the first thing that i'd like to do is thank all of you for coming here this afternoon to hear about our new robbery prevention plan that we've got going here on the north side of milwaukee the reason that we picked this location to set up today with our operation and to invite you here to hear about it is because late last night and early this morning we did have two armed robberies in this very neighborhood in fact one of the robberies occurred on the other side of that intersection there on 51st and center in which two black males in their early 20s armed with a handgun did rob a man of his cell phone a little while later the same two suspects robbed a man one block east on 50th and center and obtained his white oldsmobile 88 four-door car we are searching for those suspects and that vehicle that they took in that robbery at this time because of these and other robberies that we've had in specific areas on the north side we started our north robbery initiative reduction plan it's a joint plan consisting of members of detectives that are assigned to the central investigations division officers assigned to district number three and district number five and the neighborhood task force as well as the intelligence fusion center the initiative started on april 30th we are focusing this robbery reduction initiative in specific areas where these robberies are occurring analysts at the districts and at the intelligence fusion center are assembling maps for us which we use to deploy our resources our officers and our investigators so that they'll have the most effect at reducing these robberies officers are also patrolling in squads on bicycles and on foot interacting with citizens gathering information regarding who's committing these robberies as well as passing on crime prevention tips this initiative also focuses on known robbers problem oriented policing research tells us that approximately 10 percent of offenders commits approximately 50 percent of the crime so what we're doing is we're engaged in efforts to locate and arrest suspects that we know currently have open warrants for robberies as well as other significant warrants for crimes people that we've known who have committed armed robberies in the past we're also working with the wisconsin department of correction in checking on and monitoring people that are on probation or parole for armed robbery to make sure that they're following the restrictions that are placed on them we also have detectives researching past robberies looking for links to connect some of these robberies together and also looking for opportunities to follow up on these robberies to solve them and hold offenders responsible in addition we have some crime prevention tips that we want to share with the general public out there smart phones are very popular obviously in this city and in this country right now and what we're seeing is about 30 percent of our robberies phones are targeted so what we want to do is give information to citizens some basic things that they can do with their phones that will lessen their chances of becoming victimized and if they are victimized by any chance it'll greatly increase our chances of recovering that phone and arresting the individuals that are responsible for these particular acts now one thing that you can do if you have a smartphone is to set up a password something that's very simple to do and something that everyone should do now some jobs require you if you're going to be on their email system to set up a password but we're saying set up that password anyway also enable remote data wiping there are apps out there that you can wipe your phone if by any chances taken in a particular offense so we recommend you set that up also upgrade your phone when necessary if you have a smartphone there'll be times that you'll be prompted to update your phone update those apps make sure you have the most current type of app on your phone and then also enable a tracking device on your phone iphones and droids have gps tracking capabilities on those phones most of those apps are free so if you do those things that will greatly assist us in an investigation also record that username and password somewhere where you can get to it quickly in case you need it also don't let that phone distract you when you're out in public if you're walking around pay attention to your surroundings make sure that you see what's going on around you don't let that phone draw all of your attention especially at bus stops be very vigilant at bus stops because some offenders do target individuals that they see on bus stops especially late at night so just make sure that you're extremely vigilant and that you do those things that i suggested there and it'll greatly decrease your likelihood of becoming a victim and if you are victimized it will assist us in apprehending that individual later and then one final thing i want to talk about is craigslist craigslist is a very popular tool that people use and offenders use also to get rid of these phones very quickly we say that if you want to make a craigslist transaction come to any district station and make that transaction in the district station lobby we don't mind you doing that we rather you come to that district station and conduct your business there then for you to do it somewhere and be lured into some type of trap where you're going to be victimized and so we're asking you to do that in addition i want to talk about second-hand dealerships that are that exist in some of our district neighborhoods some of these shops are selling these phones and we just want to get the word out to some of these shops some people are doing it illegally in order to sell you have to have specific licenses to do that and you can be heavily fined for selling phones we know that there's a second-hand market for these phones and that's why they're targeted so often in these robbery offenses and other offenses that we see so we want to educate any second-hand stores or any stores that are selling phones through a second-hand market that that's illegal that's against our city ordinance if you don't have the proper licenses you need to put that phone in newpers if you do have that license and we want to make sure that we get compliance on that regard and we believe that these things that we mentioned will help decrease the instances of robbery and the targeting of phones in robbery in the city of milwaukee in some cases that we've had where victims have been robbed of their cell phones if they had taken the time to turn on or install a find my phone type application it has been very helpful in our investigations and we have located phones and arrested suspects because of that probably the very most useful thing that they the analysts put together for us are very specific maps that include the locations of robberies the times the dates of the occurrences of robberies other patterns that we see in them vehicle descriptions some predictive analysis goes into a two to see what we've seen which in trends which directions are the robberies moving are they along main roads are they along side roads are they along places like bus stops are they near businesses that are open late at night daily they put together maps for us that we disseminate amongst our officers and people on special operations like this initiative and they're very helpful in making sure that we have people in the right places at the right times to prevent crime and or catch suspects after they commit them