Uptick in robberies, thefts on Milwaukee's east side prompts meeting with city officials

In mid-July, Bryant Junco began patrolling his neighborhood on Milwaukee’s east side during the middle of the night.

Before Junco began patrolling, he had noticed car break-ins and broken window glass. He thought that was just a part of living downtown. However, news coverage raised his awareness of what was going on — and it came as some crime in the neighborhood has increased in the last 12 weeks. So he began to drive around at night.

"We’ve never felt more unsafe than now,” said Junco in reference to himself and several of his friends.

Junco, 40, rents two properties out through AirBnB and said he warns guests that car break-ins are on the rise. But Junco noted less crime seemed to be occurring over the last week or so as the Milwaukee Police Department have devoted more resources to the area.

He thought perpetrators were perhaps noticing increased patrols from police and neighborhood watches and it was dissuading them.

Junco was among those who attended a meeting Wednesday to address the recent jump in crimes on the city's east side, an area that includes popular commercial areas like Brady Street and Farwell Avenue and stretches from Pleasant Street on its south side to Edgewood Avenue on the north.

Ald. Jonathan Brostoff, who represents the area, representatives from the city’s Office of Community Wellness and Safety and the Milwaukee Police Department provided information and fielded questions from residents.

Officials responded to concerns by noting they were increasing patrols and bicycle officers in the area and urged residents to report the break-ins and other crimes they witness and join neighborhood watches.

“In some ways, we might be softer targets than we once were,” Brostoff told the Journal Sentinel, noting the decline of neighborhood association activity. “It’s an issue and it’s a community problem.”

Uptick comes as police data shows overall crime down compared to prior years

The community concerns come as crime has ticked up significantly in recent weeks.

Crimes in the following categories jumped significantly in the 12-week period from late May to mid-August compared to the 12 weeks prior.

Specifically: 39 robberies compared to nine; 179 thefts compared to 93; and 182 motor vehicle thefts compared to 84. Aggravated assault increased from 17 to 30, and burglaries increased from 22 to 30.

Even with the east side's short-term uptick in some crimes, it is seeing year-to-date decreases in most categories when compared to 2022 and 2023. Most categories are down between 10% and 30% compared to those two years, with motor vehicle theft being an exception.

That mirrors citywide data where overall crime statistics show crime has dropped this year compared to year over year.

During the meeting, Milwaukee Police Captain Robert Thiel, who oversees the downtown and east side policing area known as District One, said the department was receiving more emails than officially reported incidents.

He and Brostoff urged residents to report all crime, even minor, as it helps the department determine where to devote resources. They also encouraged residents to consider joining neighborhood watch groups. Brostoff said neighborhood involvement had dipped in recent years.

He mentioned specifically the Brady Street Area Association as one that has less membership than it did and said he had a meeting earlier in the day about it.

"Getting that sort of engagement going again, both the large neighborhood associations, but more hyper-localized with the block watches and the with neighbors engaged that way, I think it'd be very help and something everyone here can do immediately," he said during the meeting.

Thiel said the department has increased patrols, some through overtime shifts, and bicycle units in the area in response to the recent uptick.

Junco said he believes the lack of reporting could be cause for why the year-over-year statistics, which he doubted, do not match his and other’s experiences and said the meeting may have been a "bit late” responding to the crime.

“This has been an epidemic since July and even before that,” he said.

Ashanti Hamilton, the director of the city’s Office of Community Wellness and Safety, said the city was also increasing resources to its Alert Neighbor Program, which assists block watches or clubs in addressing neighborhood issues and provides funding for crime watch signs, porch lighting and security cameras.

Hamilton said his office was working to divert youth behavior to “positive types” of activities as well through its Promise Keepers, a crime prevention group, and other programs.

“What are the things that we can build structurally in communities to divert youth attention, so they’re not engaged in the type of criminal behavior purely for entertainment purposes?” Hamilton said.

The East Side has seen some prominent incidents recently, including a robbery crew targeting Milwaukee’s Riverwest and Upper East Side neighborhoods in the last month. On Aug. 1, Milwaukee police said they had arrested two teenagers in connection to it.

Brostoff said people’s “lived experiences” outweigh the noting of year-over-year statistics in discussions. He said it was possible social media was amplifying incidents as well, raising awareness.

“Regardless of the statistics, regardless of the facts … it’s very scary,” he said. “It means it’s still a huge priority and until its solved, we just got to keep working on it.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Uptick in robberies, thefts on Milwaukee's east side prompts meeting with city officials