MILWAUKEE — When Milwaukee elects a new mayor next month, he will face an epidemic of stolen cars.
On Monday, mayoral candidate Bob Donovan unveiled a high-tech plan to fight back.
The city of Milwaukee has already passed last year's record number of car thefts at this time period. It's a pace that would exceed a record,10,479 car thefts tracked by the Milwaukee Police Department
So far this year there have been 1,892 car thefts, which is compared to 1,874 this time last year.
Donovan unveiled a three-pronged plan that he said can end car thefts in the city.
"It covers prevention, apprehension, prosecution and it also covers education," Donovan said.
Donovan's plan includes working with a local developer to create a device that will help car theft victims.
It's something he would need insurance companies and automakers like Kia to pay for.
"An owner of a Kia can take their vehicle to a registered installer and we would install this technology (No-Go) that will essentially prevent their car from being stolen," Donovan stated.
No-Go Inventor Jonathan Goldoff said this device will be a second key that is your phone for your car."
"Without your key, that is the device in the phone app, the car wont start," Goldoff said.
Following Donovan's announcement of his plan, a spokesperson for Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson released a statement saying in part:
“It’s nice to see that after getting called out repeatedly for having no new ideas, Alderman Donovan has finally acknowledged — 2 weeks before the election — that it’s important to have new plans to solve problems.
Acting Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson released his safety plan late last year.
The plan entitled S.T.A.N.D. for Safer Streets will focus on safe street design, traffic enforcement, accountability, neighborhood engagement, and demand progress.
"We put too much on the shoulders of police officers in this community, we have in the past. We need to steer away from that and realize other partners to prevent and reduce crime and violence in this city," Johnson said previously.
Johnson's plan provides additional resources to Milwaukee Police Department's Traffic Safety Unit.
His traffic enforcement piece will also partner with business districts to expand license plate reader video cameras to hold repeat offenders accountable. These cameras will track license plates and will be used to find stolen vehicles.
Early voting begins Tuesday for the 2022 Spring election. The city has 9 locations, click herefor more information.
