SITE OVERVIEW ♦ MILWAUKEE | WISCONSON
Target Area: Washington Park • Population: 15,000
Fiscal Agent: City of Milwaukee
Research Partner: Dr. Kimberly Hassell of the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Crime Concerns: Aggravated assaults, burglaries, robberies, and other violent crimes
BCJI Funding Year: 2012 Planning & Enhancement
Neighborhood Profile
The Washington Park neighborhood exhibits the convergence of a variety of social and economic problems as a result of decades of disinvestment such as high rates of unemployment, low rates of academic achievement, blight and property vacancies, and persistently high rates of crime. Many residents struggle to make ends meet, and in focus groups convened by the BCJI team, many expressed serious concern about disorder stemming from nuisance properties, trash and dumping, visible and blatant prostitution, and drug sales. BCJI research has clarified that disorder hot spots overlay with crime hot spots, including those where much of the neighborhood’s violent incidents have occurred. Despite these challenges, Washington Park is home to a rich array of non-profit community development and service organizations, many of which are allies in the BCJI effort.
Planning Process
The Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) joined with citywide and community-based nonprofit organizations to address both the rates of crime and their underlying causes through the Innovations in Community Based Crime Reduction Program which started in January 2013 and ended in December 2015. The project was overseen by a leadership team comprised of MPD, a group of residents, business owners and organizations known as Washington Park Partners, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation’s Milwaukee office, and the non-profit outreach and service organization Safe & Sound. These BCJI partners identified five high-crime areas for intensive law enforcement enhancement, alignment with non-law enforcement interventions, and intentional, ongoing resident outreach and engagement.
Implementation Strategies
Since early 2014, the Milwaukee BCJI team implemented a variety of strategies to improve public safety, reduce physical disorder, enhance collective efficacy, and advance the long-term planning and implementation of revitalization strategies. In the identified hot spots, BCJI partners deployed evidence-based and data-driven police strategies including targeted foot and bike patrol as well as a multi-agency information exchange focused on gun crimes and strategic problem solving. In addition, MPD implemented an innovative program created to enhance citizen understanding of the motivation and protocol involved with police stops as one element of a broader strategy to increase community-police trust.
BCJI partners also leveraged Milwaukee’s Community Prosecution program by addressing vacant properties and prostitution. Finally, community development partners worked together to enhance collective efficacy through a variety of organizing efforts that included crime reporting campaigns, block-based projects informed by the principles Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), and other efforts to address underlying problems of unemployment and economic instability. Collectively, the BCJI partners integrated these strategies to reduce actual and perceived crime and disorder, to foster the trust and willingness of ordinary citizens, and to maintain social order and increase community wellbeing.
Results
As the workgroups within the BCJI team implemented strategies to address priority topics from their plan since early 2014, they have noted progress in several areas, such as:
- Violent crime decreased 11 percent in Washington Park during the first year of implementation. Property crime decreased 13 percent.
- Violent crime dropped 23 percent in the five hot spots during the first year of implementation. Property crime decreased 5 percent.
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