Sen. Hutton: Milwaukee Deserves Support to Lower Crime

One of the WOW counties’ Republican state senators says the state is failing the people of Milwaukee.

Senator Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, wrote an op-ed last week that puts some of the blame for Milwaukee’s continued high crime numbers of Gov. Tony Evers.

“Far too many Milwaukee neighborhoods remain unsafe. As of this writing, there have been 116 homicides in Milwaukee in 2024, this after the city experienced several straight years of record violence. Especially disturbing, many of the victims have been innocent children,” Hutton wrote.

Milwaukee Police last week released their crime statistics for the third quarter of 2024.

Those numbers show both homicides and non-fatal shootings dropped compared to July, August, and September 2023.

Milwaukee Police, however, said carjackings, car thefts, and robberies all jumped this summer. In fact, carjackings jumped 17%.

Hutton said thieves targeting cars, and people in their cars, has been a concern for years. And remains stubbornly so.

“Milwaukee was the eighth-worst city for vehicle theft in the nation in 2021, and car thefts remain 38% higher than before the pandemic. Deadly reckless driving also continues to plague our communities. I commend City Attorney Evan Goyke for his announcement that his office will no longer go easy on those who risk lives for a quick thrill behind the wheel. I can only hope others adopt this same attitude,” Hutton added.

Hutton then shifted to blame Gov. Evers.

“Public policy isn’t a magic fix for all of these problems. We know there are many contributing factors behind these dire statistics, but lawmakers can and should do all we can to support the effort to keep families, neighborhoods, and schools safe. Last session I authored or co-sponsored over a dozen bills with that objective.,” Hutton added.

Hutton said he wrote two pieces of legislation to try and help Milwaukee. One, Senate Bill 517 would have addressed a key source of police turnover and falling morale with a simple update to an outdated law that permits the harassment of officers through the courts. The other, Senate Bill 86, would have slowed the revolving door of the justice system by limiting the ability of prosecutors to bargain down charges in certain violent crimes.

“Unfortunately, the Governor vetoed these bills,” Hutton said.

“Some elected officials seem unable or unwilling to make clear through public policy that criminal behavior is not tolerated. The result of lenient attitudes and systems has predictably been more crime, less livable communities, and a diminished standard of living for everyone,” Hutton added.