NATION IN BRIEF : WISCONSIN : Police Actions Linked to Racial Insensitivity

Milwaukee Mayor John O. Norquist said that racial insensitivity partly explains why police officers returned a naked Laotian boy to Jeffrey L. Dahmer’s apartment even though neighbors told the officers that the boy needed help. The 14-year-old’s body was later found in the apartment among 11 dismembered corpses. “There’s no way you can’t conclude racial sensitivity is an issue,” Norquist said. “There is no question in my mind the relationship has to be improved.” The mayor has created a panel to recommend improvements in officers’ sensitivity training, recruitment of minority officers and community relations, particularly in poor, high-crime neighborhoods. Dahmer, 31, has confessed to killing 17 people since 1978, including the boy and at least four others since the May 27 police encounter, authorities said.