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Police show presence near UWM campus
Police show presence near UWM campus
MILWAUKEE -- School is in session, but on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus, some have already seen detention. Milwaukee police say levels of disorderly conduct in the UWM area are at an all-time high. In fact, the department calls it an epidemic.
"Already this week -- dumping their beer cans and Red Bull cans in my yard," Maureen Keyes told FOX6 News. Keyes is a neighbor who lives near campus and has seen the problems first hand.
"We're policing a neighborhood that is afflicted by a large number of adult-looking individuals who have no common sense," Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said.
Chief Flynn held MPD's roll call at the intersection of Cramer and Newberry Saturday -- in the city's Riverwest neighborhood. Chief Flynn addressed the rise of disorderly conduct calls fueled by alcohol.
"They have to understand the consequences for the behavior and these consequences have to be felt and experienced," Flynn said.
Flynn and MPD have a two-tiered mission. More officers will patrol near UWM to try and prevent college students from becoming victims of crime as a result of too much to drink. Officers will also help bring order to the campus neighborhoods.
"Drunken fools get mugged and drunken fools behave very badly in public and really make lives miserable for the people that have lovely houses. We'll be making arrests. We'll be issuing citations. We'll be giving verbal warnings," Chief Flynn said.
One UWM student said he hasn't particularly seen an uptick in rowdy behavior this school year. He says the move by MPD could send a message to students.
"Personally it hasn't been any different than any other year. It's just the same Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights. People are going to go out and party, but it's college, and it's a college neighborhood. If a lot of people get arrested I'm sure they'll calm down. They don't want to get arrested," Jeremy Pfaller, a senior at UWM said.