If you can recall in the past, we have talked about homicides and reckless driving as being two of the items we need to get a handle on in the new year. There are discussions going on right now about ways to cut down on reckless driving. In Madison, some of the Milwaukee representatives, have again proposed letting our city have red light cameras. In addition, they want to raise the ticket amount on some citations. I believe the proposal on red light cameras has been brought up a few times but has not been approved by the legislature so far. Milwaukee officials think the fines being raised could be helpful in the fight to curb bad driving. Another conceivable way to help came out of City Hall on this past Tuesday according to the news.
Some of the officials at City Hall on Tuesday were discussing another way to slow down traffic during the nighttime hours. News reports show that council member want to have all traffic lights to flash red from 10pm to 6am every day. The premise is that if you come to a four way stop with flashing red traffic lights, everyone should stop and look in all directions before proceeding. The thought is most people will stop and proceed with caution after taking a good look. Mayor Johnson was asked what did he think about this idea? He responded I am willing to look at all ideas to see what works. There are some concerns that some busy intersections need to have traffic lights working mostly all night. This idea will be studied by a city agency before any official policy change is taken.
Stopping and/or slowing down homicides is a very tough thing to do. What is more controllable is increasing the clearance rate on these crimes? With a low clearance rate there are some people getting away with murder. People that commit homicide and get away with it are more likely to do it again. Talking with ex homicide detectives on what worked in the past gave me a few tips. For one thing they advised me that the personnel have been cut in the division that works on homicides. Back then they worked on a homicide on all three shifts around the clock which made it more solvable. When there are these joint federal/state/city large sting arrests it helps many times to solve several homicides. The suspects are facing large prison time, and some will bargain to cut down on their time in prison. They would say something like I can give you who committed two homicides for less time. Usually if this person themselves were not involved it might be possible to make a deal. During the murder mob gang round up about 8 to 9 murders were solved.
Another thing is officers need to have good informants out on the street to give them information. Back when we did enforce and arrest prostitutes many of them gave crucial information on crimes they knew about. Some people also know criminals but are not criminals themselves. These people will help sometimes but you must protect them and not reveal their identity. Let us hope we can better police both these issues in this new year.