Milwaukee’s Office of Violence Prevention

I have written about the Milwaukee’s Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) in some of my past articles. As a matter of fact, I have attended some of the events they have held and everything to me appears to be very positive.  Its annual budget is $3.7 million dollars.  Through the American Rescue Act, it is now getting an additional $8.4 million dollars. Alderman state they want to see the resources deployed to help make Milwaukee safer. The director position was not renewed so there is an opening at this time.  Sources state a new director will be hired in the next several weeks sometime.  Alderman Bohl states “it is the administration’s intent to continue the work underway in the violence prevention office, while, at the same time, increasing the office’s responsiveness to changing demands and expectations in public safety”.

This office was started about 14 years ago to help the city cut down on shootings and save lives.  The Common Council’s Public Safety and Health Committee discussed the budget a few weeks ago.  Alderman Murphy said, “he wants to establish metrics or some way to evaluate the office’s work.  The leadership change comes as Milwaukee is seeing record homicides again.  Homicides are up 35 percent so far in 2022 according to Milwaukee police data.  OVA works with numerous community organizations.  Some of these individuals state people do not see all the good the organization is doing.  “I am shocked and concerned,” said Vaun Mayes, the founder of Community Task Force.  He continues, OVA has done a good job in the Sherman Park area.  Since their work there “they were part of bringing those calls down, which were up to five service calls a day, down to pretty much zero”, Mayes said.

“I don’t think Office of Violence Prevention has even made a dent in trying to prevent the violence that’s going on in Milwaukee,” community advocate Tory Lowe said.  “When you have areas that have a lot of violence and crime, you’re got to roll up your sleeves, get directly involved and build a bridge with the community to help them fight against what they’re dealing with in the neighborhoods,” he said.

As you can see there are many different opinions on how effective the organization is.  In my opinion the organization needs to be restructured and work a lot closer with the Milwaukee Police Department.  There is blame to go around for just about everyone but now is the time to work together to deal with our crime problem. We can get control of these issues if we pull together.