The Madison Police Department held the first of many community meetings Monday regarding the Downtown Safety Initiative since the City Council approved the $100,000 budget in early February.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's safety initiative calls for police to receive aid in fighting downtown crime. WiFi cameras and increased police foot patrol are the two main areas the initiative is set to target.
Still, city officials and Madison residents did not hear much in the way of cameras and officers Monday night. Instead they were shown numerous statistics and charts about results of crime in Madison. Central District Commander Mary Schauf compared January 2006 to Januaries over the previous seven years, and her data showed that most crimes occur in the State Street/Langdon Street area.
""We are going to be watching these trends and patterns, and this is what the initiative is about—it's really kind of exciting,"" Schauf said. ""We want to use information to drive operation.""
The majority of the $100,000 will be allotted to extra cops—especially in areas on campus—but more officers will not be implemented until 2008 because police want to compile data from this year to see the different trends that develop around Madison.
Schauf said the goal of Monday's meeting and future meetings is to inform the community about the progress of the initiative and also to serve as a ""reality check"" about the levels of crime in Madison.
In addition to crime levels, Madison Police Lt. Joe Balles said alcohol use also needs to be addressed. He said that crime is usually lower in winter months and the rates will gradually increase as the weather improves.
""Alcohol is going to be a big issue in the next month,"" he said.
Balles also said he worries the Badgers' trip to the NCAA basketball tournament and St. Patrick's Day falling on Saturdays may increase alcohol consumption and thus increase crime levels in March.
Schauf agreed that alcohol plays a central role in crime—especially sexual assaults. She noted trends in sexual assaults including assault by an acquaintance, alcohol involvement and the fourth-degree ""grab and grope,"" which Schauf said is a common offense in Madison bars.
Nicole DeMotto, a crime analyst for MPD, compiled data from various police reports for the meeting in order to show crime density in downtown Madison. She found more sexual assaults were reported in January 2006 compared to January 2005, but overall the statistics remained steady.
However, Schauf noted that of all the crimes that occur in Madison, sexual assaults are the ""most underreported crime.""
