MILWAUKEE — Frustrations are coming from residents living on Milwaukee’s East Side.
“Every morning I walk my dog super early. I go out the back door of our building just to make sure my car wasn't broken into,” East Side resident, Kevin Wester explained.
It has become a new morning routine for Wester. TMJ4’s Megan Lee asked if Wester wished this wasn’t part of his morning routine. He said, “Absolutely! Absolutely! But it’s just reassuring to go out there and be like okay its safe."
Others are not as lucky. According to Milwaukee Police, there has been 408 car break-ins reported so far in police district 1 in 2024. District 1 covers parts of the East Side and Downtown.
Other districts are seeing significantly lower numbers.
"I wouldn't want to live anywhere else but it's just that's always kind of wearing on a person,” Wester said.
It’s wearing on neighbors like Bryant.
"I think it's an epidemic city wide, it's not just central to the East Side. It’s definitely a free for all on the East Side right now,” Bryant explained.
He has started to take action.
“And we're going to take our city back and it's a matter of time before these individuals get caught,” Bryant explained.
He recently started his own one-man neighborhood watch.
"Once everybody's tucked in bed about 2:30/2:45 that's when the activity really starts to pick up,” Bryant said.
He makes the rounds in his car and reports suspicious activity to police.
"I'm just doing loops around the neighborhood seeing what I see. And I mean if somebody knows that they're being watched I think that's enough of a pretty big deterrent,” Bryant explained.
For now, both Bryant and Kevin are asking neighbors to keep an eye out for one another and to take concerns to the City of Milwaukee.
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