Mayor and Chief Pass the Buck to Madison

Crime in Milwaukee has been rampant and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Police Chief Flynn try to push the blame off on lawmakers in Madison. 

They want them to get tougher on crime and have mandatory minimum sentencing for Illegal possession of a firearm.

Looks like that move by the leadership of Milwaukee overlooks one glaring issue.  Milwaukee DA John Chisholm.

In a Right Wisconsin Story it appears that Madison wouldn't help when the DA doesn't even charge these cases: Right Wisconsin Story

Over the past two years, Milwaukee leaders have been making demands of state leaders to help them solve the city’s crime problem. One demand being made by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn is for a state law change requiring a 3-year mandatory sentence for illegally possessing a firearm. But while Barrett and Flynn continue to push for the mandatory minimum, a Media Trackers investigation shows that the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office may make their case for mandatory minimums a moot point.

In an open records request to the Milwaukee Police Department, Media Trackers requested information on all MPD police reports forwarded to the DA’s office with the recommended charge of “Possession of a Firearm by a Felon” – a felony under current law — during June, July and August of 2013. What Media Trackers found was that nearly half of those cases referred to the DA’s office by the MPD were never charged.

 

Of the 142 cases recommended for charges by the MPD between June and August of last summer, a year later Media Trackers was unable to locate any charge related to illegally possessing a firearm in 63 of those cases – a stunning 44.4% of the time – using WCCA.

 

In at least one case, Milwaukee DA John Chisholm’s office refused to charge a suspect with possession of a firearm as a felon in 2013 only to have the man charged with first degree intentional homicide a year later.