Confronting Noise and Other Disruptions: Working with MPD

The April 2011 MNHA meeting at the Urban Ecology Center featured Captain Steve Basting who is the “top man” at MPD District 1, our district. It was particularly well attended. Even Channel 4 News was there. The resulting news report is available online at <http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/120771574.html>.

Drunken students (and non-students) are a two-pronged problem for the District. Not only are they responsible for damaging property and preventing residents from sleeping at night, but they also represent the primary pool of victims of crime in the district. Criminals in custody are telling police that they specifically target intoxicated people walking the streets at night. The problem has roots in a drinking culture that is, frankly, out of control.

Captain Basting has reorganized District 1 since taking over last year. As a result we now have a team of police who are directed to focus on the quality-of-life issues that confront residents of Murray Hill. We think it is fair to characterize the Captain’s position as “no-nonsense”.

The Captain, in conjunction with UWM officials, has sent a letter to all students informing them that disruptive behavior will result in arrest, not just a citation. Offenders will be taken downtown, photographed, and fingerprinted. Captain Basting is asking us to contact District 1 directly when late night disruptions occur.

Murray Hill residents need to be involved.

The police can not be everywhere all the time. District 1′s new approach will be far more effective if we ALL help by reporting problems. Without information about where and when problems are happening, it is harder to detect patterns that can help police anticipate disruptions. It is also harder for District 1 to allocate resources to the problem. IT IS IN OUR BEST INTEREST TO MAKE SURE ALL PROBLEMS ARE REPORTED.

The Captain has provided us with the contact information for everyone on the UWM team at District 1. Their phone numbers and email addresses are listed at the bottom of this message. However there is probably only one that you really need to write down and put near your phone for :

District 1 Shift Commander: 935-7211

Several residents who were at the meeting mentioned a level of fear that retaliation might result from reporting problems. The fear is legitimate but it is one that we need to overcome. We simply can not solve this long-standing problem if we don’t confront it every time it happens.  If you or your neighbor can’t quite bring yourself to report the problem directly to the police, please call Steve Klebar (MHNA President) or another MHNA Board member the next day. We’ll help get the incident reported in a way that protects you but still gets the incident into the system. We need to report problems, even if the are ephemeral wandering screams in the night.

MHNA, with help from District 1, is tracking incidents in the neighborhood and preparing monthly incident maps. We’ll be watching for changes in incident response outcomes. Expect more email from us on that subject in the coming weeks and months.

Report It. Record it.

 

The following contact information was provided by the Milwaukee Police Department at the April 2011 General Membership Meeting:

UWM Team
Lt. Karen Dubis  |  935-7211  |  e-mail
Sgt. Wesam Yaghnam  |  935-7217  |  e-mail
Sgt. April Hoffman  |  935-7217  |  e-mail
Officer Alan Parks  |  935-1261  |  e-mail
Officer Steven Stelter  |  935-7729  |  e-mail
Officer Mark Kapusta  |  935-3755  |  e-mail