Beat patrol officers, Milwaukee Police Department launches new initiative

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The Milwaukee Police Department is hoping to make neighborhoods safer by adding more officers on the streets.

It’s part of a new initiative by Alderman Bob Donovan and Alderman Jose Perez, also MPD to place beat officers in communities to decrease crime.

Sunday was the first day officers will be walked across police district 2 near the south side with the goal of improving trust with residents.

"They're gonna talk to people more often and get more information, so when there are issues that result in an uptick in violent crime, or weapons offences, they should have more intense knowledge than they do now," said Kieran Sawyer, Sergeant with Milwaukee Police.

The officers, 21 in total, were specially assigned to their zones -- two of them to each of the 17 neighborhoods in district 2.

"There's a lot of businesses, the two officers assigned here worked Walker's Point and Walker Square with all the business associations there, and the taverns. They're great communicators, they know how to work with the businesses to solve problems and we're bringing that to the Silver City area, because it didn't have that before," added Sergeant Sawyer.

Business owners in the area told CBS 58 News it’s a start. “I think with the police presence at least that may deter some of it, I don’t think it will stop it all, but I think it will give my employees and the people in the community a sense that something is being done, and they feel a little safer,” said David Stachnik, president of Lindsay Foods.

Alderman Donovan admits the initiative will not solve all of the city's crime problems.

"No it's not going to solve all of the problems but I'm confident it may prevent a number of crimes from occurring, just the mere presences of these officers getting into areas that you don’t see a squad," he said.



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