Milwaukee Homicides: Reason for Optimism?

How does the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial Board respond to all the negative publicity that Milwaukee is getting from national media outlets because of the Juneteenth Day violence?

It goes Pollyanna.

Don't worry. Be happy!

The Board tries to make the case that there's "a reason for optimism."

Homicides have spread much doom and gloom in Milwaukee, prompting angst among community groups and sending the Common Council into a frenzy. Yet a city committee studying the problem is calmly radiating optimism.

And with cause: The wild homicide beast can be tamed. And the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission is going about the task of developing sensible strategies for doing that. What's more, early signs are the strategies are already paying off. This worthwhile effort deserves encouragement.

Mallory O'Brien, the commission's director, and Brian O'Keefe, Milwaukee deputy police chief, gave the Journal Sentinel's Editorial Board a progress report on the panel's work Thursday. The commission already has issued more than 100 recommendations, most of which are in some phase of implementation.

The commission's overall approach is a winner. That includes in-depth studies of the circumstances surrounding actual homicides in Milwaukee to extract lessons about what the criminal justice system, the Legislature or others can do to reduce the chances for more murders.

Oh, boy!

A commission has ideas that will get Milwaukee's murder rate under control.

That makes me feel great!

The daily accounts of shootings are no reason to be discouraged about the state of the city!

This is time to be optimistic!

...Another important element is that the commission crosses agency and governmental lines to bring together law enforcement officers and community service providers to exchange information - precisely the coordination needed to reduce homicides. The commission has set in motion four levels of review: Criminal justice professionals compare notes on homicides monthly; community service providers do so every other month; the community at large gets its say twice a year; and day by day, the commission assists in homicide investigations, with social workers dealing with families of murder victims on its behalf.

O'Brien and O'Keefe feel that a reduction in homicides in the three police districts the commission targeted, as opposed to increases elsewhere, may be due, in part, to the project. They also point out that, after the commission noted a sizable number of homicides took place in or near taverns, authorities increased tavern checks and tavern-related homicides plummeted.

The commission is fanning hope with the systematic approach it is taking to reducing homicides.

Any reduction in homicides is a good thing.

If particular tactics have been shown to be successful, that's certainly good news.

However, the Editorial Board should know better than to try to pass off the homicide rate as indicative of the level of crime in the city.

The number of homicides in Milwaukee doesn't begin to give the real picture of the state of the city.

On December 1, 2006, The Journal Sentinel reported that although homicides dropped, the number of shootings in the city rose significantly. Astronomically.

[O]fficials say non-fatal shootings are rising. Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa expects to treat 34% more gunshot victims this year than last, and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin is up 38%.

Experts say that the total number of shootings - not just the fatal ones - is a better measurement of gun violence.

The Journal Sentinel reported last month that about 600 people a year are struck by gunfire in Milwaukee and survive. Shootings cost taxpayers, hospitals and people with insurance tens of millions of dollars a year, the newspaper found. They also consume police officers' time, leading to slow response for less urgent calls. For months, residents have complained about response times not only for low-level calls but also for more serious crimes.

Reducing homicides isn't enough.

Shootings that result in murders are just part of Milwaukee's violence problem.

As the Journal Sentinel reported, "Experts say that the total number of shootings - not just the fatal ones - is a better measurement of gun violence."

(Once again, the Editorial Board is clueless about what's in its own paper.)

Let's not pretend that Milwaukee, under the city's current leadership, has reason to be optimistic when it comes to gun violence.

It's a crisis.

Thanks to the Juneteenth violence, the entire nation knows it.

Amazing that the Journal Sentinel Editorial Board didn't get the memo, isn't it?