Riverwest residents frustrated with recent crime begin creating database for neighborhood

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Riverwest neighbors are fed up after a summer of irritating crimes and are banding together. They're trying to give Riverwest its own database on crime stats to help others.

It's in the very early stages. The creators are unsure whether the Riverwest crime stats would be an interactive app, or something else, but what they do know is they feel Milwaukee police aren't giving them the resources they need, and it's time to take action.

A bold theft caught on camera…the porch pirate, not masked, walks right up and snags a bicycle. It's shortly after last weekend's Riverwest 24-hour bike race ended.

"This summer in particular has been a crazy uptick in this particular type of crime," said Roberto Sandoval, Riverwest resident.

Porch pirates, so common now, Dan Basile is taking no chances. As soon as his package is dropped off, he's on it.

"I'm pretty good about knowing when it's coming so I'm home to kind of watch for it. I don't think I would leave the package out there for more than several minutes," said Dan Basile, Riverwest resident.

Porch piracy videos are all over the Riverwest Facebook group this summer. So are the car break-ins and window smashings.

"It's expensive to replace stuff for your car so I hope I don't have to have that happen, but it's scary," said Brooke Ellis, Riverwest resident.

Brooke Ellis was parked just two spots away from another car when someone smashed its windows a few weeks ago.

"And I work in Riverwest too, so lots of people come in and say, 'hey my car got broken into, do you guys happen to have footage or anything,'" said Ellis.

Criminal damage to vehicles is on the rise all across Milwaukee. Police took 134 reports from July 8 to 21. That's a 140% jump from the first two weeks of summer. Neighbors are pushing to get all that data into their fingertips.

"So that our neighborhood could understand where it's happening, what time it's happening, and if we can anticipate it obviously right now it's funded by passion and passion is not gonna take us very far," said Sandoval.

Sandoval says a tech savvy person is working on devising a crime tracker, but money's an issue. So, he's hoping to raise funds to get it together.

"The fact that we're fundraising and using our free time to create something that will help us feel more secure, not necessarily make us more secure. There's not enough resources over here and we're all equally paying the same amount of taxes," said Sandoval

More details about the Riverwest crime tracker and how to help fund it will be posted on the Riverwest Facebook group.