Stolen Cars Issue in Milwaukee

What happens if your car gets stolen in or around Milwaukee?  Don't ask.

It all started with a TV News investigation of a man who got his car stolen from a Milwaukee suburb.  He reported it stolen.  He got the call that they had found his car, it was totaled and he needed to come have it towed away from the accident scene.  Then weeks later he was hit with a past due parking ticket from when it was stolen.  That is when the story really took off.  The parking ticket was issued while the car was stolen.  He had to send in proof that the car was stolen.  The bigger question was why wasn't the car taken when they issued the ticket? It had been reported stolen.

Well here is where we found out something that we didn't know.  In Milwaukee, the parking checkers only have a list of cars reported stolen in Milwaukee, not the suburbs.  What?  With the technology we have today they only have Milwaukee?  Yep,  that is what the DPW says.  They claim that the handhelds that the parking checkers use doesn't have enough space to hold the database required.  So we can afford a $120+ Million street car, but can't even get the technology to help stop car theft?

Then the story went to a local radio talk show and boy did things really become pretty clear of how car theft is handled in the city of Milwaukee.  Basically if your car is stolen good luck and go get a new one.

The radio show was call after call from people who talked about their stolen car stories.  Multiple reports of cars stolen and ticketed by the Parking checkers, some even stolen in the city of Milwaukee.  Guess the database in the handhelds couldn't even handle the Milwaukee stolen car list. 

What was even worse was the apparent low priority the Milwaukee Police put on car theft.  Many of the callers reported that when they were notified of the tickets they were able to go find their cars.  However the Milwaukee Police never responded and even in some cases told the victims to use their spare keys and go get the car themselves.  Really?

The are several things that the story really made crystal clear.  Milwaukee has a car theft issue, 21 cars reported stolen just a couple of days ago.  If you steal a car from the suburbs you can cruise around Milwaukee without much worry of being caught.  Lastly if you get your car stolen, good luck and don't wait for that call that they have your car, they really aren't looking for it.

I know the Milwaukee Police probably have a lot more important things on their plate than stolen cars.  However I keep hearing about all this money that we need to spend to make Milwaukee a destination for the new younger and hipper worker.  I am pretty sure that having a lower crime rate is one of them.