Milwaukee Police Department faces budget cuts with new proposal

Milwaukee Police Department faces budget cuts with new proposal

A new budget proposal has been announced for the Milwaukee Police Department.

With that proposal, the police department could face around $400K in budget cuts.

ON PACE FOR A RECORD NUMBEROF MURDERS IN THE CITY... THEMILWAUKEE POLICE DEPARTMENT ISFACING BUDGET CUTS.

THISMORNING, ACTING CHIEF MICHAELBRUNSON AND HIS TEAM WENTBEFORE THE CITY'S FINANCE ANDPERSONNEL COMMITTEE,EXPLAINING THE IMPACTS THEPROPOSED CUTS COULD HAVE ONPUBLIC SAFETY IN MILWAUKEE.OUR RYAN JENKINS REPORTS.RJE: CHIEF BRUNSON SAID THISYEAR HAS BEEN CHALLENGING FORTHE MILWAUKEE POLICEDEPARTMENT.FROM THE CURRENTPOLICING CLIMATE TO COVID-19AND AN INCREASE IN VIOLENTCRIME .... HE SAYS IT'S ATOUGH TIME TO TALK ABOUTBUDGET CUTS.

BUT, THAT'SEXACTLY WHAT THEY DID EARLYTHIS MORNING.

10:11 We do haveto have a police departmentprepared for potential civilunrest in our city.IN ADDITIONTO CIVIL UNREST DEMANDING THEPOLICE FORCE TO WORK ASIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF OVERTIMETHIS YEAR, ACTING CHIEFMICHAEL BRUNSON POINTED TO ASPIKE IN VIOLENT CRIME THISMORNING ... SAYING THEINCREASE IN BOTH HOMICIDES ANDNON-FATAL SHOOTINGS THROUGHOUTTHE CITY REMAIN BIG CHALLENGESFOR THE DEPARTMENT.10:11 Youcan't predict what's going tooccur or the rest of the yearor even into next year.LOOKINGAHEAD TO 20-21, MAYOR TOMBARRETT'S PROPOSED BUDGETWOULD CUT ROUGHLY 120POSITIONS OUT OF THE POLICEDEPARTMENT.

THE PROPOSEDBUDGET SLICES MORE THAN 400-THOUSAND DOLLARS OUT OF THECURRENT BUDGET, TO 296 MILLIONDOLLARS.10:06: It is going tobe a huge challenge because ifwe have another year like 2020with the increase in violentcrime, that's going to requireovertime to investigate andaddress those issues.POLICEARGUE THE COST OF POLICING ISON THE RISE AND MPD ISREQUESTING A 315 MILLIONDOLLAR BUDGET FOR NEXT YEAR.CHIEF BRUNSON TOLD COUNCILMEMBERS THAT A SMALLER POLICEFORCE IN 20-21 WILL LIKELYLEAD TO SLOWER RESPONSE TIMESAND THERE WOULD LIKELY BE LESSOPPORTUNITY FOR POLICE TO BEPROACTIVE IN FIGHTING CRIMEAND LESS OPPORTUNITY FOROFFICERS TO ENGAGE WITH THECOMMUNITY.

RJE: THE COMMONCOUNCIL WILL VOTE NEXT MONTH... ON NEXT YEAR'S BUDGET.