Our Sheriff’s Department is Underfunded and Understaffed

Milwaukee – County Supervisor John Weishan, Jr. released a statement Tuesday regarding calls to reduce funding to the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.

“The tenure of previous Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke has left a legacy of mismanagement. For years, the Milwaukee County’s Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) has gone underfunded and understaffed.

“Recently, there have been calls by public officials and community groups alike to reduce their already strained finances by as much as 25 percent. However, these groups fail to understand the broad role and range of responsibilities of the MCSO.

“For decades, the citizens of Milwaukee County have asked for more Sheriff patrols in our parks, freeways, county roads and parkways, not less. They demand that more be done to combat the epidemics of drugs and human trafficking, not less.

“The goal of spending more on social programs across Milwaukee County is appropriate, but public safety should go hand-in-hand with these efforts, or there will be no long-term, positive results.

“Milwaukee County, the State of Wisconsin, and the federal government concurrently spend millions of dollars on programming to address the social ills of our communities. The groups calling for cuts to public safety need to first evaluate the effectiveness of current spending and develop responses to the root causes of these problems, before demanding increases in other areas.

“Changes are needed, that much is certain. But addressing the complex issues facing our neighborhoods will not be resolved with generic rhetoric. We have a County Sheriff, and a Sheriff’s Department, that is committed to doing the best that it can, with limited resources, to make a positive impact on our community.”

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.