“You lose your downtown, you lose your city” – Milwaukee Ald. Scott Spiker
Milwaukee Ald. Bob Bauman did not camouflage his frustration July 30 when Milwaukee police leaders – sans a mysteriously absent Chief Jeffrey Norman – appeared before a key Common Council committee to address mounting Water Street and downtown entertainment district violence.
For years, the Water Street entertainment district was a safe environment. That changed abruptly about four years ago, as a short-staffed police department grappled with out-of-control lawlessness, and a spate of shootings.
This year, yet again, a spate of shootings and deaths have erupted against the backdrop of a city that has refused to give its beleaguered police officers a pay raise for almost three years and is stalling, yet again, on giving them a contract, despite the fact they are already paid less than some area officers with less dangerous cities to patrol (and their chief just got a massive pay raise). Some of the violence has been captured in viral social media videos.
“Can we get to the plan?” demanded an exasperated Bauman, who represents the downtown area, as MPD Inspector Sheronda Grant and Norman’s chief of staff Heather Hough fielded questions about scooters, towing, food trucks, bar checks, curfew enforcement, and, basically, everything except the stalled contract that has caused already low morale to plummet to a tipping point that has officers quietly discussing a “blue flu.” (They are legally barred from striking.)
The city’s “Community Wellness and Safety” office PowerPoint was attached to the agenda; it was pitched as a “downtown safety strategy” for quelling downtown entertainment district violence, but is a paltry eight slides, focusing heavily on the use of “promise keepers.”
That’s the formerly named Office of Violence Prevention, known for blowing millions (some bequeathed on it by Gov. Tony Evers) on consultants, administration, auto allowances for staff, travel, and other activities without an obvious link to immediately stopping crime.
Read the MKE Entertainment District Strategy Plan – Community Wellness & Safety Office..
“What are we going to do that is different?” demanded Bauman. As the hearing concluded, he declared it all “pathetic.”
“You’re basically telling downtown you’re on your own,” Bauman said. “What I’m hearing is that everything’s hopeless,” he added at another point.
The aldermen received communications from exasperated Milwaukee residents and bar owners.
“I have owned bars on Water St. for the last 15 years. While the underage loitering and lawlessness has gotten progressively worse, this year we have seen it escalate to unimaginable levels,” wrote Drew Deuster. “MPD seems to be understaffed, making enforcement of any laws difficult. We need more officers on the ground or we are going to need to be calling in the national guard. MPD needs to take a more proactive approach with following through on actual citing and arresting people blatantly breaking the law.”
After the hearing, the Milwaukee Police Association was apoplectic. So was Ald. Peter Burgelis. Both whipped out statements.
How short-staffed is MPD? In the mid-1990s, there were about 2,100 sworn officers. In late 2024, there were about 1,800 authorized, but several hundred vacancies, and some of those are commanders and supervisors. Minus those, there were approximately 1,300 rank-and-file officers when vacancies are considered.
“This morning, city leaders once again gathered to ask, ‘What can be done about downtown violence?’ But this is no mystery — the answers are not hidden. They were spoken plainly today by Milwaukee Police Command Staff: ‘We’re outnumbered. We don’t have enough officers,'” wrote MPA in a statement.
“The solution isn’t complicated — in fact, one of the clearest and most immediate actions lies directly in the hands of the Mayor: Settle the police contract and start treating public safety like a priority,” they wrote. “Stonewalling the police contract is not just a political failure — it is directly undermining public safety. This is exactly what we’ve been saying for more than two years.”
Noted MPA: “We are 250 officers short. We are losing seasoned officers faster than we can recruit new ones. The City is doing an abominable job at retaining and attracting police officers. You cannot ask officers to work endless overtime, to patrol increasingly violent areas, to serve a city that doesn’t seem to value them — and then wonder why they’re leaving or aren’t signing up for overtime. Our officers feel abandoned.”
Concluded MPA: “And yes, so do the residents and visitors who come to enjoy Milwaukee’s entertainment districts and find fewer officers, slower response times, and more unchecked behavior. Today, some suggested a curfew.”
“We ask — who exactly do you expect to enforce it? Who will issue the tickets? Who will safely take minors home? Who will be there when the next call comes? The Mayor holds the solution. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: You cannot ignore the contract, disrespect the profession, and then act surprised by the consequences. It’s time for the City to do its part. Pay your officers. Prioritize public safety. Get serious.”
Where was Chief Norman? We asked MPD.
“Chief Norman recognized the importance of this meeting and deployed four executive command staff members to participate. Chief was in executive briefing, that occurs every morning, where high level urgent department issues are addressed in real time, and crime over the last 24 hours is discussed,” we were told.
“While communication to the Council and the public is valued and important, the operations of the Department as a whole must always continue. During public appearances, the Chief’s command staff are representing and speaking on behalf of the Chief and the Department,” the MPD noted.
Grant and Hough told aldermen that the city is going to pull officers from other areas of the city to get control of Water Street, but that led to another alderman, Larresa Taylor, pontificating that her district is already not getting the service and response that residents deserve (the downtown police district recently had a meager three officers assigned to patrol it). Basically, they said they are going to flood the zone – four red areas – with officers. Grant said they will pull officers from specialty units, not just districts.
Grant did not have a number of curfew tickets or tickets written to parents of curfew violators, upon query from the aldermen, but promised to get it (Wisconsin Right Now has requested the numbers from MPD).
At one point, the meeting descended into theater as no other than community “activist” Vaun Mayes, fresh from his federal court conviction for encouraging a riot in a case that initially included accusations of plotting to firebomb a police district station, was turned to as the voice of solutions for police and the city.
It’s not just Water Street, either. It’s also Brady Street.
“We did deter several fight attempts after the event ended. We were saddened to hear that after we left at midnight, shootings occurred both nights, and assaults occurred on Brady Friday night while we were on Water street,” Mayes wrote in a communication to the city.
At another point, officials waxed on about flimsy sawhorses used to block off downtown’s entertainment zone, as the meeting went on and on and on.
But it was all extremely serious.
Burgelis wrote: “We need action now, not two months from now, and not two weeks from now. Resources are already stretched to the limit, and every day of delay makes our public safety situation more fragile. The Milwaukee Police Department needs every available tool to recruit, train, and retain the best officers to protect and serve our neighborhoods, and we cannot afford continued uncertainty when it comes to staffing our recruit classes or keeping officers on the job.”
The Milwaukee Police Association “has proposed a wage increase very close to what the City has proposed. GET IT DONE! It is time for both parties to also agree to extend the labor agreement into a fourth year, covering 2026,” he added.
