Following the fast track Landgon neighborhood officers frequently ride up the ranks of the Madison Police Department, officer Grant Humerickhouse will hand over patrol of the Greek community and surrounding area after approximately three years to up-and-coming officer Shawn Kelly in order to accept a detective promotion in November, according to MPD Lt. Dave McCaw.
McCaw said Kelly, a 2001 University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate, has been “one of those go-to guys” on the downtown circuit the past few years, and he expects Kelly will be the same in Langdon. Partly, McCaw said, because Kelly requested the transfer.
“If he didn’t like to deal with students, he’d be working some other district,” McCaw said. “Clearly this is going to be a passion for him.”
Kelly is familiar with the constant issues police experience in and around the Langdon area, such as overconsumption and residential burglaries, according to McCaw, who said Kelly “will come through” on the expectations of the Langdon neighborhood beat officer, such as working with students and landlords to “[solve] things before they happen.”
Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8, said he has the “utmost respect” for officer Humerickhouse because on “everything from Mifflin to Halloween … he is the textbook example of how we would want a neighborhood officer to act.”
One of the most important characteristics of a neighborhood police officer is being accessible and being able to foster personal relationships to make students feel secure, according to Resnick, something he said Humerickhouse did “incredibly well.”
“It’s the big shoes that officer Kelly is going to have to fill,” Resnick said.
