MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- For the fifth straight year, there were fewer than 100 homicides in the city of Milwaukee. The city reported 92 homicides in 2012 compared to 87 in 2011, a 6% increase.
The 2012 total represents a 43% decline in homicides compared to 1990, a 31% decrease since 2000, a 12% decrease in the past decade and an 11% decrease since 2007.
In a news release issued Thursday, January 17th, Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said, “The data shows that what we’re doing to address violence has had a positive impact, but the slow-motion mass-murders playing out on the streets of cities across America must be part of the larger conversation on reducing gun violence."
Officials say many cities with comparable demographics and poverty to Milwaukee saw significant increases in homicide in 2012. Despite being the fourth poorest city among these comparables, Milwaukee’s homicide rate is less than half that of Baltimore, Baton Rouge, Detroit and Newark, and is lower than that of Cleveland, Memphis, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Cincinnati.