Milwaukee prosecutors and officers are teaming up in police districts in an effort to be more accessible to residents and build relationships and not just lock people up.

The decadelong initiative has special significance in a city where the incarceration rate for African-Americans in some neighborhoods is the highest in the U.S.

Law enforcement in Milwaukee is also hoping to rebuild a strained relationship with minorities after riots last summer that followed a police shooting.

Prosecutors in each police district work with officers to address neighborhood complaints and give businesses advice on how to address crime.

The Prosecutors' Center for Excellence, an organization of district attorneys, last year singled out combined police/prosecutor presence in communities as "essential to combat this mistrust in law enforcement."