Council members call on Chief to boost South Side officer staffing

A majority of Common Council members representing Milwaukee’s South Side aldermanic districts today sent a joint letter (attached) to Police Chief Edward Flynn, requesting that he assign additional officers to MPD’s District Two and District Six.

Signed by Alderman Bob Donovan, chair of the Public Safety Committee, Public Safety Vice Chair Alderman Mark Borkowski, Alderman Tony Zielinski and Alderman José G. Pérez, the letter to Chief Flynn cites chronic long response times and other factors in seeking additional officers for the south side.

The letter states, in part: “The five aldermanic districts on the City’s south side are home to approximately 220,000 residents. Were the south side set on its own, it would be the third-largest municipality in the state of Wisconsin. The 215 officers assigned (131 in District 2 and 84 in District 6) to protect them cannot be taken as sufficient.

We all have for quite some time experienced unacceptable increases in response time, lack of patrol officers, and, worst of all, too many instances in which we have been informed that no officer was available to provide a timely response to a call for help. We have been regularly told by officers at community meetings that their resources are stretched and special enforcement is next to impossible.

We do not believe we are asking for a disproportionate response but only for our residents’ fair share of police resources. Our constituents are hard-working tax-payers like any others and deserve better. These residents pride themselves on keeping their neighborhoods and our City strong, but they cannot without the support of the police.”

News alert and letter from Aldermen Donovan, Borkowski, Zielinski and Perez

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.