shoveled snow from sidewalks. In the spring and summer, they picked up trash.

The District 4 team created a resource guide of services provided by the faith-based organizations and held outreach programs in troubled neighborhoods. They held winter clothing drives and hosted summer activities for local families and youth. They worked with Milwaukee Public Schools to provide leadership training and mentorship to high school students. Officers also partnered with domestic violence advocates to visit victims and provide resource information.

“We brought this together to bring interfaith into neighborhoods that were struggling or affected by crime,” Officer Geniesse explained, “We picked neighborhoods highly affected by homicide, youth crimes and violence. 

“We went to the neighborhood as a group,” she continued. “We went into the same neighborhood every other weekend, whether it was 30 below or 100 degrees. We did that for about two years. It actually reduced crime.”

Officer Geniesse’s “most memorable moment as a CLO” was “getting rid of the major drug house in a neighborhood,” she said in a recent MPD Facebook post. “They caused havoc in the neighborhood and there were shootings. We were able to move those tenants along and create that safe neighborhood. That’s extremely rewarding to know you are able to help people realistically.”

At District 4’s Faith Based Appreciation Days in May, members of faith communities provide breakfast, lunch and dinner to police officers in gratitude for their service.

Strong ties

“I’ve been a CLO officer for 13 years,” Officer Resnick said in the MPD Facebook post. “I find it very rewarding because we have built so many friendships and relationships with people out in the neighborhoods—people I would call and say, ‘Hey, you want to go to dinner?’ 

“It’s a very true relationship. When we’re out at an event and have people come up and ask for a hug because we have made such a difference in their life, when they were going through a critical moment.”

Neither of the community liaison officers had personally known Muslims before they started working with Masjid Al Qur’an on these projects, they said. “I’ve learned about their prayer rituals because during our events, they would say, ‘We’re going to cut off the music for a few minutes because we are going to pray,” Officer Resnick said. “And the fasting in Ramadan. I didn’t know that was in the culture. The best part is we would ask questions to learn more and they would explain,” she added.

“We’re able to learn so much more about each other personally. These people are all family to me,” Officer Geniesse said, gesturing at the group gathered at Masjid Al Qur’an. “What has really touched me, besides our friendships with them, is that they have all formed friendships with each other.”

“Through years of working together, we have all become friends,” Imam Shafique agreed. “We visit each other’s places of worship. We host events together. Now we are family. They know us, understand our values and practices. They come to our masjid; we go to their churches and organizations. We are not strangers.” 

Events all year long

In addition to work in neighborhoods, District 4’s team hosts events throughout each year. In May, they celebrate Police Appreciation Day, serving meals at the station all day long—breakfast, lunch and dinner, with different organizations taking shifts,” Imam Shafique said. “We started getting requests for samosa and some of our sweets.”

Next is Safe Summer Kick-off, a fun day for families and youth with lots of food and inflatables, along with safety lessons given by police officers.

They hold summer picnics with youth activities and National Night Out, a national celebration of police-community partnerships. MPD officers bring their horses, police cars and other attractions for children. 

They also celebrate a new national event, Faith & Blue, launched in 2020 through the U.S. Department of Justice.

It is based on the idea that “the ties that bind officers and residents must be reinforced … to build neighborhoods where everyone feels safe and included,” its website states. “Faith-based organizations are key to building these bonds because they are not only the largest community resource in the nation, but because they are as diverse as our nation.”

“We reach out to the neighborhood and try to let everyone know about the events,” Imam Shafique said. And when they come, “people always see us there with our youth and members of our community.”

Importance of interfaith engagement

As speakers praised Officers Geniesse and Resnick for their success in collaborating with faith-based organizations, they also highlighted the importance of this approach.

MPD Chief Norman noted, “It takes all of us from different backgrounds. We understand we cannot do it alone.” Chief Norman, who has been an MPD officer for over 30 years, served as the Acting Chief from December 2020 until he was appointed chief in November 2021. He was reappointed in 2024. 

He “embraces effective community engagement so (the) department learns how to best serve our Milwaukee community to affect crime and build sustainable neighborhoods,” Chief Norman’s MPD biography states.

About Officers Geniesse and Resnick, he added, “It goes to show that when you bring your full self to work and show that type of commitment, people are willing to roll out the red carpet for you to celebrate what you’ve accomplished.”

Community engagement with faith-based organizations “ensures we are connecting with community members and have more hands working on public safety,” Chief Norman told WMJ. “When we know each other, when we work together, our collective efforts have an impact. Everyone wants the same thing—safety, a healthy, supportive community and especially safety for our families. We want to be mutually respected. That’s what I’ve seen in my work.”

Rev. Dee Anderson, former pastor at West Granville Presbyterian Church and a long-time member of the District 4 FBO team, praised “Carrie and Tracey for being the glue that’s held us all together. I think it’s because you make it personal and you build trust,” he said. “That’s what community is all about.

“There have been many times at District 4 that an officer has told us about a family in need of a bed, baby supplies, food or clothes. And you jump in and help make it happen. Your work has impacted the lives of so many people.”

Presbyterian Pastor Dee Anderson shared personal reminiscences from years of community work in MPD District 4, led by Officers Carrie Resnick and Tracey Geniesse.

“We want to thank two outstanding public servants, Officers Carrie and Tracey, who are retiring after more than 25 years of dedicated public service,” Imam Shafique said. “They have given us support, respect and care at a time when mistrust is rising, whether towards faith-based organizations or law enforcement. That has meant more to us than words can express. Our strong, respectful relationships are intentionally built and carefully maintained. 

“We are all working toward the same goal, serving and protecting the community to which we belong. In all these efforts, we have been blessed to find partners in other faith organizations and in the police department who step forward and lend a hand whenever it is needed.”

Milwaukee Islamic Dawah Center Imam Mohamed Camara, a guest at the event, looked on as Imam Shafique presented certificates, flowers and gifts of appreciation to Officers Geniesse and Resnick.

“What’s your impression about this event?” a WMJ reporter asked him.

“I am actually very inspired,” replied the new imam to the Muslim community at 51st Street and Teutonia Avenue in Milwaukee. “Based on the speeches that were made, I can see the importance of having that relationship with the police department and those bridges to other faith communities. I am inspired to have something like that for us.”