MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee is seeing a significant decrease in violent crime. Year-end data from the Milwaukee Police Department shows homicides are down 21 percent after three straight record years, but they’re still higher than pre-pandemic levels.
"We are seeing some positive trends in neighborhoods,” said Dr. Constance Kostelac.
No one knows Milwaukee homicide data quite like Dr. Kostelac at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She leads the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission. It’s a group that seeks to understand crime trends and create strategies on where to focus resources.
Lately, the results have been promising as the city has seen a 9 percent dip across the board in violent crime.
“What do you think is the biggest cause for this decrease?” TMJ4 reporter Ben Jordan asked.
"It's really a combination of what we're seeing nationally in terms of some of the distance from the pandemic and the distance from some of the issues particularly in the summer of 2020 that really heightened a lot of tensions across the U.S., but at the same time, based on the fact that we're involved with evaluating the specific programs like 414 Life, we're involved with other initiatives that are doing a lot of on the groundwork, I really do think that part of it is the collaboration and the work that's happening together,” Dr. Kostelac replied.
It isn’t just Milwaukee. Homicide rates are ticking down at historic levels nationwide with examples seen in major cities across the Midwest. Chicago saw a 13 percent decrease, Detroit’s homicide rate dropped 18 percent and St. Louis saw a similar decrease to Milwaukee at 21 percent.
But Dr. Kostelac says just like every large city, Milwaukee faces unique issues and challenges, particularly with guns.
For the past three years, firearms were used in more than 90 percent of homicides which is higher than the national average.
Additionally, the city saw a spike in young people being killed last year. More than 4 in every 10 murder victims were 24 years old or younger.
Ashanti Hamilton says the two primary problems leading to violence in the city continue to be domestic violence and retaliation.
"A lot of youth-based violence that was centered around pain-based groups that had the access to firearms in order to use those in their retaliation activities,” he said. “A lot of innocent bystanders affected by that so that was a particular spike."
Hamilton leads the city’s Office of Community Wellness and Safety, which was formerly known as the Office of Violence Prevention.
He says the city and county heavily rely on data and analysis from the Medical College of Wisconsin to learn which neighborhoods need the most services and the best programs to address specific needs.
The Sherman Park neighborhood saw one of the biggest decreases in violent crime. It had 6 homicides in 2023, a significant decrease from 15 in 2022.
Meanwhile, gun violence in Old North Milwaukee held steady with 46 people shot each of the last two years.
"We do have a few higher incidents in areas like Old North Milwaukee, the good thing is that's an area of focus for multiple programs so we know that's an area that has some particular needs so there's also a concentration of efforts going in to address situations of retaliation, situations of gun violence. It's a focus area for 414 Life,” Dr. Kostelac said.
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