The Milwaukee Police Department told NNS it is looking to the future with its policy on generative artificial intelligence, or AI. The department is not currently using the technology, but that could change.
One potential law enforcement use of generative AI is helping officers write police reports.
Some civil rights advocates and defense attorneys say using this type of emerging technology could create problems for Milwaukeeans accused of crimes.
“You have this risk of errors and hallucinations and bias that we see a lot of large language models have, whether it’s a transcription error or if it’s a bias that’s baked into the training data sets,” said Amanda Merkwae, policy and advocacy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin.
Among other requirements are that AI-generated material should be considered a draft and reviewed for accuracy.
Department members should also indicate in the final work product that AI was used.
An MPD spokesperson said its Generative Artificial Intelligence Committee has met to consider a variety of AI products but is still evaluating the utility, cost, accountability and effect that those products may have on the department’s work product.
“Any onboarding of an AI product is only in the consideration phase, so have we given it thought? Yes. Are we anywhere close to implementing that (technology)? No,” the spokesperson said.
What happens at the DA’s office?
Prosecutors in the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office have considered what the use of AI technology could mean for criminal cases.
Jeffrey Altenburg, chief deputy district attorney for Milwaukee County, acknowledged risks associated with generative AI but said it could be useful with sufficient human oversight.
“It can be a helpful tool as long as it’s overseen and regulated by actual humans making actual observations and making sure that what is generated is consistent with what was intended to be,” he said.
Deputy District Attorney Matthew Torbenson said prosecutors are not expecting AI-generated reports to capture everything an officer observes.
He gave the example of a child neglect investigation, during which observations — including what a home looks and smells like, whether there is a bug infestation, whether food is available — would have to come from police officers.
“All of that has to come from the impressions of the officers that are on scene,” Torbenson said.
The what ifs
Merkwae said there are concerns about the use of generative AI that should not be ignored.
What happens, for example, if an officer’s testimony later conflicts with an AI-assisted police report?
The error could stem from AI, she said, but it could also raise questions about an officer’s credibility.
“If it was a human-written report and there’s that type of contradiction that can rise to the level of a potential dishonest statement — that could land a prosecutor putting a police officer on the Brady list,” Merkwae said.
The Brady list refers to prosecutors’ records that identify law enforcement officers whose credibility issues may have to be disclosed to defendants.
Connor Romenesko, a forensic science practice coordinator with the Wisconsin State Public Defenders Office, said AI-generated reports could create serious problems without any malice or ill intent on the part of police or prosecutors.
There could be a situation, he said, where an officer is rushed at the end of a shift and fails to adequately review an AI-generated report, and a prosecutor uses that information to charge someone.
Members of Milwaukee’s Community Collaborative Commission are looking to Baltimore as they work to give residents a greater voice in how policing is carried out in Milwaukee.
Community policing, a core focus of the commission’s work, calls for police and residents to work together to identify and respond to neighborhood problems.
Baltimore’s “Community Policing Plan” spells out who is responsible for that work, what it involves and how it can be put into practice.
“What works in Baltimore may or may not work in similar ways here,” said Tim Baack, president and CEO of Pathfinders, an organization that supports homeless and runaway children, and a member of the commission. “But there’s enough of the framework that it’s not like we have to start from scratch.”
In recent years, the commission has worked on police policy reform, community-oriented policing and oversight of other reforms. Its members include community activists and leaders of local nonprofits.
Earlier this summer, the group said it was in the late stages of completing a community policing plan for Milwaukee.
Community policing already happening, Milwaukee Police Department says
Milwaukee police officers table at the All In, All Youth, All Summer resource and employment fair in April. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
The Milwaukee Police Department says it has already implemented the framework for community policing in the city.
The department has a community-oriented policing policy and has worked with the Community Collaborative Commission to gather community input and develop a plan.
“MPD has always been a part of the conversation with the (Community Collaborative Commission)” in developing the plan, a spokesperson for the department said.
Here are four lessons from Baltimore and how they compare with what MPD is already doing.
1. Every officer is responsible for community policing
Baltimore’s plan states that “every officer is a community policing officer.”
In other words, community policing is not supposed to be limited to officers with specialized community-related duties.
“Community policing should shape everyday interactions/enforcement encounters/training and decision-making across the department,” said Bridget Whitaker, executive director of Safe & Sound and a member of the commission.
Safe & Sound is an organization that works to unite residents, youths and law enforcement.
MPD has an official policy that requires all department members to engage in community and problem-oriented policing daily.
The department is “committed to the principle that community policing is the responsibility of every officer,” a spokesperson for MPD said.
However, the Fire and Police Commission has questioned how fully that principle has been put into practice.
In a January memo to the Milwaukee Board of Fire and Police Commissioners and MPD command staff, the Fire and Police Commission argued that MPD relies too heavily on command staff and specialized community liaison officers for community engagement.
2. There’s a difference between engagement and being present
Baltimore’s plan distinguishes police simply being visible in a neighborhood from engaging with the people who live there. Officers are expected to have informal conversations with residents to help build relationships.
“Presence matters, but meaningful engagement requires interaction, listening, relationship building and collaboration,” Whitaker said.
MPD’s 2025 review similarly says community events alone do not amount to community-oriented policing.
However, the review says such events can still contribute to community policing by allowing residents and police to exchange information and develop solutions together.
The Fire and Police Commission memo makes a distinction between community involvement and collaboration.
With involvement, police largely identify problems and decide what to do. With collaboration, residents help identify problems, shape responses and determine whether they worked.
MPD says residents already participate in that process through district crime and safety meetings, community partnership units, community organizations and various other forums.
Ralikh Hayes, deputy director and co-founder of Baltimore-based Organizing Black, a grassroots civil rights and advocacy group, said his city’s residents still lack a formal way to ensure their input influences what the city actually does.
“There’s no formal mechanism of ‘we want this specifically,’ and then accountability if they see it or don’t,” Hayes said.
3. Focus on root causes
Problem-oriented policing focuses on the root causes of crime, rather than only enforcing laws or responding to individual incidents.
Baltimore uses a four-step process: identify the problem; analyze its causes; develop a response; and assess whether it worked.
MPD said it already uses the same approach, known as the SARA model.
Baack said Milwaukee will still have to adapt ideas from other cities to Milwaukee’s own circumstances.
“One thing we realized in looking at what works and sometimes what didn’t work in other communities — it’s never really an apples to apples,” he said.
Hayes said even different neighborhoods within Baltimore require different approaches.
“Baltimore is not a one-size-fits-all place,” he said. “Every neighborhood is different and has different issues.”
4. Reward officers for community policing work
Baltimore makes community policing part of how officers are evaluated, including annual performance reviews and promotions.
That stood out to Whitaker.
“Organizations ultimately demonstrate their priorities through what they measure, reward and hold people accountable for,” she said.
The Fire and Police Commission memo recommends problem-solving work should factor into performance evaluations, promotions and transfers.
Baack said the ultimate measure should be what residents think.
“The plan will be successful when the community says it’s successful,” he said.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership betweenCatchLight LocalandReport for America.
Although the Milwaukee Police Department halted its use of facial recognition technology in February, there are still cases being prosecuted in Milwaukee County in which the technology was used at some point in the investigation.
This means concerns about the technology – and the potential errors it can introduce – still remain, community members told NNS.
Facial recognition technology uses artificial intelligence to identify someone by comparing a photo of an unknown face to a database of images of known faces.
“The reliability of these systems is certainly in question, and particularly the disproportionate risk of inaccuracy when identifying non-white faces,” said Amanda Merkwae, policy and advocacy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin.
Questions also remain about whether defendants and their lawyers have always been told when facial recognition technology played a role in an investigation.
MPD and facial recognition
In April 2025, the Milwaukee Police Department acknowledged it had, for two to three years, used other agencies’ licenses to obtain facial recognition search results without having a written department policy governing the practice.
At the same time, MPD was considering expanding its access to facial recognition technology through an agreement with the company Biometrica.
Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman announced in February that MPD would prohibit its members from using facial recognition technology and would not consider acquiring the technology until after the department develops a policy with the Fire and Police Commission.
However, the moratorium did not eliminate the technology from criminal cases in which it had already been used.
MPD did not respond to questions about its policies and practices relating to disclosing the use of facial recognition to the DA’s office.
What happens at the DA’s office?
Milwaukee County District Attorney Kent Lovern said his office treats facial recognition technology as an investigative lead.
“It is not, in and of itself, probable cause,” Lovern said. “It’s not, in and of itself, the sole basis for gaining a search warrant.”
Lovern said information his office receives about the use of facial recognition in an investigation gets turned over to the defense as part of the case file.
Deputy District Attorney Matthew Torbenson described a 2021 home invasion and sexual assault case prosecuted by the DA’s office in which another law enforcement agency used facial recognition technology to develop about five potential suspects from surveillance footage.
Investigators pursued these leads and focused on one person based on additional evidence, including an identification by his former spouse.
The five individuals who it came back with as a potential match were all turned over to the defense, Torbenson said.
Torbenson said the potential errors would be more concerning if just facial recognition were being used to directly identify a suspect.
“That is not at all how we’re using it,” he said.
Technology creates challenges
Connor Romenesko, a forensic science practice coordinator with the Wisconsin State Public Defenders Office, said defense attorneys can obtain the image submitted for a facial recognition search and some information about the software used but may not have the information needed to evaluate the system as a whole.
“The biggest concern I have with these services is that they’re provided by private companies who don’t necessarily provide information about how these systems are trained,” Romenesko said.
This can make challenging a facial recognition result “extremely difficult,” he said.
Federal research has found that facial recognition systems can have higher false-positive rates for some racial and ethnic groups, including Black, Asian and American Indian people.
‘Still a big unknown’
Another question is whether prosecutors and defendants have always been told when MPD used facial recognition technology.
The ACLU of Wisconsin reviewed police reports from more than a dozen cases MPD had identified as examples of facial recognition use.
“In many of those cases, there was just no mention of (facial recognition technology) use at all,” Merkwae said.
She said it still isn’t known how many total cases in recent years – or ever – MPD used facial recognition technology in any step of an investigation.
“And of that total – was that information turned over to the defendant in discovery if that person was charged?” Merkwae asked. “I think that’s still a big unknown.”
Romenesko said facial recognition information is sometimes included in initial discovery but sometimes must be requested from law enforcement or prosecutors.
Public defenders are trained to spot vague language such as “investigative lead” that can indicate facial recognition technology was used, Romenesko said.
“Our lawyers are all trained, so that if they see that language, they’re going to go up to kind of alert to the fact that maybe this hasn’t been disclosed up front, which we also see in some cases,” he said.
Jeffrey Altenburg, Milwaukee County’s chief deputy district attorney, said there are instances in which leads or suspects developed early in an investigation are not initially shared with prosecutors.
“However, once those leads are corroborated using standard investigative techniques, those details are included in the reports that are provided to our office and turned over to the defendant if they are criminally charged,” Altenburg said.
All three of the Milwaukee Police Department’s automatic license plate reader systems will be subject to new security safeguards, department officials confirmed Wednesday.
The department’s confirmation follows Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s announcement regarding new restrictions aimed at preventing officer misuse and protecting privacy.
An MPD spokesperson said the changes will be incorporated into the department’s official policy.
The mayor’s initial announcement focused on Flock Safety, one of three automated license plate reader systems used by MPD. NNS previously reported that the department also uses Genetec and Axon systems.
All three systems automatically capture license plate information that can be searched later.
As of June, MPD had access to: 35 Flock cameras; 39 Genetec cameras; and Axon license plate readers installed in 80 patrol vehicles.
New limits
Only MPD supervisors will be allowed to access automatic license plate reader systems, Johnson said in his announcement.
Some MPD personnel have been accused of misusing Flock. MPD officer Josue Ayala was convicted in June of attempted misconduct in public office in connection with his use of Flock cameras.
Access to Milwaukee’s license plate reader systems will also be limited to MPD, excluding other law enforcement agencies.
Supervisors may use the systems only to investigate Part I crimes, which include homicide, rape and aggravated assault, among others. They may also use the technology to investigate critical missing persons, drug trafficking organization and abductions.
A department said automatic license plate reader cameras will continue to passively capture data, but supervisors may access it only for appropriate investigations.
Transparency efforts
The mayor announced transparency measures as well.
MPD will create a public dashboard detailing its use of license plate reader systems, and the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission will conduct semi-annual independent audits of use.
Johnson said the commission has already initiated an audit of Flock systems.
The announcement does not specify what information will appear on the dashboard or what metrics the audits will examine.
NNS asked the mayor’s office whether MPD will write the changes into its policies and for additional details about the dashboard and audits.
The mayor’s office referred the questions to MPD, confirming that the police chief has authority over department policy.
Risks and concerns
After Johnson’s announcement, Amanda Merkwae, policy and advocacy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, said in a written statement the changes are “a step in the right direction” but that “Flock is still an incredibly invasive technology that has the power to indiscriminately surveil our communities on a mass scale.”
Merkwae argued that using Flock should require a warrant based on probable cause. She also called for independent oversight and written policies for all MPD surveillance technologies use.
“We cannot only accept a solution where police are responsible for policing themselves,” Merkwae said.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership betweenCatchLight LocalandReport for America.
Editor’s note: This storyhas been updatedwith new information from the Milwaukee Police Department.
Although Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson has announced new safeguards for the Milwaukee Police Department’s use of Flock Safety cameras, it remains unclear whether the rules will apply to all three of the city’s license plate reader systems or only to Flock.
Flock is one of three automated license plate reader systems used by MPD. NNS previously reported that the department also uses Genetec and Axon systems.
All three systems automatically capture license plate information that can be searched later.
As of June, MPD had access to: 35 Flock cameras, 39 Genetec cameras and Axon license plate readers installed in 80 patrol vehicles.
New limits
According to Johnson’s announcement, only MPD supervisors will be allowed to access Flock. Officers and detectives will no longer have access.
Some MPD personnel have been accused of misusing Flock. Former MPD officer Josue Ayala, was convicted in June of attempted misconduct in public office in connection with his use of Flock cameras.
Access to Milwaukee’s Flock cameras will also be limited to MPD, excluding other law enforcement agencies.
Supervisors will be allowed to use Flock cameras only for investigating Part I crimes, which include homicide, rape and aggravated assault, among others. They can also use the cameras in cases involving critical missing persons, drug trafficking organization investigations and abductions.
The mayor also announced transparency measures.
MPD will create a public dashboard with information about its use of Flock, and the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission will conduct twice-annual independent audits of the department’s Flock use.
Johnson said the commission has already begun an audit.
The announcement does not specify what information will appear on the dashboard or what metrics the audits will examine.
NNS asked the mayor’s office whether the safeguards would extend to Genetec and Axon, whether the changes would be written into MPD policies and what the dashboard and audits would include.
The mayor’s office referred the questions to MPD, saying that the police chief has authority over department policy.
MPD did not respond to questions from NNS.
Risks and concerns
After Johnson’s announcement, Amanda Merkwae, policy and advocacy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, said in a written statement the changes are “a step in the right direction” but that “Flock is still an incredibly invasive technology that has the power to indiscriminately surveil our communities on a mass scale.”
The use of Flock, Merkwae argued, should require a warrant based on probable cause. MPD should also face independent oversight and adopt written policies for all of the surveillance technologies it uses, she added.
“We cannot only accept a solution where police are responsible for policing themselves,” Merkwae said.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership betweenCatchLight LocalandReport for America.
A man who was being held at the Milwaukee County Jail is disputing the account from the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office about the events leading up to the in-custody death last week of Kourtney Edwards, a 45-year-old Milwaukee man.
Alex Williams, 33, said officials at the jail ignored initial pleas to help Edwards.
He said he heard people in a nearby holding cell banging on the door and yelling through a slot that someone was vomiting, wasn’t doing well and needed help.
“Those calls went ignored for a while,” Williams said, estimating that they lasted several minutes.
Do you have information to about Edwards’ death or about the conditions inside Milwaukee County Jail?
Williams said officers eventually removed the man from the holding cell and began walking him toward the nurses’ station. He said Edwards made it about halfway there before appearing to have a seizure and collapsing. Williams said he was foaming at the mouth.
“He was not assessed by nurses until he was passed out on the ground,” Williams said. “I wouldn’t even call that an assessment. That was them trying to save his life.”
Williams said he arrived at the jail around 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 17, and remained in the booking area until early Wednesday morning. He said he was still going through the booking process when Edwards became ill Tuesday morning.
Timeline from sheriff’s office
Rooms line the booking area at the Milwaukee County Jail. (Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service)
The account from the sheriff’s office previously reported by NNS stated that Edwards was brought to the jail the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 18, had been initially medically cleared and was awaiting a secondary screening when he reported vomiting and feeling ill shortly before 8:30 a.m.
Nurses then assessed him and determined he needed to be taken to a hospital. While an ambulance crew and two deputies prepared to transport the man to the hospital, he experienced a medical emergency.
He lost his pulse and stopped breathing.
Emergency personnel attempted life-saving measures, but he was pronounced dead at 9:30 a.m.
A representative from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office told NNS Tuesday that it would “be a while” before the cause and manner of Edwards’ death was determined.
Concerns about in-jail deaths
Alan Chavoya, treasurer and organizer for the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, said Williams’ account reaffirms concerns he already had about Edwards’ death.
“It’s deeply upsetting and infuriating if he was able to be assisted sooner – if that would have saved his life,” Chavoya said. “Could this have been prevented? It seems like yes.”
The sheriff’s office told NNS Friday that it had no comment beyond saying that it is an active, ongoing investigation and that questions should be directed to the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office, which is conducting the investigation.
The Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office has not responded to a request for comment.
Williams also said the man’s death took place amid overcrowding, booking delays and repeated instances in which staff failed to promptly respond to requests for assistance.
He described the cells as hot, with little or no airflow, and said people repeatedly yelled through slots in the cell doors that they needed water or to use the bathroom.
“It was often ignored,” Williams said.
He said the jail was overcrowded.
His holding cell was marked for 12 people but held between 13 and 20 people at different points, he said. Williams said the overcrowding made the toilet difficult to access because people were sleeping or standing around it.
Williams also described significant booking delays, made worse because there was no third-shift booking staff Monday night.
He said his bail was posted at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, but that he was not booked into the system until about 2:30 p.m. that day and was not released until around 1 a.m. Wednesday.
Nothing changed after death
Jail safety advocate Omar Flores confronts Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball outside an event at the Milwaukee Press Club in April 2023. Flores and other organizers with the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression have pushed for greater transparency following deaths at the Milwaukee County Jail. (Devin Blake / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service)
Williams said he noticed no real changes after Edwards died during the time he spent in custody until he was released. He said officers still sometimes ignored pleas for assistance.
Williams believes the conditions at the jail contributed to the man’s death.
“They should take every call for help seriously,” he said.
Chavoya said the allegations from Williams fit what he sees as a broader pattern at the jail, including neglect and perhaps abuse “of the people who are supposed to be, as we’re reminded, under their care.”
Chavoya said he wants investigators to determine what happened and for the sheriff’s office to release video of the incident.
Last Friday, a spokesperson for the Office of Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley told NNS in a written statement that the incident doesn’t raise concerns about medical care at the jail.
“The jail’s medical staff and Milwaukee Fire Department EMS performed lifesaving measures, but, despite best efforts, the individual died,” the spokesperson for Crowley’s office said.
When NNS reached out with Williams’ account, a spokesperson for Crowley’s office said that the initial report from the sheriff’s office of the incident did not indicate cause for immediate concern.
“The matter is now under review by the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office,” the spokesperson said.
Williams said he is worried about potential retaliation for speaking publicly about what he witnessed but believes coming forward is important.
He said he wants “to model morals, bravery and humanitarianism” for his family.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
Local jail reform advocates say they have serious concerns about the death of a 45-year-old man in custody at the Milwaukee County Jail on Aug. 18.
Many of their concerns are not new.
“It’s a very painful sort of flashback of the different cases we’ve encountered where people are in for a bit, or for a duration of time … and assistance isn’t provided,” said Alan Chavoya, treasurer and organizer with the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.
The alliance is a Black and brown-led grassroots organization that says it aims “to end police crimes, advance community control of policing, and build collective power.”
According to the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office, deputies picked up the man from the West Allis Police Department at 4:25 a.m. Aug. 18 and brought him to the Milwaukee County Jail.
During the booking process, Wellpath nursing staff medically cleared him, although a secondary medical screening remained pending. Shortly before 8:30 a.m., the man told jail staff he had vomited and did not feel good.
Nurses assessed him and determined he needed transportation to a hospital.
While an ambulance crew and two deputies prepared to transport him, the man experienced a medical emergency, lost his pulse and stopped breathing.
Emergency crews and Milwaukee Fire Department first responders attempted lifesaving measures, but officials pronounced him dead at 9:30 a.m.
“The timeline just seems very, very odd,” Chavoya said. “How is it that people are approved or like given the green light to be administered into the jail, and then less than a couple of hours later, the person is vomiting? Where was the failure there?”
Chavoya said the initial medical screening by Wellpath, the jail’s contracted health care provider, also raises questions.
“We’ve had our eye on Wellpath for quite some time, and it’s not just a Milwaukee issue – it’s a nationwide issue,” he said.
Robert Thibault, vice president of Prison Action Milwaukee, an advocacy and support group for people affected by the criminal justice system, and a member of the Sheriff’s Community Advisory Board, shared some of Chavoya’s concerns.
“Did everybody do everything they possibly could have? Was everything done that could have possibly been done in a reasonable time?” Thibault asked.
He pointed to an independent audit completed in 2024 that identified deficiencies in several areas, including mental health services, suicide prevention and staffing.
Thibault said he recently toured the jail and saw improvements compared with several years ago.
NNS contacted the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office but did not immediately receive a response.
County Executive David Crowley’s office responds
In a written statement to NNS, a spokesperson for the Office of County Executive David Crowley said the office is confident that everything possible was done for this man.
“The cause of death is still under review by the Medical Examiner’s Office, but this incident doesn’t raise concerns about medical care at the jail,” the statement read. “The jail’s medical staff and Milwaukee Fire Department EMS performed lifesaving measures, but despite best efforts, the individual died.”
Milwaukee County Supervisor Justin Bielinski, chair of the County Board’s Judiciary, Law Enforcement and General Services Committee, said he spoke with jail officials about the death, but the investigation will ultimately make clear what happened.
As the investigation proceeds, Chavoya said he wants accountability and concrete steps to prevent another death in custody.
“Maybe you can’t give us everything, but, at least, get some public trust again by explaining what the steps you are taking to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” he said.
What happens next
Bielinski said he expects the investigation, being conducted by the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office, to take several months. Meanwhile, he said he is exploring changes that could identify medical emergencies sooner.
Bielinski said his focus after incidents like this is to figure out “how can we improve process.”
Specifically, Bielinski wants the county to explore providing wearable health monitors to people awaiting booking.
The devices could track measures such as pulse and blood oxygen levels and then alert staff to a medical emergency sooner. He said he asked Wellpath to explore a pilot program for the use of such devices.
“We just give ourselves the chance to get ahead of whatever medical emergency might be happening sooner,” Bielinski said.
This story is part of The uprising in Sherman Park: 10 years later, a Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service series examining resilience, collective action and ongoing efforts to address the inequities that sparked a pivotal moment in Milwaukee’s history.
Ten years after the Sherman Park uprising, many of the economic conditions residents and activists pointed to as problematic – even dangerous – in 2016 still remain, according to U.S. Census Bureau and local data analyzed by NNS.
Many residents at the time said the unrest on Aug. 13, 2016, was about more than the fatal police shooting of Sylville Smith by a Milwaukee police officer. They pointed to long-standing poverty, decades of disinvestment and a lack of opportunity as some of the conditions that fueled the uprising.
Today, even as some measures of economic progress have improved, many of those same challenges are still present in the Sherman Park neighborhood.
“Some good changes have happened,” said Vaun Mayes, a community organizer and one of the city’s violence interrupters. “But for the most part, Sherman Park is still basically the same and has the same general issues.”
What we looked at
People check out the bloom and groom sale at the Sherman Park Community Association’s Earth Day event in May in Sherman Park. (Meredith Melland / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service)
To examine how Sherman Park has changed since the uprising, NNS analyzed U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey five-year estimates, comparing the 2016 and 2024 datasets, the most recent five-year data.
Because the Census Bureau does not define Sherman Park as a neighborhood, NNS approximated the neighborhood using census tracts and a city neighborhood map.
NNS examined:
Population
Race and ethnicity
Poverty
Employment
Educational attainment
Median household income
Homeownership
Housing vacancy
Median gross rent
The comparison between indicators then and now shows a mixed picture.
Taken together, the findings suggest that although some measures associated with upward economic mobility improved, many of the economic outcomes often associated with those indicators, including higher incomes and greater housing stability, did not.
For example, the share of adults age 25 and older holding at least a bachelor’s degree increased from 7.2% to 8.9%, and the unemployment rate declined from 20.1% to 15.8%. However, poverty rose across every age group at the same time.
Poverty increased most among elderly residents, increasing from 15.9% in 2016 to 33.0% in 2024.
Similarly, median household income, adjusted for inflation, and homeownership declined: Roughly seven in 10 occupied housing units were renter-occupied in 2024, compared with roughly two-thirds in 2016.
Although incomes declined, the average cost of rent, adjusted for inflation, increased from $1,126 to $1,196. Population also declined in the area since 2016.
The neighborhood remained overwhelmingly Black, though it became slightly more racially diverse.
Public safety
Stop the Violence 53206 organized a drive-through memorial on North Sherman Boulevard, across the street from Sherman Park, to memorialize victims of gun violence in June. (Devin Blake / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service)
Public safety trends also show a mixed bag.
Through Aug. 10, Milwaukee police recorded 97 aggravated assaults, 12 nonfatal shootings and three homicides in Sherman Park this year. All three types of crimes were up from the same point last year when police recorded 67 aggravated assaults, five nonfatal shootings and two homicides in that time span.
At the same time, robberies, thefts and carjackings were all below last year’s levels.
The neighborhood recorded 35 shooting victims in 2016, including homicides and nonfatal shootings. That number rose to 47 in 2017 – the year following the uprising.
The number of homicide and nonfatal shooting victims has fluctuated over the decade, rising sharply during the pandemic years before falling to 17 in 2024.
ShotSpotter data from MPD gives a sense of the frequency of gun shots throughout the neighborhood over the past few years.
Sherman Park accounted for roughly 7% of gunfire calls citywide between 2021 and 2025.
Community response
Cavalier Johnson, mayor of Milwaukee, talks about the need for common sense gun laws during a panel discussion with survivors of gun violence at the Sherman Phoenix in May. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
“There’s still good people there that are working to improve things that are happening on the ground in that neighborhood,” Mayor Cavalier Johnson said.
Johnson pointed to the Sherman Park Community Association; Sherman Phoenix, a marketplace built on the grounds of a bank that was set ablaze during the unrest; the neighborhood’s new Business Improvement District; and his administration’s Year of Housing initiative as examples of continued investment in the neighborhood.
Karin Tyler, executive director of the city’s Department of Community Wellness and Safety, said the Sherman Park uprising was a defining moment for Milwaukee, one that exposed deep challenges but also sparked action, resilience and a stronger commitment to community-led public safety.
From that moment came critical investments, she said, including Milwaukee’s Blueprint for Peace and Program the Parks, which created safe spaces and positive opportunities for young people.
“Sherman Park also has one of the strongest networks of block captains through the Alert Neighbor Program, a reflection of residents taking ownership of the safety and strength of their neighborhood,” Tyler said. “Local businesses throughout Sherman Park and the surrounding area have stepped up as well, investing in and working alongside the community.”
Johnson said that Black homeownership has improved citywide, though those gains haven’t appeared yet in the Sherman Park data analyzed by NNS.
Houses line a street in the Sherman Park neighborhood. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
Despite the challenges, Mayes has also seen signs of progress.
“SPCA (Sherman Park Community Association) has become a stronger and more vocal and invested organization for the area and have taken up and advocated for more issues,” he said.
“But has housing changed? Has job access changed? Quality of life?” he asked.
Mayes said he’s also noticed a gap between investment and outcomes in youth services.
“Investment and grants focused on issues of youth have been prioritized. However, the impact from those investments could be more impactful and intentional,” he said.
Work to be done
Officers talk to a man in the Sherman Park neighborhood during the August 2016 unrest that followed the police-involved shooting of Sylville K. Smith. (Jabril Faraj / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service)
While citing progress, Johnson also acknowledged work that still needs to occur in the neighborhood, especially given its recent past.
“Certainly, there are challenges. There can be lagging things, especially when something traumatic like that happens,” Johnson said. “It is like a bomb going off in a place like that.”
Johnson said the city needs to do more work on housing in Sherman Park.
He said his administration’s plans to focus on housing this year will eventually impact neighborhoods such as Sherman Park.
Though the changes will take time, Johnson said, some of the issues that have plagued Sherman Park and other neighborhoods for years have historic roots. He pointed to decades of deindustrialization that continues to affect Milwaukee.
“What it did is leave cities, communities like Milwaukee and the Upper Midwest … holding the bag, looking around like, ‘Where are the opportunities?’” he said. “That is not a city of Milwaukee issue, it’s more of a national and international sort of issue.”
Milwaukee Public Schools also recognizes the deep pain that sparked the unrest in Sherman Park, said Stephen Davis, the district’s media relations manager. He stressed the district’s commitment to serving students and families across every neighborhood in Milwaukee.
“Specifically, we are actively directing investments toward schools in historically disinvested communities,” Davis said, citing MPS’ investment of nearly $13 million in four schools on the North Side as well as a new districtwide literacy plan to address the “multigenerational literacy crisis.”
The Milwaukee Police Department stressed its commitment to Sherman Park and other communities as well.
The department remains committed to strengthening trust and partnership, a spokesperson for the department said.
“We continue to enhance police-community relations and ensure our training, policies and risk-management practices align with nationally recognized best standards,” the spokesperson said.
Vaun Mayes, center, speaks at a news conference in December 2016. To his left is Sedan Smith, the brother of Sylville Smith. (Adam Carr / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service)
Mayes said he’s seen some fruit of efforts to improve police-community relations, describing the relationship as “leaps better than back then.”
The city’s formal body that pays close attention to how the police and community are relating to each other is the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission.
“The (Fire and Police Commission) is planning some more meetings out in the community, which is exciting,” said Commissioner Krissie Fung.
“I’m also looking forward to continuing to improve the complaint process with the new investigator that is coming on board,” she said.
Fung acknowledged that the commission’s role in overseeing the Police Department has changed significantly over the past decade, particularly following the passage of Act 12, which shifted some crucial authority of the commission to the police chief.
At the time, both the chair and vice chair of the commission resigned in protest.
“Act 12 was a blow to the whole city,” Amanda Avalos, the commission’s former vice chair, previously told NNS. “It took away something that was a really positive thing that the city had. … It was a really unique form of community power.”
Fung said one high point for transparency was the adoption of Standard Operating Procedure 575 governing the public release of police video.
Police video of Sylville Smith’s shooting death wasn’t released until June 2017, when it was shown during the murder trial of Milwaukee Police Officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown. He was eventually acquitted of Smith’s killing but sentenced to prison on an unrelated sexual assault charge.
Why these metrics?
The symptoms residents said helped give rise to the unrest in 2016 reflected what researchers describe as the social determinants of health — the economic and social conditions that shape people’s health and quality of life.
Those conditions include employment, education, income, housing stability and neighborhood conditions.
“Limited access to stable employment, economic opportunity and resources can contribute to the conditions that increase the risk of violence,” Tyler said. “Public safety cannot be separated from economic stability and opportunity.”
Tyler said improving conditions means investing in local leaders like Vaun Mayes and programs that support youth engagement, violence prevention, economic opportunity and community-centered public safety.
Today, many Milwaukee leaders continue to describe violence prevention in those terms.
Michael Levas, a specialist in pediatrics and emergency medicine at Children’s Wisconsin, says that while parenting plays an important role in preventing violence, parents also need stable housing, economic opportunity and community support to help children succeed.
In other words, economic conditions can increase the risk factors associated with violence.
Mayes said the data trends in Sherman Park since the uprising acknowledged the good, bad and yet to come:
“We have some great things and progress, yet there is still much work left to do.”
Paul Kiefer of Wisconsin Watch contributed to this report.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
In May, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman sat on a panel at Sherman Phoenix to discuss gun violence, along with four women whose loved ones had been killed or injured by gunfire.
The panel discussed a range of factors contributing to gun violence and ways to reduce it. But both men pointed to one factor as a uniquely influential force in their lives, one that helped steer them away from gun violence growing up in Milwaukee — parenting.
“Everything begins at home,” Johnson said that day.
Both men spoke with NNS recently about their experiences as children growing up in Milwaukee and their experiences as parents.
‘Lulled to sleep by the sound of gunfire’
For Johnson, childhood meant constant change.
His parents separated when he was 3 years old. He moved frequently with his mother, living at addresses across Milwaukee and attending six elementary schools before he graduated from Bay View High School.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson poses for a photograph on July 13, 2026, in Milwaukee. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
Johnson recalled times of food insecurity and nights of routine gunfire.
“Too many kids, myself included, were living in neighborhoods where we were sort of lulled to sleep by the sound of gunfire,” he said. “I have seen it all. Everything you see on the news, everything you read about, all the negative social indicators – I have seen it and lived it all.”
Despite this instability, he smiles when talking about his grandmother’s house on West Walnut Street.
“I think of all the places that I lived growing up, that’s the one that seemed the most familiar, the most stable,” Johnson said.
Though separated from his mother, his father remained a consistent presence in his life.
Together, those sources of stability helped him navigate the challenges, he said. Sometimes, that support came in the form of discipline.
“If we made a decision to go out and do something that we weren’t supposed to, you’d be held accountable for that at home,” he said. “Because you knew that there was a consequence, you were less likely to partake in that behavior.”
He said other adults from his neighborhood reinforced these lessons.
“You had folks in the neighborhood that were mentors and held kids accountable,” Johnson said.
Today, Johnson said, he speaks with children facing similar circumstances, hoping to help them envision a different path.
“My hope is that I am planting the seed for them to think more broadly and have a bigger vision for themselves and their lives above and beyond what they may be exposed to,” he said.
Research backs up his theory.
“If you see multiple paths, you’re going to make less rash decisions in the moment,” said Dr. Michael Levas, a professor of pediatric emergency medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Children’s Wisconsin.
‘Our children are a reflection’
Norman, who’s led the Milwaukee Police Department since 2020, said his parents divorced when he was in sixth grade. His father remained actively involved in raising him and his brother.
Norman described him as demanding and a disciplinarian.
“I’m very appreciative,” Norman said.
Growing up, he regularly encountered opportunities to make bad decisions, including the use of violence.
Norman said one of his close childhood friends was killed over an article of clothing. He said he was able to make different choices because of the adults in his life.
Milwaukee Chief of Police Jeffrey Norman listens during an interview at the Milwaukee Police Administration Building on July 9, 2026, in Milwaukee. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
He did the same for his children, often working the late shift while sleeping only a few hours each day so he could attend meaningful moments such as rehearsals and parent-teacher conferences.
“They saw that,” Norman said. “Sometimes our children are a reflection of what they were – or were not – given.”
This, too, is backed up by evidence.
“We’re a product of our experiences from birth to the present,” Levas said. “All of those experiences shape us.”
While parenting can contribute to a lower risk for gun violence, there are limits.
“There are some really, really good adults, parents, role models out there who are really trying,” Levas said.
Levas said privilege and environment are big factors.
“If you don’t have a choice about what school you’re going to, and it’s a school that is chaotic, or doesn’t have a lot of resources, that’s an eight-hour period where your kid’s not with you,” he said.
Johnson said as mayor he’s working to address challenges related to poverty, housing instability and neighborhood violence.
He pointed to his Year of Housing initiative, efforts to expand affordable homeownership and targeted neighborhood investments as examples of how his administration is trying to address the conditions he experienced growing up.
Norman said even though police cannot solve these issues, parents’ consistent commitment is still crucial to improving the lives of their children.
“It ain’t about the material things,” Norman said. “Kids want to see that you’re there for them, that you have worked your ass off, no matter what little bit you have.”
Although today’s children face some added risks such as cellphones and social media, what children need has not changed, Norman said.
For parents who may be busy with work, parents can recruit other responsible mentors, Levas said.
“I think it’s trying to expand the community,” he said.
Levas said there are three traits that make a good mentor: “I think it’s availability, affability and ability, in that order.”
Bare minimum
Aries Anthony, a father of four whose three youngest children attend Milwaukee Public Schools, said he agrees on the importance of parents being present in their children’s lives.
For Anthony, that means maintaining close relationships with his children’s teachers, principal and other school staff.
“I try to take initiative,” Anthony said. “I want to be active. I want to know all of the people – everyone that works at the school.”
But, he said, he feels like those things are the bare minimum.
Anthony said he also works to model the right behavior for his kids, recalling a recent incident when he was rear-ended by another driver who then fled the scene.
His first instinct, he said, was to chase the vehicle. But he stopped himself.
“I had that emotional intelligence to be like, ‘OK, I’m not going to take this person down and gun them down because they rear-ended me.’” he said. “I can’t do that if I’m saying that I want to see different in the world.”
What Anthony wants are more resources to help teach children both firearm safety and conflict resolution.
“Education would be the best combatant of gun violence,” he said.
Levas said talking with children about firearms is important, as is storing guns properly, including having them unloaded, locked and separate from ammunition.
What do you think?
Are you a parent worried about gun violence? What would help you as a parent? What resources does your family need?
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
Progress is possible, and Milwaukee’s decline in violent crime in recent years suggest it’s happening.
Advocates and violence prevention workers say keeping crime trending down depends on investment in the trusted relationships that make violence less likely.
Examples of investments that can create tangible alternatives to violence, they said, are mentorship instead of isolation, employment instead of boredom and community instead of retaliation.
At the center of it all is trust, said Reggie Moore, director of community safety, policy and engagement for the Comprehensive Injury Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
“Trust is universal,” Moore said. “Trust is the door opener.”
Mayor Cavalier Johnson discusses crime trends for the first half of 2026 during a press conference on July 7, 2026, at the Milwaukee Police Administration Building, 951 N. James Lovell St. Behind him, from left, are Milwaukee County District Attorney Kent Lovern, Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball, Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman and Karin Tyler, director of the Milwaukee Department of Community Wellness and Safety. (Devin Blake / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service)
City and county leaders highlighted declines in violent crime on July 7 as they presented data for the first half of 2026.
Compared with the first half of 2025, homicides fell 30%, nonfatal shootings fell 27%, and carjackings fell 34%.
“Milwaukee is a safer community,” Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said. “This continues a multiyear trend that is very positive news.”
Karin Tyler, director of the city Department of Community Wellness and Safety, said the progress reflects years of collaboration among law enforcement, violence prevention organizations, community groups and residents.
“Milwaukee is making progress, and that progress belongs to all of us,” Tyler said.
Aziz Abdullah, far right, stands next to Common Council President Jose Perez as he speaks to teens during a pop-up anti-violence event on Milwaukee’s South Side on July 8, 2026. (Edgar Mendez / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service)
Aziz Abdullah, co-founder of INPOWER Solutions, said he doesn’t want to gloss over the progress or take it for granted.
“Lives are being protected, and that should not be overlooked,” Abdullah said.
Moore pointed to reductions in retaliatory shootings, group-based gun violence and youth-related gun violence as signs of progress.
He said programs such as 414LIFE intentionally focus on the people and neighborhoods at highest risk of gun violence.
‘We don’t shoot up stuff’
Vaun Mayes, a community organizer and violence interrupter with the city’s Department of Community Wellness and Safety, said he sees these interventions firsthand every day.
“We also get to see the changes in some of the key players who are even doing a bit of self-control and self-policing,” Mayes said.
He described one instance at a block party where two groups were in conflict and one group was armed.
Mayes said he heard one of the young men say, “Aye, we don’t shoot up stuff where it’s kids at.”
Community violence intervention workers de-escalated the conflict, and the result, Mayes said, was that no one was shot.
“That’s one of maybe over a dozen incidents in the past two months I can give you,” he said.
Looking forward
Teens gather in a parking lot on Milwaukee’s South Side on July 8, 2026, as part of a pop-up anti-violence event. (Edgar Mendez / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service)
Violence prevention workers and local leaders said the local efforts are by no means complete.
“We still have work to do,” Tyler said.
Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman pointed to violence on the Fourth of July weekend as an example.
Moore said what’s needed is more employment and educational opportunities and helping people develop the skills to resolve conflicts without violence.
Bridget Whitaker, executive director of Safe & Sound, said residents continue to express concerns about reckless driving, youth conflicts, neighborhood safety and other quality-of-life issues.
“Ultimately, the goal isn’t simply fewer crimes on a dashboard,” Whitaker said in an email. “It’s creating neighborhoods where people feel comfortable sitting on their front porch, children can safely walk to the park, businesses can thrive and neighbors know and look out for one another.”
Researchers from Children’s Wisconsin and the Medical College of Wisconsin found an association between motor vehicle crash injuries and firearm injuries among children and adolescents.
The findings could help inform violence prevention efforts, said Dr. Mike Levas, one of the authors of the study and a professor of pediatric emergency medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Children’s Wisconsin.
“I think that car crashes, especially in our teens and young kids, can be a marker for that increased escalation and risky behaviors or risky situations,” said Levas, who is also medical director of Project Ujima.
Project Ujima is a violence intervention program at Children’s Wisconsin. The program works to end the cycle of violence by providing crisis intervention and other support to youths and adults who are victims of violence.
Findings of the study
Nearly one in four patients treated for a firearm injury had multiple emergency department visits for firearm, non-firearm violence or motor vehicle crash injuries during a four-year period, according to the study.
The study examined 2,614 emergency department visits for violent injuries or motor vehicle crashes involving children and adolescents ages 0 to 17 from 2018 to 2022.
Researchers found a significant association between prior motor vehicle crash injuries and later firearm injuries.
In other words, motor vehicle crash injuries can serve as a marker for increased risk of a firearm injury later on.
Interpretation of findings
Traumatic events often do not occur in isolation, said Dr. Deanna Behrens, a pediatric critical care physician and American Academy of Pediatrics spokesperson.
“We know that there are clusters of activity, like risk-taking behavior, exposure to violence and traumatic injuries, that can happen in adolescence and early adulthood,” she said.
In addition to social and environmental factors, Levas said adolescents are still developing the parts of the brain responsible for decision-making.
“Most people, as they grow, don’t make great choices all the time,” Levas said.
These developmental realities place some responsibility on society to help young people avoid risk, he said.
“If we don’t have guardrails for them, then I think from a public health standpoint, then we’re not helping the situation, we’re not helping to prevent injury,” he said.
The Children’s Wisconsin campus on June 17, 2026, in Milwaukee. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
Levas said Children’s Wisconsin is considering whether the findings could help identify opportunities to intervene earlier.
One possibility is expanding Project Ujima.
Currently, the program serves youths who have been shot, stabbed or physically assaulted and provides case management, mental health services, mentorship and family support.
“One of the things that we’re looking at is: Do we expand our inclusion criteria to include victims of a motor vehicle crash so that we can prevent the firearm injury from happening altogether?” Levas said.
Important to note is that the program doesn’t just serve the direct victim of violence.
“We wrap our arms around the entire family, so not just the immediate victim, but we also support the entire household,” said Brooke Cheaton, manager of Project Ujima. “Those conversations are centered very much around concerns, whether it be for safety, for physical health, for mental well-being, emotional well-being, social supports.”
These types of support are necessary because violence can profoundly change the lives of victims, families and communities, Cheaton said.
“We are always talking about prevention, and early intervention is key to reducing injury and mortality,” said Maria Beyer, one of the authors of the study and a community health evaluation manager at Children’s Wisconsin.
Collecting information early through interventions, she said, can help them learn of those shared risk factors that might be leading to both reckless driving and also gun violence.
She said that mentoring and youth development programs are among the resources that could help communities intervene earlier.
What can parents do?
As Children’s Wisconsin explores ways to use the study findings to prevent future injuries, Levas said parents and caregivers can take steps of their own.
On a basic level, he said, parents can start by opening lines of communication with their children and helping them connect with trusted adults.
“Seeking mentorship for your child across multiple sectors is very helpful,” he said. “The more that the youth can get engaged with adults that are guiding them to make better choices, or learn how to stay out of risky situations, the better.”
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
Aminat Bakare, who has grandsons ages 8 to 19, is looking for programs that could help them.
“I have a lot of grandsons,” Bakare said. “I want to know what’s going on as far as different programs that can help them to stay on the right path.”
She was among residents on hand Wednesday for Milwaukee County’s launch of the Destined for Greater initiative, a collaborative effort to reduce violence.
Milwaukee County officials announced during the event, held at the Wisconsin Black Historical Society and Museum, they will use $1.5 million in state violence prevention funds to help connect residents in high-need neighborhoods with employment opportunities, housing assistance, mental health support and violence intervention services.
The initiative, overseen by the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services, brings together existing violence intervention programs, wellness services and projects funded through the $1.5 million in state funding.
Bakare, who lives on the Northwest Side, said peer pressure is one of the biggest challenges facing her grandsons.
She said she was particularly hopeful the initiative will result in employment opportunities.
“Something that can spark their interest,” she said.
Robert Fisher, 15, attended the event with a mentor from the city’s 414LIFE, a community and hospital-based violence intervention program, to learn about the same opportunities.
Fisher said jobs and opportunities to create things are also hard to come by.
‘This is about peace’
Kenneth Burns talks during the launch event for Destined for Greater on Wednesday, June 24, 2026 in Milwaukee. Destined for Greater is a collaborative effort to improve public safety, support young people and families, and build healthier, more connected communities throughout Milwaukee County. (Photo by Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
Violence prevention workers and community members say the increased state funding could expand services and strengthen partnerships to help improve public safety.
Among the most enthusiastic was Kenneth Burns, a Milwaukee Public Schools student who described the benefits of INPOWER Solutions’ Grow Rich Initiative, which teaches gardening, entrepreneurship and other job-readiness skills. INPOWER is one of several organizations participating in the initiative.
“For me, this is about peace,” Burns said. “Being in the garden gives me a place to slow down, build on something positive.”
Other partners include Milwaukee Turners, Milwaukee Bucks Foundation, Bloom Art and Integrated Therapies, and Community Justice Council.
According to a county press release, the Destined for Greater initiative will reduce community violence by building on the success of existing programs.
The release cited the Advance Peace Fellowship, created in 2024, and the Credible Messenger program, as examples.
The release said 95% of fellows reported no new gun injuries and that 76% of youths who participated in Credible Messenger recently had no referral or offense while in the program.
Moving forward
Attendees applaud during the launch event for Destined for Greater on Wednesday, June 24, 2026 in Milwaukee. Destined for Greater is a collaborative effort to improve public safety, support young people and families, and build healthier, more connected communities throughout Milwaukee County. (Photo by Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
Crowley told NNS the goal of the initiative is to create collaboration in which organizations understand each other’s roles and can connect residents to needed services, even when they cannot provide those services themselves.
Milwaukee County District Attorney Kent Lovern told NNS he supports the effort.
“This is good news,” Lovern said. “It is important that this work is community-led.”
Both Bakare and Fisher said they, too, liked what they heard.
“I was very impressed,” Bakare said.
What’s next?
The county and its partners plan to provide regular updates on the implementation and progress of the initiative.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
In a statement, Evers said he was trying to move Wisconsin’s “justice system into the 21st Century by reforming our criminal justice and corrections systems to improve public safety, reduce the likelihood that individuals will reoffend when they enter our communities and save taxpayer dollars in the long run.”
Some supporters of Evers’ decision say people can change after decades in prison and that remaining there no longer serves any beneficial purpose.
Gov. Tony Evers restarted the commutation process in Wisconsin in April. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
However, critics question whether people convicted of serious violent crimes should ever be released early.
Jones sits at the center of these views.
He was sentenced in 2004 to two consecutive terms of life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to two counts of first-degree intentional homicide.
He said he fully acknowledges his crimes, which occurred during an armed tavern robbery in Racine, and continues to have remorse over them.
“No amount of right I have done would ever erase the wrong I have done to my victims and their families, and I understand that perfectly,” Jones said. “I also know that I am a transformed man, and I am rehabilitated.”
Applying for commutation
Jones said he decided to apply for a commutation the moment his wife, Jessica Jones, told him about Evers’ announcement.
There are two commutation tracks: a general commutation process for people convicted as adults and a separate process for some sentenced as juveniles.
Jones, who was 22 when he was sentenced to life and is now 44, qualifies for the first track.
Applicants qualify for this track if they are: incarcerated on a Wisconsin conviction, have more than one year left on their sentence, have served at least half their incarceration term or at least 20 years of a life sentence.
They also cannot be serving sentences for sex offenses, have unresolved criminal charges or warrants, or have committed violent misconduct in prison within the past five years.
Individuals who apply must provide information about the crimes for which they are seeking commutation, prior interactions with law enforcement, prison disciplinary history, rehabilitation efforts, and reentry plans.
Applications also require certified court records as well as letters of support.
“Emotionally, a person has to remain calm,” Jones said. “There is a sense of urgency that will be overwhelming at times.”
He said coming up with a clear plan has been vital to overcoming his panic.
“One box at a time. One task at a time,” he said.
For and against
Nationally, many politicians associated with “tough-on-crime” policies have opposed sentence reductions for people convicted of violent crimes, arguing rehabilitation cannot outweigh the harm caused.
U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany said he would end commutations if elected governor. (Jeffrey Phelps for Wisconsin Watch)
Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany’s gubernatorial campaign told NNS that he would rescind the executive orders that allow murderers, including those serving life sentences, to be released back into the community after 20 years.
“He is making a commitment as governor that he will not release violent criminals early and will ensure victims and their families receive the full measure of justice,” said the Tiffany campaign.
Diego Rodriguez, coalition coordinator forJustice Forward Wisconsin, an advocacy coalition focused on criminal justice reform, said he understands the concerns people have but believes they are based on misunderstandings of the process.
Commutation is far from automatic, he said. The approval process includes multiple reviews, eligibility restrictions and detailed reentry planning requirements.
“These are pretty thorough applications,” Rodriguez said. “If somebody still poses a threat to the community, they’re not going to let them out.”
Shannon Ross, a criminal justice advocate who works with Justice Forward to support the commutation application process, said people in prison who have genuinely transformed often have clear ways of showing that to be the case.
“If you’ve been doing the work, if you’ve been spending your time constructively, this is your moment,” Ross said.
Impact of victims
The impact of a commutation on victims and survivors will be part of how applications are evaluated, according to Executive Order #287. Also evaluated will be the potential impact on public safety, applicants’ prison conduct and their personal growth and development since conviction.
“What commutations allow is for the governor to come in and to step in and to identify people who have made changes,” Rodriguez said.
If someone is truly remorseful, has accepted responsibility and demonstrated long-term change, prison no longer serves any meaningful rehabilitative purpose, he said.
Rodriguez also said that commutations could improve public safety by helping reduce overcrowding inside Wisconsin prisons.
“Far more people are incarcerated than we even have space for,” Rodriguez said.
Under these conditions, Rodriguez said, prisons become less safe and less effective at rehabilitation.
“It makes our community less safe when we have overcrowded prisons because they’re not getting the same quality of treatment,” Rodriguez said.
Accountability
During a commutation application webinar organized by Justice Forward Wisconsin, former Wisconsin Parole Commission Chair John Tate II said accountability is central to the process.
“The thing that I would emphasize the most when we’re talking about a discretionary mechanism within the criminal legal system is accountability, accountability, accountability,” Tate said.
“Any minimization of what their role in that (crime) was is often seen as a lack of accountability,” he added.
Jones said his accountability starts with fully acknowledging the harm he caused and what kind of person he once was.
“I was a horrible person, and I took lives without mercy,” Jones said.
But Jones said decades in prison changed him.
His wife, Jessica, who met him while working at the New Lisbon Correctional Institution in Juneau County, said her views on rehabilitation have changed by getting to know people who are incarcerated.
“Most of the general public believes that all people in prison are horrible people, incorrigible and worthless,” she said. “I used to be one of those people. I believed everyone in prison could be nothing more than their worst day. Then, I worked in the prison and learned how wrong I was.”
She said she met many men in prison who shouldn’t be there anymore. She believes her husband is one of them.
“He does more good than many free people I know,” she said. “He does not let his sentence or crime define him even though it’s a daily reality.”
Open questions
Major questions about the process still remain, including how quickly applications will be processed and how many people could ultimately receive commutations.
There is also uncertainty surrounding the future of the process itself. NNS reached out to the governor’s office to ask whether the commutation process could change under new leadership but did not receive a response.
“This is a governor’s last term,” Rodriguez said. “When it comes to executive orders, those can be changed in an instant.”
The mayor’s office and the Milwaukee Department of Public Works are defending the city’s parking enforcement during last week’s flooding.
From April 15 to April 16, the city issued 4,666 parking citations, according to data provided by the Department of Public Works, or DPW.
Officials said enforcement is still necessary during extreme storm-related conditions.
“Severe weather events make it particularly important for people to obey the posted parking restrictions,” said Jeff Fleming, spokesperson for Mayor Cavalier Johnson. “During rain events, quite a number of parking restrictions are in place to enable full street cleaning.”
Fleming also said flooding can be exacerbated when street cleaning is impeded by parked vehicles.
South Side resident Jacob Quinones said he was too busy dealing with the flood to worry about parking.
“My basement flooded, and I was late to work because of getting towed,” he said.
Parking enforcement looked much different during the historic storms on Aug. 9 through Aug. 10, which also caused severe flooding throughout the city.
According to DPW data, 991 citations were issued on those days, which occurred over the weekend.
Behind the numbers
The 4,666 parking citations issued on April 15-16 include all standard parking enforcement activity, said Tiffany Shepherd, DPW marketing and communications officer.
Citations were issued earlier on Wednesday before the storm and after conditions improved on Thursday, she said.
She said officers did adapt during the most intense conditions.
During a peak storm window, from roughly 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., parking enforcement continued but focused on responding to complaints, resulting in 141 tickets, said Shepherd.
She said safety concerns limited enforcement during that time.
“Our staff is not going to be driving through flood waters or anything like that. That’s just not safe,” Shepherd said. “For those two hours where things were really bad, no tickets were being issued.”
Response in August
During the August floods, there was a period when parking enforcement was formally suspended and staff redirected to flood-related work, said Lisa Vargas, administrative specialist with DPW, in an email.
Overnight enforcement was also formally suspended in the days following the storm, from Aug. 11 to Aug. 14. Enforcement was not suspended as a result of last week’s storms.
Staff assisted stranded or abandoned vehicles, conducting 88 free relocation tows, Vargas said. During last week’s floods, four free relocations were provided.
A flooded-out car parked on West Burleigh Street in Milwaukee on April 10, 2026. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
‘It cost me $566’
When Quinones’ car was towed near his home on South 13th Street and West Ohio Avenue, he said it left him with no real alternatives.
“It’s my only form of transportation,” he said. “It cost me $566 plus a favor from a friend for the ride to the tow lot.”
Quinones said being ticketed and towed while also dealing with flooding created a great deal of stress. He said the city needs to rethink its approach.
“If severe weather is on the horizon, keep your meter maids and parking checkers safe at home,” he said.
The importance of parking enforcement
Shepherd emphasized that although most enforcement took place before and after flooding conditions, weather is still not an excuse to park irresponsibly.
“What you’re going to find out is the majority of these tickets don’t have anything to do with anyone being affected by the flood,” she said. “Just because there was bad weather, you can’t block a hydrant.”
Appealing citations
The mayor’s office has no plans to forgive tickets issued during last week’s floods, but residents do have an option to appeal.
“The appeal process is pretty straightforward, so we do not have plans for any blanket amnesty,” Fleming said.
People can go through the appeals process if the flood was pertinent to the ticket, and the city will look at that on a case-by-case basis, Shepherd said.
Researchers say this means there could be a critical but often overlooked window for intervention.
It also suggests there is a group of people who can be targeted for various forms of novel intervention, the authors of the study conclude.
Those more likely to report thoughts of shooting others were individuals who are younger, male, Black, living in the Midwest and in urban areas, according to the study.
For Vaun Mayes, a community organizer who also does violence interruption for the city of Milwaukee’s Department of Community Wellness and Safety, the study’s conclusions ring true.
“There are definitely usually signs of escalation prior to the results we see,” Mayes said. “Young people most definitely give notice before violence, and Black folks specifically culturally do as well.”
Millions report thoughts about shooting someone
The study found that roughly 8.5 million people said they had seriously thought about shooting someone in the year before being asked. Over a lifetime, that number rises to more than 19 million.
Although most never acted on their thoughts, the study estimated that 1.5 million U.S. adults had brought a gun to a specific location with the intention of shooting someone.
Fewer than 1% temporarily handed their firearm over during a time of crisis.
The study found that gun owners are not the only people who are at risk of using a firearm, but those in the vicinity of gun owners as well.
In other words, access to a firearm, rather than ownership, is a key predictor.
A temporary crisis and fatal outcome
James Bigham, a clinical professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, pays a lot of attention to when and how firearms are accessed, especially during times of poor mental health or mental health crisis.
Access to a gun can turn a temporary crisis into a fatal outcome, Bigham said.
“If we could shift our culture where it’s normal … to transfer firearms during a time of crisis, we could really reduce the rates of death,” Bigham said.
Mayes said it’s because of the gap between consideration and action that violence interrupters can intervene to deescalate a situation.
The authors of the study suggest this is especially true in states with red flag laws.
Red flag laws, also known as Extreme Risk Prevention Orders, allow judges to issue court orders to temporarily restrict access to guns by individuals who could pose a threat to themselves or others.
More than 20 states have a version of a red flag law, but Wisconsin does not.
For those who are interested in places to safely store a gun, the Wisconsin Gun Shop Project’s “Live Today – Put It Away” program partners with participating gun shops – including several in Milwaukee County – to provide firearm safety information and temporary off-site storage options, often for a low fee.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
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