Mayor Barrett announces proposal for 100 police officers for city

Mayor Barrett proposes 100 more police officers in Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett wants to hire 100 police officers for the city of Milwaukee -- a proposal that to many, sounds great, but even Mayor Barrett admits this may not mean a bigger Milwaukee Police Department.

On Tuesday night, August 20th, Mayor Barrett offered a sneak peek of his proposed 2014 budget, which will be unveiled in September, and one of the big budget items is Barrett's proposal to hire 100 police officers.

Cameron Streff is one of those who believes Milwaukee needs more police officers. Streff was involved in an accident on Monday night, August 19th, after which he claims he waited more than five hours for police to arrive in order to fill out paperwork needed to make an insurance claim.

"We called the cops. They said they would be on the way. She did inform us that there was seven shootings," Streff said.

Help may be on the way for the seemingly outstretched Milwaukee Police Department.

"I'm going to submit a budget that is going to hire 100 police officers for 2014," Mayor Barrett said.

Before a packed room, Mayor Barrett on Tuesday night made the announcement as part of the city's preliminary budget hearing for next year. Mayor Barrett also announced the city will fund 50 officers whose salaries are tied to federal money that is drying up.

Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn is praising the announcement.

"You can do more with more. The city positioned itself to invest in this police department," Flynn said.

While the announcement means more hires, it doesn't necessarily mean more officers in uniform, or an influx in cops on the streets. New hires will help to offset officers who plan to retire or leave their jobs in 2014.

"We want to make sure we are maintaining our police force, at a time when a lot of large cities have seen either layoffs or attrition," Mayor Barrett said.

It is unknown how many officers plan to retire next year.

Mayor Barrett and Chief Flynn have pointed out that in many large cities they aren't replacing those officers.

The Milwaukee Police Association says it is very happy with Mayor Barrett's announcement, but say there will need to be similar announcements in the coming years, as hundreds of officers are nearing retirement.