Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn took the hot seat on Monday as homicides and carjackings grip the city. Members of the Common Council’s Public Safety committee wanted to know what the MPD is doing to fight criminal activity. Emotions ran high at times.
The chair of the Public Safety committee, Ald. Bob Donovan, opened the discussion.
“We indeed are not satisfied with the level of safety in Milwaukee and that the status quo is simply unacceptable,” Donovan says.
Police Chief Edward Flynn began his testimony by offering encouraging numbers.
“As of the first quarter of this year our homicide rate was 20 percent below last year. As of right now, it’s 32 percent behind last year’s pace. So, we’ve been following the dots and we’ve been analyzing the crime patterns and trends and we’ve been working hard to make sure we’ve got our people in the right places at the right time to deter,” Flynn says.
Flynn says a partnership with the U.S. Justice Department is helping police fight crime along the Center Street corridor, and he expects further declines in crime numbers. Yet Flynn admits the challenge now is for his department to get its arms around an alarming spike in car thefts.
“Since 2010, there has been a 396 percent increase in the number of juveniles arrested for operating without the owner’s consent,” Flynn says.
Flynn says officers have made several hundred arrests this year but the city is hamstrung by the state’s criminal code, especially for juveniles.
“It’s virtually impossible to get somebody charged with actually stealing the car. If we catch them in the car it only means they were driving the car. It’s just the way it is,” Flynn says.
Flynn says the system quickly releases many of the young thieves his officers arrest, plus, he points out, the county has only 44 beds to house juvenile offenders. The chief indicates he’d hire more police officers, as some aldermen have been pushing, but says tight budgets have left the department “woefully underfunded.”
Ald. Mark Borkowski doesn’t seem satisfied with the responses he’s hearing – either about police funding… “Let’s be creative with the money that we have.” …or about a lack of government resources for young offenders. “As far as juveniles are concerned, why not have a tent city somewhere? If we don’t have the infrastructure then are you kidding me, these kids don’t belong at home,” Borkowski says.
Borkowski says he’s also concerned that the MPD is concentrating most of its resources in certain parts of Milwaukee while ignoring others. Fellow Common Council member Milele Coggs says she’s upset about comments the chief made recently at a community breakfast. He advised the crowd on how to avoid getting shot in Milwaukee by saying: don’t be a drug dealer, don’t be part of a gang and don’t illegally carry a gun.
“The level of professionalism and empathy that those of us who choose to be in positions of service are expected to exhibit to those we serve, we feel were not exhibited in those comments,” Coggs says.
Coggs says what bothers her, is many young people who’ve been shot weren’t drug dealers or gun owners. Chief Flynn apologized for his remarks.
“It did not arise from a lack of empathy or from a lack of professionalism. It’s been an attempt on my part to try to convey to people the realities of the concentration of violence among folks who’ve made bad choices,” Flynn says.
Monday’s Public Safety Committee meeting was the first in a series planned to address violence in Milwaukee. Later this week, the District Attorney’s office will testify.
