Anne E. Schwartz

With more than 35 years’ experience, Anne E. Schwartz is an award-winning print and broadcast journalist, author, and internationally recognized trainer and advisor on strategic communication and public relations practices for Law Enforcement, Prosecutors, Tribal Police, Fire/EMS and others in Criminal Justice and Public Safety. With hundreds of presentations and training sessions internationally, Anne has a unique background in how to manage communications in a variety of scenarios as an expert in providing communication strategies in officer involved deaths and ensuing civil unrest. In 1991, as a crime reporter for the former Milwaukee Journal newspaper, she broke the story of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and wrote the book, “The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough: The Story of Milwaukee’s Jeffrey Dahmer.” Anne and the reporting team were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. An updated edition of the book was released in 2021 as “Monster: The True Story of the Jeffrey Dahmer Murders” with a new preface and final chapter, available for the first time in both audio and digital editions. Anne is featured in dozens of documentaries on the Dahmer case, on global TV networks and streaming services. She has partnered with the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL), Department of Justice (DOJ), American Bar Association (ABA), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) to share communications best practices with criminal justice professionals in the U.S. and abroad. She has deployed to the countries of Albania, Armenia, North Macedonia, and the Republic of Maldives to provide training on best practices in criminal justice communications strategies. Anne has conducted training seminars for prosecutors and judges from Bosnia, Lebanon and Uzbekistan through the ABA Rule of Law Initiative. She is a communications/media trainer for the Wisconsin Department of Justice, and she is an Adjunct Professor in strategic communications at the National Criminal Justice Training Center at Fox Valley Technical College. Prior to embarking on a full-time teaching and consulting career, as Communications Director for the Wisconsin DOJ, Anne led the team that developed an award-winning public service campaign, “Dose of Reality,” to create awareness of prescription opiate abuse. She received a national Telly Award for the project in 2016. The program continues today and has been replicated by attorneys general in multiple states. At the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD), she developed the Office of Media & Communications and served as its civilian Commander for nearly a decade. She received a national Webby award in 2013 in the Government category for creating and developing MPD’s website, a project that led the way for other law enforcement agencies to communicate by building their own sites and employing social media. Anne’ work was featured at South By South West (SXSW) in 2016 in the panel, “Municipal Policing: Transparency, Truth and Trust.” She co-authored, "Strategic Approaches to Improve Communications Initiative: A White Paper for Law Enforcement Executives" and “Strategic Communication: A Toolkit for Police Executives” for the U.S. DOJ Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). She subsequently provided training to police executives nationwide and in Canada on the strategies outlined in the publications. In 2019, she researched and co-authored the “National Association of Attorneys General Mass Casualty Disaster Manual,” to assist Attorneys General in responding to crisis. Anne lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. When she is not managing a crisis, she rides her Harley-Davidson Fat Boy motorcycle.