Crime Hasn't Dropped in Milwaukee, Just the Reporting of It Has

There has been some discussion lately about the response times for the Milwaukee Police Department, and also about the statistical drop in crime in Milwaukee.

Both the response times and the statistical drop in crime are interrelated.

I run a business in Milwaukee, and have talked to many folks about the police response times and the supposed drop in crime. Anecdotally, I can give many examples of the interrelation of the two, but I will give just one, of my personal experience, that I believe is very revealing.

As a licensed real estate broker, I was doing some work for a real estate firm from another part of the state, which was providing services to Fannie Mae on their foreclosures. Some of the properties were in very nice parts of the city and suburbs, and others were in what would be called "high crime" areas of Milwaukee.

One such property that I was servicing was at 25th and Center. It was a vacant duplex that had been foreclosed upon, the front doors and lower windows were boarded up before I received this assignment.

I took along some staff to make an initial inspection. The side door had been left unboarded, but was pad locked. We went through the entire property, took pictures and made a report. Not surprisingly, the structure was pretty well stripped — all copper piping gone, copper electrical gone, basically anything of value that was not nailed down too hard was gone.

This is hardly a surprise to anyone who has worked with foreclosures or vacant properties in many parts of the city (and in many suburbs as well).

After our inspection, we put a new padlock on the door, and put up the required notices and postings that Fannie Mae requested.

A couple of weeks later, we returned to do a follow-up inspection on the property. As we walked between that duplex and the adjoining building to the side door, we heard voices from inside the property. 

When we got to the side door, it had been broken open — and then dogs in the lower unit started barking.

If you are familiar with that area of Milwaukee, you know that drugs, gangs, guns and violence are all very common. Especially with the dogs there, a streetwise person from that area, would be making a pretty good assumption, that a local gang was storing either drugs, guns or both in the vacant duplex, and had the dogs as part of their protection.

As my Mamma didn't raise a complete fool, my associate and I retreated to the sidewalk at the front of the property. And from there, I called 911 to report the incident.

To paint a little more complete picture of the overall situation, there were three or four groups of guys hanging out within less than 1/2 a block from where we stood, and my associate who grew up in that kind of neighborhood, thought it was very likely that they were drug dealers, or bangers, or both. I concurred with his assessment.

Needless to say, they were taking great interest in us. And quite possibly, whatever was inside the vacant foreclosure was part of their inventory or hardware.

At this point, a logical person who has heard the Mayor of Milwaukee and the Police Chief of Milwaukee, say many times on the news and in the media, that abandoned and vacant properties were a high priority for the city, along with gangs and guns and drugs — that logical person would think that the police would be very interested in quickly responding to the situation. 

Not so much!

The police dispatcher got all the information from me, and said that the police would respond — sometime.

When I asked if that meant that the police would be there in five or 10 minutes, she said that she did not know.

I then asked if it would be less than an hour or more than an hour, again, she said she did not know.

I asked her why the police were not interested in a vacant foreclosure that was broken into, with people inside of it right then — she would not comment. I also asked her if she would think that at 25th and Center, it was quite possible that there was gang or drug activity involved, again she would not comment.

I told her that if she could not tell me whether the police would respond in 10 minutes or two hours, I was going to leave (remember that we were being watched by many young men in different groups at this time).

She asked me if that meant I was not going to wait for the police (DUH) I responded that I didn't feel like standing out there like a target not knowing when the police would show up.

She then informed me that if I did not wait for the police, I would not be able to have a police report of any damage done or property stolen.

I told her that if she thought there might be any more damage that could be done, or items left to be stolen, in a boarded up and vacant foreclosure in that neighborhood — from a property that might sell for $8000 if lucky — she was delusional.

I then asked that if and when the police responded, it would be nice if they would check to make sure that property was again vacant, and if they would submit an order for that door to be boarded up.

As my associate and I left, he commented that the guys on the street and whoever was in the house were probably thinking that we couldn't be leaving too soon, as now they could retrieve whatever was inside before the cops came.

Need I say that since then, I have not bothered to call Milwaukee PD for anything to report a crime. And many of my friends and acquaintances in Milwaukee have said they have given up calling too.

I might also mention that many times driving east on Capitol Drive, near 1st Street, there will be anywhere between four and six motorcycle cops doing a speed trap as drivers come up from under Port Road — hmmmm maybe ticket revenue is more important?

As a side note, a couple Saturday nights ago, at home in Shorewood, the dog was barking informing us someone was trying to get into front door. My wife spoke with a gentleman through the locked door who said this was his house and to let him in. She told him to go away, and this was not his house. He had blood on his face and appeared very drunk. We called Shorewood PD, who dispatched two maybe three cars within about 90 seconds, and had him in custody within three or four minutes.  Our next-door neighbor also had interaction with him in his backyard — if crime rate goes up at all in Shorewood, it might be because the people will call the police, as there will be a timely response.

A rise in crime rate just might mean the SPD is doing a better job!