Milwaukee Neighborhoods Safer for 3 More Weeks

Milwaukee's Neighborhood Safety Initiative was set to expire on September 8. TODAY!

Aldermen fought to keep that from happening.

They succeeded.

Extra city police patrols extended

Milwaukee city officials will delay a police class, forego equipment purchases and temporarily freeze up to 100 job vacancies to scrape together $405,000 needed to extend an anti-crime initiative that was set to expire this weekend.

Mayor Tom Barrett on Friday announced an extension through Sept. 30 of the Neighborhood Safety Initiative, which, just before Memorial Day, began putting extra overnight police patrols in some of the city's most violent neighborhoods. But the program has cost about $2 million in overtime to pay officers in other areas to cover for officers who volunteered to work the overnight patrols of the initiative.

...Speaking with reporters at City Hall, Barrett along with Common Council President Willie Hines, Ald. Michael Murphy, who heads the council's Finance & Personnel Committee, and Police Chief Nannette Hegerty all touted the success of the program as evidence why it should be extended.

He said the "highly innovative, highly effective, highly interactive patrol mission will continue in those parts of the city where our intelligence-led policing takes us."

The mayor stressed a 9.4% drop in the city's homicides, to 67 so far this year, compared to 74 at this time last year. He further noted that homicides are down 25.5% from this time in 2005, when there were 90.

Non-fatal shootings are down by 19%, and armed robberies have dropped from this time in 2006 by 3%, the mayor reported.

It's remarkable that non-fatal shootings are down significantly because it seems like there's been an intolerable level of gun violence in Milwaukee this year.

...Murphy acknowledged that the extension "does come with a heavy price tag" and will "cause some pain within our budget" but added, "Clearly we feel this is an important priority and want to continue" the extra patrols.

Throughout the summer, police have tallied the results of the extra patrols each week. For the week ending Sept. 2, police said the Neighborhood Safety Initiative produced 2,984 citizen contacts, 250 business contacts, 164 arrests and 14 recovered guns.

"We stand here today, this morning because drug dealers have been arrested. Firearms have been removed from the streets. Neighborhoods are being taken back," Hines said. "The NSI has played a significant role in making our streets safe this summer. We provide the resources and the MPD provides results."

Obviously, the NSI has helped, but I wouldn't call the streets of Milwaukee safe.

This has been a very bloody summer in the city. That's not to diminish the success of the program. Just let's not pretend it was a panacea.

Hegerty said the arrests will have longer effects.

"These are people that are probably going to go to prison for a long period of time," she said. "As we know, your worst offenders will commit multiple crimes. As these people are taken off the streets and put in jail and put in prison and incarcerated, what it does is it keeps them from committing multiple crimes."

No, no, no. A major problem is that many of these people DON'T go to prison for a long time.

They're back out on the streets and back to committing crimes.

I wonder when the Neighborhood Safety Initiative is going to expire. After all, this is just a very temporary extension.

That's so unfortunate because the additional patrols have succeeded in helping to maintain order.

Will Doyle pony up the funds to make the program permanent and keep the state's largest city from imploding?

No way. Doyle reserves such special moves for when an election is only months away.
______________________

On the issue of tackling crime in Milwaukee, Ald. Tony Zielinski has an interesting proposal.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Ald. Tony Zielinski said he's seeking another kind of anti-crime patrol, by bringing Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa to Milwaukee next week for talks on starting a local chapter of the controversial red-bereted volunteer group. That would be the third attempt at an Angels chapter here; previous versions were founded in 1982, disbanded in 1983, reconstituted in 1986 and disbanded again in 1989.

I think citizen patrols like the Guardian Angels are a good idea.

They aren't that different from block watch groups.

Block watch groups aren't controversial. The police department promotes them.

I don't know why the Journal Sentinel has a problem with Sliwa's anti-crime patrols.

Just as there are a few disreputable police officers, there can be bad Guardian Angels. That's no reason to berate the entire group. There's nothing controversial about law-abiding citizens refusing to let thugs own the streets.

People willing to volunteer to be the eyes and ears needed to ensure safety in the city and to aid authorities in crime-fighting efforts should be commended rather than looked upon suspiciously.