The Madison Police Department districts just completed month two of their summer strategic plans to reduce crime and disorder and increase community engagement. Each district is focusing on different priorities. Today (7/29) Captain Jason Freedman of the Midtown District released a month two update for his district. Midtown is focusing on reducing burglaries, theft-from-auto incidents and stolen cars, and also addressing hazardous driving and intersections.
Here’s an excerpt:
Our crime prevention efforts occurred throughout the district, focusing on those areas where we historically see property crimes (such as the Regent St student areas) but also in response to micro-time hotspots such as occurred in the Orchard Ridge neighborhood last week. Efforts included high-visibility patrol, KOPER patrol, leafleting and distributing pamphlets, checking garage doors, and sharing information in the media and on our blotter. We also marshalled district and department resources (such as the Burglary Crime Unit) to investigate the hot-spot and continue to track down leads and work to identify and arrest the perpetrators.
Our crime prevention efforts did not just focus on our strategic plan priorities, and my team put great efforts into preventing retaliation and further escalations of violence following the homicide at the BP on the Verona frontage road; this includes working with ownership of the station and looking at overall environmental design to improve safety. Our traffic enforcement efforts involved time spent at many of our identified speeding corridors and problem intersections and we tried to be responsive to new complaints as well. Officers worked Whitney Way, Raymond Rd, University Ave, Monroe St, Midvale, and Mineral Point Rd to name a few. Approximately 100 citations were issued during month two, and officers provided visible deterrence and issued many warnings.
Our crime prevention efforts did not just focus on our strategic plan priorities, and my team put great efforts into preventing retaliation and further escalations of violence following the homicide at the BP on the Verona frontage road; this includes working with ownership of the station and looking at overall environmental design to improve safety.
This period once again saw robust community engagement efforts by Midtown personnel, supported by our partners in CORE, Mounted, K-9, and the Drone Team. We did foot patrol in many neighborhoods, area parks, and Vilas Zoo. We attended 4th of July picnics, community meetings, Good Neighbor Night at Garner Park, Farmer’s Markets, CWAC, and Coffee on a Curb. MPD also hosted a very well-attended event at Vilas Park involving our MPD Pride cadre.
Importantly, despite the micro-time burglary hotspot, compared to both the previous year and the 5 year average, we experienced reductions in the crimes we prioritized, and we will continue to work towards impacting those crimes and are exploring ways to better message/educate to the UW Student population that lives in our district which often experience a lot of property crimes in late summer and early fall as they move into the neighborhoods.