MADISON, Wis. – Lenard “Lenny” Wells didn’t just put on a badge and grind through his police work. He mentored generations of officers and community activists who went on to become police leaders and lawmakers.
He helped ensure African Americans had equal access to promotions in the desegregated Milwaukee Police Department. His influence rippled widely in his decades in law enforcement, and that work didn’t end in retirement: He was teaching young people criminal justice at the University of Memphis in Tennessee when he died last month of complications from the coronavirus. “Lenny wasn’t just a police officer,” retired Milwaukee police Sgt.