Out in force: MPD conducts roll call in the street as some celebrate the end of the school year

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Students are celebrating the end of the school year this week -- and Milwaukee police want to make sure they don't take those celebrations too far.

Milwaukee streets will soon be flooded with youngsters with hours of free time as schools let out for summer.

"We know what the mission is today and tomorrow and the mission is safety. Safety for our students, safety for our neighborhoods," Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said.

Milwaukee police want their presence felt as students celebrate the end of the school year.

Chief Flynn conducted a roll call on Thursday morning, June 12th in conjunction with "Operation School's Out."

"There's literally hundreds, if not thousands of kids on the street at the same time. There are kids out there who want to take advantage of the other kids -- want to push them around, want to intimidate them, want to engage in dangerous behavior," Chief Flynn said.

Chief Flynn says the operation has been effective the last few years in getting kids home safely while also cutting down on disruptive behavior in nearby business districts.

"We recognized it would be a good idea to engage in high level preventive behavior to keep kids from doing the kind of things that might get them arrested on their last day of school," Chief Flynn said.

Charlie Gordon has twins graduating this year -- one of them, a valedictorian.

He says he's pleased to see MPD out in force.

"I like to see the police presence and it's good just to let you know that the police is out here and just letting you know that the neighborhood is safe out here," Gordon said.

Chief Flynn is calling this a dry run for what may be a long, hard summer.

"It also is kind of a down payment on the rest of the summer -- which is high visibility on foot, on bicycles and in squad cars paying attention to the behaviors of most concern to the neighborhoods," Chief Flynn said.

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