"A huge concern:" MPD response times the focus of special meeting before Public Safety Committee

MILWAUKEE -- Concerns about Milwaukee police response times prompted a passionate discussion during a meeting involving MPD leaders and members of the Milwaukee Common Council's Public Safety Committee Thursday, June 23rd.

"Response times are a huge concern," Alderman Bob Donovan said.

"We are prepared to talk about our call volume, our response times, and our staffing issues," Inspector Terrence Gordon with the Milwaukee Police Department said.

Gordon said call volumes were up in 2015, and that's expected to continue this year.

Inspector Terrence Gordon with the Milwaukee Police Department

"It certainly just proves the demands on the police for any number of things are increasing significantly, and we need to have the resources to deal with them," Donovan said.

As the demands increase, police and city leaders agree that staffing at the dispatch center must increase as well.

"It's a non-exempt civil service position, which significantly affects our ability to fill those positions quickly," Gordon said.

MPD's response times are impacted by both the increase in calls, and the need for more dispatchers.

"Which frustrates the heck out of us, because we've been complaining -- for two years we've been raising this issue," Alderman Terry Witkowski said.

"We're gonna hear from our people, OK? And these are legitimate concerns, and you all need to not only hear them, but take them seriously, because I'm not gonna start squawking about them until something gets done," Alderman Mark Borkowski said.

Thursday's meeting was the latest in a series of special meetings before the Public Safety Committee regarding crime in Milwaukee.