MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Police Department unveiled its 2023 Violent Crime Plan on Thursday.
“The Violent Crime Plan is intended to continue to promote transparency and provide an overview on our public safety efforts related to mitigating violent crime. This Plan reveals and highlights ongoing and new initiatives that MPD utilizes or intends to utilize to prevent, respond to, and reduce violent crime in our neighborhoods. This plan is continuously evolving as crime trends shift, priorities change and new initiatives and ideas are explored,” MPD said in a statement.
The plan highlights reducing reckless driving, human trafficking, auto thefts and robberies.
Chief Jeffery Norman said that violence at any level in Milwaukee is unacceptable.
According to MPD data, homicides in Milwaukee have decreased by 29% year to date. However, that number is still 33% higher than it was in 2021.
Thefts are down by 20% year to date from 2022 to 2023. In that same time, aggravated assaults have decreased by 10% and burglary has fallen by 7%.
Norman said by working with community partners — such as Sojourner Family Peace Center, Office of Violence Prevention and Paradigm Shyft — police have been able to reduce, respond and prevent crime.
Carmen Pitre, Sojourner Family Peace Center president, said Milwaukee is experiencing a crisis; she said she hasn’t seen violence this bad in her 38 years of work.
“The time for new partnership, new strategies, new thinking is upon us,” said Pitre. “We have to do something different.”
“We must work with community partners to deter crime before it begins,” said Norman. “We will enhance our efforts to break the cycle of domestic violence. We will enhance our efforts to positive engage our youth.”
Part of the plan is for MPD to reach out to the young people of Milwaukee.
Adam Procell is the co-founder of Paradigm Shyft. Procell said he was a typical teenager when he moved to Wisconsin at age 14 with his family. But then, he recalled, he got caught up in the wrong crowd.
“I was a honor roll student, played in multiple sports, was in the young astronauts program,” Procell said. “Trying to make my parents proud. I joined a gang and was involved in a gang-related shooting.”
Procell said two people were shot in that incident. One person died.
Procell was arrested when he was 15 years old. He spent 23 years behind bars. Now, Procell is out on parole.
He said he’s making it his mission to ensure youth in the community don’t end up in prison like he did.
“We have to work on youth that are engaged in criminal behavior,” said Procell. “We have to assist adults that are getting out. Stats say, if a parent goes to prison, their child is six times likely to go to themselves,” Procell said. “If you create an environment that’s not conducive to a positive way of living, how do you expect that child to learn anything other than [what] they’ve learned their entire life?”
Read the entire plan from MPD below:
Violent Crime Plan Spring 2023 by Aly Prouty on Scribd