XPost: milw.politics, alt.crime, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: sac.politics, alt.politics.democrats   
   From: democrats@lie.usa   
      
   In mid-July, Bryant Junco began patrolling his neighborhood on Milwaukee’s   
   east side during the middle of the night.   
      
   Before Junco began patrolling, he had noticed car break-ins and broken window   
   glass. He thought that was just a part of living downtown. However, news   
   coverage raised his awareness of what was going on — and it came as some   
   crime in the neighborhood    
   has increased in the last 12 weeks. So he began to drive around at night.   
      
   "We’ve never felt more unsafe than now,” said Junco in reference to   
   himself and several of his friends.   
      
   Junco, 40, rents two properties out through AirBnB and said he warns guests   
   that car break-ins are on the rise. But Junco noted less crime seemed to be   
   occurring over the last week or so as the Milwaukee Police Department have   
   devoted more resources to    
   the area.   
      
   He thought perpetrators were perhaps noticing increased patrols from police   
   and neighborhood watches and it was dissuading them.   
      
   Junco was among those who attended a meeting Wednesday to address the recent   
   jump in crimes on the city's east side, an area that includes popular   
   commercial areas like Brady Street and Farwell Avenue and stretches from   
   Pleasant Street on its south side    
   to Edgewood Avenue on the north.   
      
   Ald. Jonathan Brostoff, who represents the area, representatives from the   
   city’s Office of Community Wellness and Safety and the Milwaukee Police   
   Department provided information and fielded questions from residents.   
      
   Officials responded to concerns by noting they were increasing patrols and   
   bicycle officers in the area and urged residents to report the break-ins and   
   other crimes they witness and join neighborhood watches.   
      
   “In some ways, we might be softer targets than we once were,” Brostoff   
   told the Journal Sentinel, noting the decline of neighborhood association   
   activity. “It’s an issue and it’s a community problem.”   
      
   Uptick comes as police data shows overall crime down compared to prior years   
   The community concerns come as crime has ticked up significantly in recent   
   weeks.   
      
   Crimes in the following categories jumped significantly in the 12-week period   
   from late May to mid-August compared to the 12 weeks prior.   
      
   Specifically: 39 robberies compared to nine; 179 thefts compared to 93; and   
   182 motor vehicle thefts compared to 84. Aggravated assault increased from 17   
   to 30, and burglaries increased from 22 to 30.   
      
   Even with the east side's short-term uptick in some crimes, it is seeing   
   year-to-date decreases in most categories when compared to 2022 and 2023. Most   
   categories are down between 10% and 30% compared to those two years, with   
   motor vehicle theft being an    
   exception.   
      
   That mirrors citywide data where overall crime statistics show crime has   
   dropped this year compared to year over year.   
      
   During the meeting, Milwaukee Police Captain Robert Thiel, who oversees the   
   downtown and east side policing area known as District One, said the   
   department was receiving more emails than officially reported incidents.   
      
   He and Brostoff urged residents to report all crime, even minor, as it helps   
   the department determine where to devote resources. They also encouraged   
   residents to consider joining neighborhood watch groups. Brostoff said   
   neighborhood involvement had    
   dipped in recent years.   
      
   He mentioned specifically the Brady Street Area Association as one that has   
   less membership than it did and said he had a meeting earlier in the day about   
   it.   
      
   "Getting that sort of engagement going again, both the large neighborhood   
   associations, but more hyper-localized with the block watches and the with   
   neighbors engaged that way, I think it'd be very help and something everyone   
   here can do immediately," he    
   said during the meeting.   
      
   Thiel said the department has increased patrols, some through overtime shifts,   
   and bicycle units in the area in response to the recent uptick.   
      
   Junco said he believes the lack of reporting could be cause for why the   
   year-over-year statistics, which he doubted, do not match his and other’s   
   experiences and said the meeting may have been a "bit late” responding to   
   the crime.   
      
   “This has been an epidemic since July and even before that,” he said.   
      
   https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2024/08/16/m   
   lwaukee-officials-address-crime-on-citys-east-side-neighborhoods/74814639007/   
      
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