[Music] today we're going to talk about effective Crime Control effective crime prevention and its effect on the lives of communities and of individual people now the most important thing about last year's data is that there were too many murders there's no question about that while some homicides are more susceptible to police tactics than others it is still the obligation of the police department to do its best to understand the Dynamics of criminal violence in the city explain what's going on to the community and work to Fashion solutions to those problems that are so identified for example last year 76% of our victims had criminal histories of at least 11 arrests 86% of our identified suspects had criminal histories of at least eight arrests therefore soon we will be announcing a bold initiative working with Community Partners in both the public and private sector to identify the the issue of violence among people with extensive criminal histories there are interventions that have had success around the country we will be looking to replicate some of those soon another thing we learned last year was the number of arguments that ended in Murder doubled between 2010 and 2009 the number of domestic violence homicides significantly decreased increased it's clear that there are too many firearms in the hands of violent impulsive people therefore working with City Hall and the mayor's office we have proposed a package of legislation to the state legislature that we hope will make it more difficult for felons to procure Firearms through straw purchasers and will significantly punish anyone caught illegally with a firearm sadly already this year two of our three homicides are the result of Family Violence the big picture however remains positive every single other category of crime in the city of Milwaukee last year rapes aggravated assaults robberies burglaries lenies car thefts thefts and arson every single category of crime last year decreased in the city of Milwaukee we have accepted as our mission statement the challenge to create neighborhoods capable of sustaining Civic life and to sustain Civic life they must first be safe from violence overall violent crime was down last year by 7% compared to 2009 violent crime is down 23% since 2007 gun related excuse me related crimes particularly non-fatal shootings decreased by nearly 10% last year and our total crime rate was down 10% from 2010 compared to 2009 and is down 19% over the last three years down 19% from 2007 means that in 2010 there were 9,000 fewer Crime Victims than there were in 2007 now Community engagement is fundamental to our mission what we believe the data shows is that cops count but cops and the community win today at district 7 we're going to show you a real world example of the police and the community and a problemsolving Endeavor working with other partners in government in the community having a real real effect on the life of a neighborhood there are similar stories in every Police District in this city we have with us today the commanders of every other District every one of whom is employing problem oriented policing tactics Based on data to have an effect on the safety of the neighborhoods and the people for whom they're responsible now here in district 7 there's an area known as old North Milwaukee it's the area of West Hampton Avenue and North Hopkins between 34th to 40th Street district 7 is under Captain jessup's command and he developed the strategy in February of 2010 working with Alderman Hamilton and Alderman Wade Community organizations and individuals from longtime residents to school children to address the ongoing problems of that neighborhood diagnose the underlying conditions that were generating excessive crime first they established beat patrols cops on the beat out of the squad in the community getting a good sense of what the issues were in the neighborhood by engaging with and talking to the people in those neighborhoods they identified nuisance properties they improved lighting and other in environmental factors that we know can reduce crime the district offender excuse me the the district attorney helped us get chronic offenders charged while the Department of Corrections working closely with the police department and Probation and Parole kept a sharp eye on offenders who are under supervision that's an essential part of what we try to do is accounting for the behaviors and the whereabouts of our chronic offenders removing their anonymity is the single most important thing we can do to help a neighborhood become safe now everyone signed on to the mix private businesses such as Walgreens and Lowe's and valpar donated products like light lighting and paint the Blessed Trinity Church offered meeting space the children and teachers at the 35th Street School organized the neighborhood cleanup as a matter of fact with us today is a brand new Eagle Scout by the name of Christian denck who on his own organized a neighborhood neighborhood cleanup as part of his Eagle project you know I sound a little bit like a state of the union doesn't it and in the audience we have um we also want to take a moment and recognize the efforts of district 7 officers Shelley Luis and Lisa saffold they got the neighborhoods to work together one of the great challenges for us and for neighborhoods is to get them to begin to realize the power of informal social control neighborhoods that are overwhelmed by crime and fearful become atomized they become strangers to each other they it is impossible for them to work for their common defense but if the police can get a handle and a grip on crime if we can reduce the fear we can reach out to the people in those neighborhoods to help them take control of their public spaces again that's where our block watches come in that's where our community groups come in and Shelly and Lisa got the neighborhood together started some block watches and monitor the PO of the neighborhood now these relationships led the officers to identify additional nuisance properties one location in particular with a significant problem and it's the Pine Tree Apartments which is an 88 unit complex near 38th in Fairmount um after this event officers will meet with you and take you over and show you the results of their work this had been a source of chronic complaints and calls for service to the police department in one year alone there were 223 calls at that location alone from loud music and drug dealing to aggravated assault now the community prosecution unit met with the owner to provide guidance but they were not successful we were fortunate to have the department of Neighborhood Services Under uh under the direction of director art dalberg his inspectors came in and identified numerous serious code violations 37 of those violations were documented and the buildings that were in such disrepair 77 units were deemed uninhabitable now Community Advocates helped find housing for those people who had to leave those uninhabitable units and the pine tree is now boarded up pending repairs but no longer a menace and a nuisance to the neighborhood and most important The Neighbors in that neighborhood know know they have power they can have an effect on their environment they do not have to be under siege they have Partners now I started out showing what I believe are some pretty strong crime decrease numbers here are some that our neighbors in that neighborhood can take credit for themselves in the area of Hopkin and Hopkins and Hampton there has been an overall crime reduction of 23% from 2010 to 2009 robberies were reduced by 2/3 and burglaries by onethird and that's a direct result of community engagement now this is a model used by the Milwaukee Police Department Citywide and we're going to continue to share the good news about the ways that we have we are having an impact on the life of this community [Music]