The Milwaukee Police Division says most forms of crime declined within the metropolis final yr. That features homicides, property crime and auto thefts.
Car crashes, hit and run incidents and driver or pedestrian fatalities additionally went down. Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman says one cause streets had been safer is the higher use of site visitors calming buildings like prolonged curbs, or bump outs, that slender some main driving routes.
“The opposite day, anecdotally, somebody got here as much as me, and, just like the chief had something to do with it, mentioned, ‘Hey, these bump outs, are you able to do one thing about it? It is making me decelerate.’ I am like, Good!” Norman advised information reporters at a Wednesday information convention.
However Norman, Milwaukee Neighborhood Wellness and Security Director Ashanti Hamilton, and Mayor Cavalier Johnson all say crime nonetheless must be introduced down. For one factor, by the police division’s rely, there have been nonetheless 169 homicides within the metropolis final yr, with a rising proportion of the victims being below the age of 18.
Johnson hopes extra police assistance is on the way in which, because of an bettering metropolis funds image that makes use of recent gross sales tax income and extra cash from the state.
“The funds I produced for 2024 known as for 3 courses — the utmost our police academy is ready to produce in a yr—and people three courses are funded with 65 recruits apiece — the utmost that the police academy is ready to produce in a single yr. So sure, it is our intention to see that and develop the variety of cops not simply this yr however within the years to comply with as nicely,” Johnson says.
However the mayor acknowledges that, like different locations across the U.S., Milwaukee has a problem in convincing sufficient candidates to enroll within the police academy.
