Milwaukee street takeovers, police address response challenges

MKE street takeovers, response challenges

FOX6 News has learned new details about why Milwaukee police had such a hard time getting street takeovers under control on Labor Day Weekend.

MILWAUKEE - FOX6 News has learned new details about why Milwaukee police had such a hard time getting street takeovers under control on Labor Day Weekend. 

Special unit paused

What they're saying:

Last month, the city saw several street takeovers – including downtown at 6th and Clybourn.

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The Milwaukee Police Department has a specialized unit to respond, but the department said that unit was paused over that weekend to deploy officers to Water Street for returning college students in the nightlife district.

"They are always staffed at a certain level for when those deployments are occurring," said Heather Hough, MPD chief of staff.

Street takeover at 6th and Clybourn

Milwaukee police and the district attorney's office came to the table with the city's Public Safety and Health Committee on Thursday to detail how they're trying to stop street takeovers before they start. It's easier said than done.

"The problem is safety getting to that pit. We have to think about how we're going to get our officers close enough to that vehicle to deploy some kind of means to stop that car," MPD Sgt. Brian Laroque said.

Arrest challenges

Dig deeper:

Ald. Scott Spiker asked about arresting the people involved. Hough said "there are a number of considerations in those situations." Those considerations include public safety, officer safety, probable cause and observation of crimes or violations that are occurring.

"The elements of the crime must always be proven before we can make the referral, and therein lies the difficulty," Hough said.

Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) administration building

Street takeovers can involve hundreds of people. Milwaukee police said it's not possible to arrest everyone in every case, and the investigations that happen after take time.

"My priority is that the community have a clear understanding of what the expectation is for a police response for a street takeover," said José Pérez, Common Council president.

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MPD would not detail how many officers are part of the directed patrols; they said they did not want to tip anyone off. 

What's next:

The Public Health and Safety Committee also approved increasing the minimum fine for street takeover spectators from $20 to $500. The full Common Council would need to approve that increase.