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As they hit the streets, members of 414LIFE, a community and hospital-based violence intervention program, know their efforts could literally mean the difference between life and death. 

That theory was put to the test recently when 414LIFE members showed up to diffuse a neighborhood dispute that also involved law enforcement officers on Milwaukee’s North Side. If not for that intervention, Lynn Lewis, executive director of 414LIFE, believes the incident could have ended in tragedy. 

“Frontline workers go into situations where emotions are high, where people are riled up and thinking about retaliation,” Lewis said. 

As temperature rises, so can violence

Lewis said her 414LIFE team of 15 violence interrupters and outreach workers has hit the streets hard in recent weeks, responding to an uptick in violence. 

“There have been about seven shootings and four homicides in the last 72 hours,” Lewis said during a community pop-up recently near Milwaukee Fire Station 5 on the North Side. 

Reggie Moore is the director of violence prevention policy and engagement at the Comprehensive Injury Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin, which implements the program for the city of Milwaukee.

He said shootings over the past three weeks have kept the 414LIFE team busy. 

Many of the shootings, he said, involved interfamily conflict or intimate partner violence. And while the violence typically rises with the temperature, Moore said, it’s the sheer volume of guns on the streets that presents the biggest problem. 

“The presence of a firearm increases the risk of arguments or conflicts resulting in serious injuries or death,” he said. “People are losing their lives and freedom over a moment of anger. 

“Our team along with our partners have been working around the clock responding to scenes and hospitals to support impacted families and neighborhoods.” 

‘Life is bigger than just the hood’

Lewis said the group held several pop-ups recently along with staff from Credible Messengers, a Milwaukee County violence intervention program. One was at Tiefenthaler Park, 2501 W. Galena St., where a shooting occurred after a vigil recently. 

“We talk to people in hot spots like that about the need to change up before they end up incarcerated or dead,” Lewis said. “We need to stop the bleeding.” 

The interrupters are well versed in the street lifestyle, having lived through the same challenges that people in the community face now. 

One message they share, whether it’s with youths or adults, Lewis said, “is that life is bigger than just the hood.” 

They talk about goals and share resources such as information on jobs, food and other programs to help the people they serve build social capital and eventually change their attitudes toward gun violence, she said. 

“Milwaukee, we need to stop shooting and start healing,” Lewis said. 

Community violence intervention programs like 414 LIFE take a public health approach to reducing violence and improving community safety, Moore said.

He said the 414LIFE program, which was inspired by the Blueprint for Peace, is the longest community violence intervention program in Milwaukee. 

In addition to a street team, 414LIFE also has a hospital-based component that offers services to victims of gun violence.  

“Our colleagues at Froedtert Hospital are also feeling the weight of these shootings just as much as our street teams on the front line,” Moore said. “Working in the streets and hospitals, 414LIFE has been engaging with families and others impacted by shootings across the city.” 

The 414LIFE community team was involved in 49 conflict mediations in 2024, with nearly 90% being resolved, Moore said during a May 22 presentation on the program to the Common Council’s Public Safety and Health Committee. 

The team spent 1,388 hours on conflict resolution activities and 2,678 hours on behavior and community norm change activities and worked with 25 youths in 2024. 

Aside from mediations, team members also have active caseloads of individuals referred to them by hospitals, the Office of Community Wellness and Safety and individuals they’ve met during outreach. 

Data from 414LIFE’s April monthly report shows that caseloads have increased recently, from 36 in January to 50 in April. The team has logged more than 1,200 hours so far this year on behavior change and public accompaniment efforts and more than 100 hours on direct violence intervention. 

Evidence of the program’s effectiveness, according to Moore, is that last year’s 414LIFE priority neighborhood, Old North Milwaukee, experienced a 31% decrease in homicides and a 6% decrease in nonfatal shootings in 2024, based on data from the Milwaukee Police Department. 

So far this year, homicides are down 50% and nonfatal shootings 43% in Old North Milwaukee. 

During his presentation to the Public Safety and Health Committee, Moore said each homicide in Milwaukee costs the city more than $2 million in hospital, criminal investigation, incarceration and other costs, while each shooting costs the city over half a million dollars. 

Who are 414LIFE members? 

While lived experience helps 414LIFE’s street team talk the talk and walk the walk, it’s the extensive training the members receive that gives them the tools to walk into a volatile situation to prevent bloodshed. 

Lewis said her team operates under the Cure Violence model, which works to reduce the risk of retaliation, revictimization and other community violence through credible messengers.  

To strengthen those skills, each member goes through the Academy for Transformational Change training, which uses a community asset approach to serve neighborhoods most impacted by crime and incarceration. 

Members also receive shooting response, Narcan, Stop the Bleed, Mental Health First Aid and other training, she said. 

“The team is highly trained,” Lewis said. “They also have passion and grit.” 

Challenges for violence interruption programs

While violence interruption efforts continue in Milwaukee, funding cuts, particularly at the federal level, threaten the future of violence prevention programming. 

According to a report by the Council on Criminal Justice, the Trump administration has cut federal funding for community safety and violence intervention programming by more than $168 million. 

“This work is under attack,” said David Muhammad, deputy director of the Department of Health and Human Services for Milwaukee County, during a pop-up event. “We have to fight for the resources we have.” 

In addition to 414LIFE and other local community violence intervention programs, a key to help maintain the reduction of violence that Milwaukee has experienced over the past two years is residents, Moore said.  

“Peace starts with the people, and we must ensure that firearms are securely stored and not accessible to individuals prohibited from having them,” he said. 

414LIFE: Milwaukee street intervention team seeks to disrupt gun violence is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

When he leaves the office at the end of the week, James Hutchinson, captain of the Milwaukee Police Department’s Homicide Unit, can’t wait for Monday so he can get back to work solving murders.

“I could have retired six months ago,” he said. “But I know that the work we do really makes an impact on people’s lives.”

That work doesn’t always go as planned. Last year Milwaukee homicide detectives cleared 78% of the 132 murder cases they investigated — the highest rate in years. From 2020 to 2023, when murder rates soared during the pandemic, clearance rates fluctuated between 50% and 59%, leaving many families without closure.

For those awaiting justice, Hutchinson said he wants them to know that his team of 33 investigators remains committed to solving their case.

“From the first two weeks to a month, or months or years down the line, we’re equally as committed to solving a murder as we were today.”

That work begins as soon as a homicide is reported, he said.

Homicide investigations in Milwaukee

Typically, said Hutchinson, uniformed officers are the first to arrive on the scene. They work to establish an incident command area, set parameters using police tape, control crowds and prevent any disruption of evidence.

Patrol officers are also the first to seek out witnesses and spot cameras.

Detectives are not far behind. As soon as a homicide is reported, Hutchinson said, a team of detectives and supervisors will immediately head to the scene and start their investigation.

Once they arrive, they assemble the information that’s already been collected, gather more clues, find additional witnesses and hopefully identify suspects. Investigations take place in homes, city streets and hospitals or even at the medical examiner’s office.

Critical, Hutchinson said, is the early stages of that investigation.

“Those first moments, those first hours, those first minutes are very important. Evidence starts to disappear. People go to different places. It could be as simple as video evidence being recorded over. We focus and attack an investigation very fast, very intensively,” he said.

When homicides happen in bunches, as was often the case during the pandemic, resources are pulled from other units to help.

The team approach

Hutchinson said MPD investigates homicides differently from any other large city in America, using a team approach rather than dedicating detectives to specific cases. Homicide investigators working that shift will begin the investigation and then debrief the next shift before handing off the case.

“They brief the incoming shift on what occurred, what was accomplished and what still needs to be done,” Hutchinson said. “That cycle continues until we run out of things we need to do right now.”

Utilizing this method allows for a continuous investigation, but it also creates some problems, acknowledges Hutchinson.

“Because there is this team concept, you have a potential for having not as much accountability per person,” he said. 

He said his division works to alleviate that problem by relying on sergeants and others, including himself, to oversee investigations and follow-ups.

Communication challenges

Another issue with not dedicating specific investigators to specific cases is communication.

“We love to get information, but we are not good at checking back in with the family and letting them know we haven’t forgotten,” he said. “We acknowledge that we have room for improvement.”

Not receiving regular updates from homicide investigators is a common complaint among family members of victims, especially those whose cases remain unsolved.

Brenda Hines, whose son Donovan was murdered in 2017, tracked down officers in person when they wouldn’t respond to her calls. 

“It’s a bad process,” she said. 

She founded the Donovan Hines Foundation in honor of her son and to help other families by providing grief support, mental health and other resources to residents. 

Hines said she believes police can still solve her son’s murder if anything should come up.

“They just don’t have enough evidence yet,” she said.

Janice Gorden, who created Victims of Milwaukee Violence to help families access funeral support and other services, said she believes police are doing what they can to solve homicides and work with families.

But families, she said, will not be satisfied until they have answers. Often it gets to the point where they become focused on investigating the case themselves.

“They have way more information than sometimes the detectives do,” Gorden said. “They drive themselves crazy trying to find answers to who killed their loved one.”

Both Hines and Gorden have worked with mothers to arrange meetings with police and the district attorney’s office to get information about homicide cases.

Hutchinson said two new victim support positions were created recently to help improve communication with families.

Notifying the family

Hutchinson worked his way up the ranks of MPD, first as a patrol officer, then gang squad, detective, robbery and vice squad, and as a homicide detective from 2008 to 2020.

Before becoming captain, he has often taken on the grim task of letting a family member know a loved one was killed.

“Making a death notification is one of the hardest parts of this job. It’s incredibly heartbreaking,” he said. “The range of reactions, you can’t even anticipate. There are completely stoic people that accept what you’re telling them, to some incredibly violent reactions.”

A much better feeling, he said, is when they are able to notify a family that an arrest has been made. But even that’s a struggle.

From investigation to charges

Although police might make an arrest in a homicide case, that doesn’t mean that charges will be filed.

Police, Hutchinson said, only need probable cause to make an arrest. The burden of proof at the district attorney’s office, which files homicide charges, is higher.

“The DA’s office has to be able to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said. “Many times we will make an arrest for probable cause, but we can’t get to that level.”

What often happens, Hutchinson said, is that officers will bring a case to the DA’s office or discuss what evidence they have and then talk about whether more is needed to file charges.

While that does bring some frustration, admits Hutchinson, it’s better than arresting the wrong person.

“My worst nightmare I would have in the world is to have the wrong person held accountable for a crime,” he said.

Milwaukee County District Attorney Kent Lovern acknowledges that the work to hold someone accountable for murder can be burdensome on families seeking justice.

“Obviously, there is a significant gap between the evidence needed to make an arrest versus the evidence needed to successfully prosecute a case,” Lovern said.

The reason for caution and continued dialogue with officers in hopes of building a strong case is because there’s no room for error.

“We really have one opportunity with a particular suspect to bring forward charges and we want to get it right. Not only for the person charged, but the victim’s family and the integrity of the system,” he said.

‘We never forget about the victims’

Depending on the time of year and other circumstances, homicide investigation units can get extremely busy, Hutchinson said. Even when pulling resources from other units, it can still impact the amount of time investigators have for each case.

On the flip side, he said, sometimes they’ve hit the point where they don’t have anything left to do at the moment. But, he said, he wants families to know that victims are more than just a name to them.

“They are someone’s family member or friend, and the day they died is probably the worst day of many people’s lives,” he said.

Whether it’s been days, months or years, he wants family members to know his unit remains committed to solving their murder.

“Everyone can be assured that we never forget about the victims,” he said. “There is no replacement for their loved one, but it feels great to be able to notify the family that we have made an arrest.”

How you can help

Anyone with information on homicides is asked to contact Milwaukee police at 414-935-7360, or to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 414- 224-TIPS.

What happens when someone is murdered in Milwaukee? An inside look at homicide investigations is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

It appears that Milwaukee County is ready to work with the state to find a new community action agency to replace the Social Development Commission, the embattled agency that has provided anti-poverty services for more than 60 years.

In an email to NNS, a spokesperson from the press office of Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley stated: “Given the urgent need for supportive services in Milwaukee County, and in light of SDC’s ongoing challenges, we stand ready to work with the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families and other local partners to identify another eligible entity or entities who can receive (Community Services Block Grant) funds and provide needed services to county residents.”

The Social Development Commission, also known as the SDC, is eligible to receive these federal block grant funds administered by the state through its status as a community action agency, which the state is considering rescinding.

The email from the county was sent in response to a question about whether the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors and the Milwaukee Common Council are required by state law to approve any decision to rescind SDC’s designation as a community action agency.

The background

The Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, or DCF, is scheduled to make a final decision on SDC’s community action status in the coming months.

DCF held a public hearing on April 4 to discuss SDC’s designation and future. At the meeting, some SDC board members and current and former employees testified about the crucial need to maintain the agency.

The department’s leadership said SDC has not created a realistic financial plan to restart services and perform its community action duties under the law, and it continues to have financial, programmatic, operational and service delivery concerns.

SDC reopened in a limited capacity in December after abruptly shutting down in April 2024, when problems included failing to pay employees and contractors on time and using grant dollars for one program to cover costs for another.

The agency has since missed state deadlines to pay employees their owed wages and also still owes some contractors for completed work.

 In addition, SDC’s property corporation, SD Properties Inc., is facing a foreclosure lawsuit and owes nearly $3 million in mortgage payments on its North Avenue buildings, according to court records.

Who’s responsible?

Jorge Franco, interim CEO of SDC and chair of its board, said Wisconsin law requires both the Common Council and County Board of Supervisors to approve a decision to de-designate SDC as a community action agency before the state can take that action. 

Franco is referring to Wisconsin Statute 49.265, which states the following: “The approval of a community action agency may be rescinded but only if there is good cause and if the decision to rescind is made by both the legislative body of the county, city, village or town that granted the approval and the secretary.”

According to the organization’s former website, SDC became a community action agency in 1964, shortly after the Economic Opportunity Act created the Community Action Program.

Because SDC was established through a collaboration that involved the city, county and other organizations, there is a lack of clarity over which legislative body actually granted SDC’s approval as a community action agency.

It’s also unclear which legislative body must weigh in on the commission’s potential de-designation based on state statute.

According to a spokesperson from the Milwaukee County Executive’s Office, a review of records found that the county board and the city of Milwaukee enacted an ordinance establishing SDC as a commission, but not specifically as a community action agency. 

“We have not found any records indicating that the County Board ever took any action relative to SDC’s status as a CAA,” an email from the Milwaukee County Executive Press Office said.

Because the county board did not approve SDC’s status as a community action agency, it does not have the authority to rescind that status, the Milwaukee County Executive Press Office’s email said. 

Jeff Fleming, a spokesperson for Mayor Cavalier Johnson, said the city’s responsibility in the potential de-designation of SDC as a community action agency has been a topic of discussion.

“The first impression from the city side is that it was the county that ‘granted the approval,’” Fleming said in an email, referring to SDC’s status as a community action agency. 

NNS also reached out to Milwaukee City Attorney Evan Goyke for comment on the issue, but he hasn’t responded. 

The Department of Children and Families was also questioned about which legislative body granted SDC approval to be a community action agency. 

“This is the first time the Department of Children and Families has sought to de-designate a community action agency,” said Gina Paige, communications director for DCF.  “As such, we are working closely with the federal Office of Community Services and Milwaukee County to determine what the process would need to be should we move forward with de-designating SDC.”

According to Franco, the state operates under a federal mandate to provide the types of anti-poverty services that SDC had provided for decades.

He said without SDC, those services could be delayed by several years.

“The bottom line point is that infrastructure is there. It must be activated immediately,” Franco said. 

Money, Franco said, is needed to help the agency climb out of debt and, more importantly, relaunch vital services to low-income residents in the county.

“SDC intends to pay every dollar it owes. First things first. Get anti-poverty services ready to go through SDC, which is ready to go today and that should not be delayed any further,” Franco said.

Some elected officials weigh in. Most stay silent.

State Sen. LaTonya Johnson said that she’d like to see SDC rebound from its troubles.

“SDC has been in the community for many years providing pivotal services for the community and this community can’t afford to lose those services,” she said.

Still, she said, given the significant mismanagement of funds at SDC, she understands that the Department of Children and Families will make a decision it feels is in the best interests of residents.

“Whatever decision they make, I’ll have to back it just like other elected officials will because we have to believe that they’re making the choice that’s best for taxpayers,” she said. “I’m hoping that the state will have a way to make sure that services will be provided, whether it’s SDC or not.”

Ald. Sharlen Moore also hopes to see SDC survive.

“They provide a critical need to our community, and so what I would hope is that they would find the necessary help or support that they need in order to get back on track,” Moore said. “It’s such a huge void.”

Like Johnson, she also acknowledges the challenges of providing funding to an organization with an uncertain future.

“It’s hard giving someone money without knowing how they are going to move forward,” she said.

Rep. Gwen Moore said it is important to center the people who have been majorly affected, like residents who lost services and former employees who are still owed pay.

“The serious concerns raised by the state must be addressed, and I hope the result of this process moves us closer to resuming these vital services to my constituents,” she said.

NNS reached out to more than 20 elected officials from the city, county and state government for comment on SDC’s future, including Common Council President Jose Perez and Milwaukee County Board Chairwoman Marcella Nicholson. Only three elected officials chose to speak.

What’s next?  

Despite the current challenges, Franco said that he is confident SDC will bounce back and that the history of the organization is proof of its effectiveness in fighting poverty.

“SDC has a legacy of generations of people who’ve been helped by SDC, and they still live in the community,” he said. “Whatever its issues were in recent times, the long-standing legacy and the number of people who have been helped must not be forgotten.”

Milwaukee County appears ready to find replacement for Social Development Commission is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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As both a survivor and advocate on the issue, Natalie Hayden knows how guns can turn a domestic violence situation from dangerous to deadly.

“Having that weapon just really elevates things and makes it more lethal for both parties involved,” said Hayden, co-founder of ExPOSED Inc., a nonprofit that works to empower youths and foster healthy relationships.

They’re the type of tragedies, ones that involve guns in the hands of domestic abusers, that lawmakers hope to help prevent in the future. The plan is to reintroduce legislation this year to keep individuals convicted of domestic violence offenses from possessing firearms in Wisconsin.

State Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, who co-authored similar legislation that failed to pass last year, said the goal is to align Wisconsin law with a federal law that keeps guns out of the hands of convicted domestic offenders.

If passed this go-round, the legislation would change the state’s disorderly conduct statute to separate violent conduct from other types of disorderly conduct.

 It also would alter the statute defining domestic abuse so that court records indicate the exact nature of the relationship between those involved. Together, they would close the loophole that allows domestic violence offenders in Wisconsin from possessing guns.

Impact of firearms on domestic violence situations

Jenna Gormal, public policy director for End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin, said that women are five times more likely to be killed when an abuser has access to a gun and that domestic violence assaults involving a gun are 12 times more likely to result in death.

Firearms were used in 66 of 85 domestic violence homicides in Wisconsin in 2023, Gormal said.

The highest number, 28, occurred in Milwaukee County, according to the End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin Homicide Report 2023.

Domestic-violence-related charges are often present before a domestic violence homicide occurs, Gormal said.

“That tells us that people that are convicted of domestic violence offenses are more likely to commit homicide,” she said.

Hayden said guns create a high-risk situation for everyone involved in a domestic violence situation. Sometimes, she said, victims will purchase their own firearm to protect themselves from an abuser who also has one.

Guns also create a situation that is harder for a victim to escape from, she said.

“There is a weapon involved and I don’t feel safe, but maybe I have to stick around for the safety of my kids,” Hayden said.

Having a firearm present also can result in an abuser making a fatal decision once his partner decides to leave, she said.

“People can resort to extreme violence once they feel like they’ve lost that control,” Hayden said.

Some support for change

Gov. Tony Evers said keeping firearms from domestic abusers was a priority of his administration during his State of the State address in January. The city of Milwaukee passed a resolution in late 2023 in support of a change in state law that prevents domestic abusers from possessing guns.

Gormal said that legislation preventing domestic abusers from possessing firearms is a common sense, not a partisan, issue.

Roys said it’s an issue that everyone should care about but blames the gun lobby and Republican leaders for prioritizing politics over the safety of victims.

“The public overwhelmingly wants gun safety laws much broader than we have right now,” she said. “My hope is that they will finally start to prioritize women and kids who are being victimized.”

NNS reached out to Rep. Bob Donovan, a former Milwaukee alderman who now represents Greenfield in the state Assembly, and Rep. Jessie Rodriguez, both Republicans, for comment on the legislation. Neither responded.

Corey Graff, executive director of Wisconsin Gun Owners Inc., a gun rights organization, said the type of legislation Roys and others are pushing for would only impact law-abiding gun owners.

“Someone who is interested in committing an assault and potential murder against the victim is not going to follow any firearms laws,” Graff said. “Across the board, this is a homogenous attack on liberty and doesn’t address the crime of domestic violence.”

Graff said the legislation would also create a false sense of security for victims.

“They might assume that their attacker will follow the law, but that’s a false premise,” he said.

Tips for survivors

All situations are different, Hayden said, and women ultimately must decide for themselves what is best for them and their family. But there are some strategic things they can do to help them be safer, she said.

“Let people know of your whereabouts. Bring people into the fold that you trust,” Hayden said.

Sometimes, she said, victims are not ready or even able to leave because of certain circumstances, but they can start thinking of a plan while they wait.

“You can look for a shelter, and if something happens, you can file the necessary paperwork,” she said. “It’s always good to document what happens if you get to the other side and it gets to the courts.”

Overall, she said, the system needs to improve if we are going to protect people from being victimized by domestic violence.

“We need the nets to be there to catch us when we are ready. We need to bring awareness to our young people so that they can be safe, and we need to keep guns from people who could use them to bring harm,” Hayden said.

Latest push begins to prevent domestic abusers in Wisconsin from possessing firearms is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.