Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman to combat summer violence by reviving neighborhood plan

The Milwaukee Police Department has revived an initiative that places special units in targeted neighborhoods to respond to incidents, including ShotSpotter alerts, with the intent to have quicker response times during the summer.

Chief Jeffrey Norman called the program Operation Summer Guardian 2.0 at a news conference Wednesday.

Here's what is new this summer:

What is Operation Summer Guardian?

Launched last year, Operation Summer Guardian is the department's latest attempt to combat violence in neighborhoods that have a high frequency of gunfire, particularly during the summer.

Norman said the department worked with the Medical College of Wisconsin to "enhance" the initiative for this summer, which started July 1.

Last year, special units already in the targeted neighborhoods would respond to ShotSpotter alerts. That will continue this summer, but special units now will also respond to calls for fatal and non-fatal shootings, and shots-fired incidents.

Unlike police officers on patrol and responding to calls for service, these special units are specifically assigned to the neighborhood, leading to quicker response times, which increases the likelihood of finding a suspect or helping a victim, Norman said.

Part of the initiative encourages community policing

Police officers are encouraged to spend time outside of police vehicles and engage with the community, Norman said. The police department also will be distributing door hangers to residents to alert people to an increased police presence in the area.

"Understand that this is not about being an occupational force. ... As a department, we are information-driven. No one wants to share information (with someone) they don't have a relationship with," Norman said.

"It's about that our officers come in with the right mindset, the right attitude that those living in those neighborhoods want you there. They just want you there in the right way."

Norman said the department will be conducting surveys throughout the targeted neighborhoods.

There will be a renewed focus on enforcing curfew

This year's initiative will have a renewed focus on enforcing curfew, which is 11 p.m. for minors, and "parental responsibilities," Norman said. In recent years, there has been a troubling trend in Milwaukee of suspects and victims under age 18.

"If your child is out after hours without a valid reason and is involved in an incident, we will cite you," Norman said.

Though Norman wasn't able to provide how many parents were cited last year, he said this is the department's attempt to use all tools.

"Many of our young ones are out after curfew. They're engaged in behaviors that, if they weren't out there, they would not be a victim of or a suspect in," he said. "But also understanding that we need the collaboration with the parents. ... We're making the plea."

Where will the initiative take place?

Norman said Operation Summer Guardian 2.0 will take place in Police Districts 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7.

There are 27 neighborhoods participating: Amani, Arlington Heights, Borchert Field, Fairfield, Forest Home Hills, Franklin Heights, Hampton Heights, Historic Mitchell Street, Lincoln Creek, Lincoln Village, Metcalfe Park, Midtown, Muskego Way, North Division, Old North Milwaukee, Roosevelt Grove, Saint Joseph’s, Sherman Park, Silver Swan, Sunset Heights, Thurston Woods, Triangle North, Valhalla, Wahl Park, Walker’s Point, Walnut Hill and Washington Park.

How effective was the initiative in 2022?

The department has said last summer's program went well and provided preliminary data in March. The data shows that, during 88% of those deployments, there were no gun-shot detections in the targeted neighborhoods, and the department reported fewer homicides and nonfatal shootings in those areas overall.

At Wednesday's news conference, Norman didn't share the complete data, but said a study from the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission should be released at a later date.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee police restart Operation Summer Guardian anti-violence plan