Rep. Richards Urges Gov. Walker to Sign ShotSpotter Expansion
A bill to partially restore a $445,000 cut to the Milwaukee Police Department’s gunshot sensor program is headed to Gov. Scott Walker’s desk.
Madison— A bill to partially restore a $445,000 cut to the Milwaukee Police Department’s gunshot sensor program is headed to Gov. Scott Walker’s desk after passing the Senate last night on a unanimous vote. Rep. Jon Richards (D-Milwaukee), a member of the legislature’s budget committee, released the following statement encouraging Walker to quickly sign the measure to return $175,000 in state funds to the ShotSpotter program.
“ShotSpotter is a powerful crime fighting tool that should never have been cut in the first place. Now that the Senate has joined in supporting this common-sense community policing initiative, I call on Governor Walker to quickly sign it into law. ShotSpotter works and should be expanded to other neighborhoods in Milwaukee.”
The ShotSpotter audio sensor system pinpoints the location of gunfire in high crime areas and sends that information to officers on the street in a matter of seconds. Restoring $175,000 in state funding to the program, in combination with matching county and city funds, will allow the Milwaukee Police Department to expand ShotSpotter from 3 square miles to 10 square miles. The Assembly approved the measure in February on a vote of 95-1.
As a member of the Joint Finance Committee, Richards moved to fully restore the $445,400 cut to ShotSpotter that Walker originally proposed in his 2013-2015 state budget. Richards’ motion failed on a party-line vote.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
Mentioned in This Press Release
Recent Press Releases by Jon Richards
