MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Reducing crime in Milwaukee is a goal we hear from city leaders time and time again.

When it comes to the group hoping to play a major role in that effort, there have been some changes in the past two years, particularly in leadership, as there have been three directors. Ashanti Hamilton left the director position in January of 2025, then Adam Procell stepped into the role in September after multiple rounds of community feedback, though he had to leave his position in January 2026.

Now, Karin Tyler has taken the helm of the Department of Community Wellness and Safety (DCWS). 

In a 2-part series, CBS 58's Montse Ricossa dove into the millions of dollars spent by DCWS to see how their change in leadership impacted crime in the city and how the money coming from taxpayers and grants played into it. We requested their expenses for 2025, receiving an over 500-line Excel sheet read line by line, which we asked the director about. 

Nearly all crime in the city is down, compared to last year, according to data provided by the Milwaukee Police Department. It's something DCWS is proud of. However, last year, the city lost 142 people in shootings. This year, that number is down 23%. Nearly every other violent crime is down this year as well, according to MPD.  But Karin Tyler, director of DCWS, says there's still work to be done.

"One life is just too many. And so, we want to build on that momentum and just see how we can really impact those numbers, and more importantly, impact communities and families," said Tyler.  

Karin Tyler being sworn in to her new position on Apr. 21, 2026 CBS 58

Tyler says her favorite part of being in this position so far has been "giving people hope." That's something she herself had to find.

"I've lost a child to violence, I've lost my dad to reckless driving; you would think I'd say, 'forget the city.' But to me, that drives my passion, and I just want to really fight for families and neighborhoods," said Tyler.

"I know how far-reaching it can be. You lose one person, everybody's looking at that one person, but it's a family devastated. It's a neighborhood that's impacted. Teachers, their siblings, their students -- it affects so many people, and that's why we put a lot of emphasis in our healing and wellness initiative."

That's noted in the new name for the team and her new approach. 

"I wanted to analyze everything that we were doing. I wanted to look at things and evaluate it for impact and just see what direction we need to go in," she continued.

CBS 58's Montse Ricossa: "What would you say is one of your bigger challenges with the department and your role?"

Karin Tyler: "Hmm, I would say that I think teaching prevention would be a big challenge. So, I think people don't know what exactly prevention is, and I think we could do a better job at teaching what it is, but also just engaging the community."

To try to engage the community, Tyler stated they host several events throughout the year.

"To me, to get to the people that we need to get to, we have to be out in the communities. We can't afford to sit behind a desk and think we're going to impact change on a real level." 

But that comes with a big price tag: in 2025, the department spent $5.3 million. They received 1.4 million of that budget from the City of Milwaukee -- the city has a budget of over $2 billion. The rest of their budget was funded from grants and ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act).

Looking at their budget from the City of Milwaukee, DCWS came in approximately $180,000 under. The City of Milwaukee Department of Administration noted that as being normal, especially considering the department was without a director for part of the year; therefore, it did not have to spend that part of the budget. The Department of Administration went on to say they would prefer departments to be under budget instead of over. 

When asked if anything stood out when it came to the 2025 budget or if she'd do anything differently, Tyler replied, "I think I make it very clear that I really like boots on the ground."

Being in the community and focusing on wellness seems fitting given the department's new name, recently leaving behind "the Office of Violence Prevention." 

"We're up against decades of disinvestment, trauma, and different things like that. So, it's like, how do we heal people?" — Karin Tyler 

Tyler says they're focused on not just reducing crime, but also helping those impacted; however they need: "you consider a lot of different things and it's just important that people heal and just figure out what works for them. We give them different opportunities because talk therapy isn't always the best because it's so overwhelming to just relive those moments. But maybe people heal with a sound bath or with yoga or different things like that." 

Montse Ricossa: “Nearly $75,000 in the last two years were spent on a local sound bath and crystal healing business. How do you see that reducing violence in the City of Milwaukee?” 

Karin Tyler: “So again, that would be what we call another healing modality that we can offer the city. Quite honestly, a lot of people, I mean, I can even speak for myself being a victim of violence. It's very challenging to do talk-therapy sometimes.”

A sound bath can be a meditative experience in which you’re “immersed in deep sound vibrations,” a practice based upon the concept that “particular frequencies correspond to specific energy centers in your body,” according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Tyler said sound baths help to regulate the nervous system. We spoke with the owner of 'Allah Mode' who last year hosted roughly 40 free workshops, with an estimated 24 people in each class, as well as numerous summer camps for kids.

CBS 58 was able to experience a brief Sound Bath, learning more about the benefits from the owner CBS 58

"There's something physical going on with the body as a result of the sound. It has a way of just relaxing the nervous system to the point where a lot of times people just are able to zone out and feel a sense of peace and comfort that they haven't felt, especially when we're in the hustle and bustle of everyday life,” said Melissa Blue Muhammad, owner of Allah Mode.

Her business received nearly $75,000 in two years to host free community events, coming from 'ReCAST funds' or Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma.

That grant also helped the department spend $50,000 on martial arts and $38,000 on yoga.

“A lot of it is to create a culture within the city that focuses more on healing and solutions versus people sharing fight videos or different things like that." -- Karin Tyler

When digging through DCWS's expenses from 2025, some businesses that received tens of thousands of dollars couldn't be found online or on social media. To that, Tyler said, "we really pride ourselves in dealing with grassroots organizations. But it isn't easy. And then some of these challenges may come up."

With a new director last year, came a new office and $125,000 worth of new supplies, coming from an ARPA grant. That's also where $132,000 came from to buy vehicles for the department to go out in communities. But Tyler says they haven't been used as of the end of August because, “we have had several other operational priorities, and before using the vehicles, we need to establish clear operating protocols and secure appropriate parking."

Other notable expenses included $40,000 going to advertising and nearly $150,000 to consultants and training.

Some of the highest expenditures were from ARPA funding, like an initiative with the Medical College of Wisconsin helping to provide care to gunshot victims. They received $656,000.

When reporting on the then-Office of Community Wellness and Safety back in October 2025, we heard from the Milwaukee Promise Keepers that one of their challenges in serving the community at events, crime scenes, and neighborhoods was the fact that they only work as part-time and would want to be able to work in a full capacity. When asked about that, Tyler explained it's difficult to balance wanting less full-time roles, or more part-time roles given their funding.

"Our city needs to heal." — Karin Tyler 

Tyler expressed pride in the number of things they were able to accomplish in her first four months in the position including relaunching the Alert Neighbor Program, bringing in the National Office of Violence Prevention Network, and collaborating across departments to see how to better neighborhoods and their safety.

Looking to the future, Tyler said they'll continue applying for more grants. They'll also look at reducing the budget when it comes to training, while continuing to push for more resources in the community in a "specific" and "impactful" way.