all right good morning thank you for coming today is a good news day today's a day we get to talk about the police in the community working together to create safe and sustainable neighborhoods the mission of the milwaukee police department is to create neighborhoods capable of sustaining civic life that requires a relentless focus on crime fear and disorder what you have in front of you is the data that shows that we continue to make measurable progress in dealing with violent crime and property crime in the city of milwaukee as you can see for yourselves just in the last year violent crime has been reduced by 12 percent there's been a 30 percent reduction in violent crime in this city over the last three years property crime is down significantly and overall the city has seen a three-year reduction of crime of 19 percent now that shows that what the police do matters but just as important it shows what the police and the community doing together can accomplish we recognize we're frequently on the so-called front lines of dealing with crime fear and disorder but we also recognize there cannot be sustained success without an active and engaged citizenry committed to taking back its streets now we certainly saw last night that there are still neighborhoods in this city that are intimidated into inaction by criminal elements and we pledge to work in every neighborhood to make them capable of taking their neighborhoods back but today we're joined by literally dozens of people from block watches and community groups around the city whose personal engagement in the life of their community has created safer public spaces and that's why we're in this together i have with me a few people who i think are great examples of the work that committed individuals can do with their police department pam frauchi sits behind me you'll get a chance to talk to her later she's the email queen of district one she works in the murray hill neighborhood association and she notifies everyone in the area about crime and other concerns on the east side by communicating the issues and helping promoting the safety of her neighborhood from district five we have am wilson she's from hillside she attends church on 11th in chambers when one of my officers was shot in that area a few weeks ago she reached out to us and asked for a roll call in the street outside her church we were proud to hold that event in front of the canaan baptist church with us also is welford sanders and mack weddle both of them work with us daily to improve the area around the district 5 area both of these gentlemen have worked to refurbish the neighborhood with new housing and new development while also trying to educate residents in the trades for future employment in district 2 community cleanups where offenders pick up garbage and abate graffiti started with only three volunteers on the south side linda zinke betty baxter and steve espinoza working together got things started now we have more than 850 properties cleared on the south side cleared of graffiti and 180 streets where garbage was picked up crime numbers tell a story crime numbers measure progress prime crime numbers hold us accountable to the community for our performance but they remain but part of the story and an important part of the story are the people here today and those that couldn't make it who are extraordinary part of the resurgence and community confidence in milwaukee and the continued improvement in public safety i'll ask uh ask the mayor to step forward and share his thoughts well thank you very much chief lynn and i want to thank everybody who has been so involved in helping us with this reduction in crime throughout the city of milwaukee chief flynn and the men and women of the police department do a fantastic job every single day they put their life on the line so that we can have neighborhoods where our children can play and where we can walk thank you mr mayor i would like to take a moment and ask pam frauchi to step up here and share uh her thoughts and also uh ann ann wilson ann and pam would you come up here they promised to say nice things please and go ahead man um i'm from the east side the first district we've been working together very well there are seven neighborhood associations on the east side now working together called three dna the third district neighborhood association and we are working on a safety and stability model for milwaukee because in our area we're affected by the university's huge growth and there are many places across in the rest of the state and across the nation that are looking for a model to solve the problems that have to do with rapid growth of universities it is delightful for us to have such an open communication with milwaukee police and with the city and we are hopeful of solving any problems that are left thank you captain flynn this is quite an opportunity for me because there was a time i wouldn't stand here but down through the years and i'm old most of y'all are much younger than i am i have watched the police department be the greatest police department in the nation um and work that's right that's right they appreciate that hand you're gonna give them and led by chief flynn and of course i'm in the fifth district and of course i think captain hudson is the greatest captain in the nation but all the other captains are just the same they have made a commitment to the community and milwaukee has proven that working together works milwaukee's always been a great city but it is becoming the greatest city in the nation and i too i'm a grandmother and a great grandmother and i don't have to want to have to worry about my children because i have a great grand who is artistic he does not understand walking up and down the streets he needs to be safe yes the community works but police officers put theirselves on the line every day and when it happened in front of canaan there was nothing for us to do but walk the streets and ask the neighbors there to get involved because if we don't protect them they show god cannot protect us and so working together is working in milwaukee through the mayor through chief flynn and he is doing an absolutely fabulous job and i am so glad to be working with them all and i think you may have missed your calling i was ready to sign up um let's take a moment and thank the boys and girls clubs kind of shameless promotion here i'm on their board um but i want to thank them for giving us this location to work it's a great place for kids i also want to take a moment and share with you an update last night as you know we launched a major operation in in the in the 5th district and i just want to give you some preliminary follow up on what we did last night as of 1 30 last night the units in that area had stopped 91 cars including 14 dodge intrepids which as we reiterate that was the description of the vehicle used in the shooting of the 12 year old girl they also conducted 43 field interviews last night separate and apart from the traffic stops i made five misdemeanor arrests four for possession of marijuana and one for obstructing i made four felony arrests last night two probation violations one operating a vehicle without the owner's consent a marijuana possession and we also arrested a felon in possession with a shotgun who had just committed a robbery that's again a good example of a community police cooperation even in a neighborhood that lives in fear officers were flagged down by neighbors who had seen a man running holding a shotgun and throwing off a mask our officers chased him on foot for three blocks and arrested him as he was trying to enter a home that he had no connection with along the path the officers recovered both the mask and the shotgun and then walked the neighborhood trying to find out okay you know what did this guy do and sure enough enough people came forward where were we able to make the case that he had in fact just committed a robbery and we found the victim and last night the bad guy confessed his sins to us and confessed that he in fact committed the robbery so we've had some good preliminary results from our first night out there again just as we can show today that strong neighborhoods become stronger as more and more people become engaged but first those neighborhoods must be seen as safe and we're committed to making neighborhoods safe so that free people can exercise their freedoms and that's our goal up at 27th and burleigh it's a goal that has been achieved in neighborhood after neighborhood such as those represented here today