City leaders call for new collaborative crime prevention approach after recent spree

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Milwaukee city leaders are speaking out after a recent crime spree and refocusing prevention efforts on younger people.

A deadly hit-and-run, when a 14-year-old boy hit a motorcyclist, happened in Common Council President Jose Perez's district.

On Thursday, August 8, he said youth crime is reaching a tipping point and he's calling on a new approach to keep people safe and hold offenders accountable.

Perez said, "It can't be business as usual," adding that something has to change.

Perez said he's getting calls every day about armed robberies, including from a business owner Wednesday. "One of their employees at the end of their shift, going out to dump garbage in the dumpster, was robbed at gunpoint."

Some larger crime stats are trending in the right direction, but high-profile crimes -like a string of armed robberies, car break-ins, shootings, and more- have been committed by teens.

Perez told us, "I understand restorative justice. I understand alternative sentencing, but we're talking about prolific, repeat offenders."

The 14-year-old boy in Perez's district committed 13 armed robberies, stole at least four cars, and committed a deadly hit-and-run.

City leaders are trying to unite stakeholders to address the larger issue.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson said, "It's accountability and it's prevention. It's not one or the other, it's both and."

Johnson said several intervention programs provide resources, but parents need to know where their children are and what they are doing. "The people that are doing this, they should be held accountable. Yes. We should also be working to make sure they don't find themselves in a position where they're doing this in the first place, too."

MPD officers at a National Night Out event Thursday evening were trying to lay that groundwork.

Milwaukee Police Capt. Timoty Leitzke told us, "Well, before they become teenagers, they're young kids. So, if we can build those relationships, if we can develop that trust, they'll carry that in their teenage years."

Still, Perez wants bigger efforts with more stakeholders so that crime does not threaten the city's reputation and have lasting consequences. "I'm not going to drive people out of my neighborhood or out of the city with this type of behavior. I'm not going to normalize break-ins or armed robberies."

Mayor Johnson said he'd like to create an endowment that continues funding crime prevention and intervention programs each year, rather than forcing the programs to search for new funding every year.