Juveniles and Summer
I was listening to the news early last week and they had a story regarding incidents that were occurring down on Water Street in the entertainment district. As you might […]
Black News 
I was listening to the news early last week and they had a story regarding incidents that were occurring down on Water Street in the entertainment district. As you might know many people go down to the area to party, eat, drink, and just have an enjoyable time. During the past, several months there have been several incidents including fights, shootings, and some homicides in the area. MPD officers normally block off areas and restrict traffic during bar time to try and control the crowds in the area. Many state the main problem is the underage people that come down to hang out.
On this day I was watching the news the Common Council had instructed MPD to come in and discuss what could be done to make the area safer. The hearing was in front of the Public Safety and Health Committee. This committee is responsible for issues involving the fire, police, health, and neighborhood services departments, as well as traffic and parking. The committee chair, Alderman Spiker asked the command staff members what could be done to enforce the curfew violations in the area? The members responded they do not have enough officers to enforce the curfew issues in the area. They continued if they would take a large group of juveniles in it would affect how many officers were still out on the street.
If you have read my articles in the past, you know I am a retired Deputy Inspector of Police for the Milwaukee Police Department, with 30 years of service when I retired. I supervised the entire police department on second and third shift when the chief and command staff were off. Current Sheriff Ball and I worked together for a while taking turns on different nights of the week. Now what I am going to say is not in any way disrespecting the command staff members who appeared before this committee. But I do believe there is a way to control the juveniles who appear in the downtown area and bring a sense of safety back to the area. This can be done without shortchanging the number of officers on the street.
One long sweltering summer a while ago we were having trouble with juveniles causing issues throughout the city, so we produced a plan. We took several officers from every district and created a taskforce. We put out a large wagon on the north side of the city plus one on the south side. We then assigned two to three squads to the wagon. Next the squads were tasked to pick up any juvenile out after curfew and call for the wagon to convey them. Not to tie up the districts we used, the Boys and Girls Club at Sherman Park as a holding area. Officers were assigned to the park and stayed there till parents could come and pick up their kids. If the parents did not have transportation, we would eventually convey them home. Juveniles received a citation plus their parents also received a citation. I do believe this had a positive effect on crime in the city that summer. It is important to have the younger officers involved in these details because they will be more excited with proper supervision to complete the task at hand. Good supervision always helps.
It worked before and I believe it can work again without shortchanging police service in the rest of the city. It is getting hot already in the 70s this whole week and exceedingly early for these kinds of temperatures. We must get a handle on this now before it gets out of hand. Milwaukee we can do this.
