FOX6 News profiles two female Milwaukee beat cops
MILWAUKEE -- Nicole Miller and Nicole Fuhrman not only share a first name -- they're both mothers, best friends, next door neighbors, and Milwaukee beat cops in a high-crime part of the city.
Miller and Furhman are partners -- two of the few females paired together as part of the Milwaukee Police Department.
On the day FOX6 News profiled the two, Miller and Furman were busy, investigating an abandoned home, a theft at a gas station, checking on a kid in the neighborhood and visiting a new business on MLK Drive. Then, they caught a few guys drinking in public, and even had time to bless a marriage.
They're called "The Nikkis" of Milwaukee Police District Five, and it seems everybody knows them.
"They do more arresting and cleaning up the neighborhood than anybody else. All they do is ride their bikes. Trouble seems to find them," one neighbor told FOX6 News.
People in Milwaukee's Harambee neighborhood call the two "Cagney and Lacey" -- as in the police drama of the 1980s.
"They tell us we have this neighborhood on lockdown from 8 to 4," Miller said.
"The Nikkis" are beat cops, patrolling an area considered "high-crime," between 1st Street and 5th Street and Burleigh and Walnut.
FOX6 News decided to patrol "The Nikkis" and before traveling even one block, they were flagged down by a woman who asked them to check out an abandoned home. On the way there, a gas station owner approached, reporting teens stealing from his story. Heading back to the abandoned house, they're flagged down yet again.
They finally check out the abandoned house and make plans for it to be boarded up.
Then, 82-year-old Lamark Bradley, a 30-year veteran of the Marine Corps, who needs them to meet his fiance, saying he needs "their approval." Bradley admits not everyone in the neighborhood likes "The Nikkis," but says he loves them!
"They're beautiful and they're nice. They're kind, but they're strictly business," Bradley said.
"The Nikkis" say many don't expect "strictly business" from two women.
"They don't expect us to come off as confident. We don't back down," Miller said.
"The Nikkis" told FOX6 News early in their career, "a big guy" started fighting with them.
"Neither of us wanted to call for backup because a) we were new, and as two females together, and they didn't want females together," Miller said.
The two never called for backup, and ended up taking the guy into custody.
"Broken nails later, my hair came out of my bun," Miller said.
"My hands were bleeding," Fuhrman added.
"The Nikkis" say there are some advantages for female cops, saying they often relate better with women and kids. They also say there's a big advantage to being on bikes, because there's often an element of surprise.
One store owner in the area patrolled by "The Nikkis" says his business is up because crime is down.
"In the last three years it's going down, and they're a big part of it," Perry Sekhon said.
The officers say King Drive Business District bought them cell phones, and they hand out the number so neighbors and business owners can call them directly. One store owner told FOX6 News: "They're here in less than a minute."
It's all about two women with four wheels, keeping the neighborhood safe, and doing it all over again tomorrow!