In mid fall, the City of Madison Police Department (MPD) held five community hearings about police staffing. I attended one of those meetings, found it very informative and am writing this column to share some of what I learned. The purpose of the hearings was to discuss issues related to police staffing, with a focus on services and costs.  Such hearings have been held in the past (e.g. one was held approximately five years ago), but this fall was the first time that citizen input was invited.  In this article I will describe current MPD staffing and then describe suggestions that were made for change that were raised during the hearings.

 

Current MPD Structure and Staffing

 

The MPD has five Districts – North, East, South, West, and Central.  The Tenney Lapham Neighborhood falls within the Central District, a district that stretches (roughly) from the Yahara River to the west edge of the University campus, and from Lake Mendota to Lake Monona and Monroe Street.

 

The overall structure of the MPD is relatively straightforward.  The city budget authorizes the MPD to have 382 law enforcement officers, inclusive of the Chief. The Chief (Williams) has two Assistant Chiefs.  One of those Assistants is Noble Ray who is responsible for operations and the other is Chuck Cole who is responsible for support activities.  To over-simplify somewhat, “operations” refers to reactive and proactive police activities that are required to maintain peace and community relations, while “support” refers to duties related to traffic regulation, parking enforcement, and administrative services.  For the rest of this column I will be focusing on operations, reserving a discussion of support for a future column.

 

On the operations side, each district has one captain and two lieutenants.  In the Central District, we have Captain Luis Yudice and Lieutenants Sue Williams and Mary Schauf.  In addition, each District has at least one Sergeant on each shift, and at least two detectives on the first (7am to 3pm) and second (3pm to 11pm) shifts. Most districts also have neighborhood officers, and educational resource officers.

 

Finally, all districts have Patrol (Beat) Officers.  There are 78 beats in the MPD, 20 of which are in the Central District, and 3 of which fall specifically within TLNA territory.  In order to cover one beat for 24 hours, six officers are needed. Said another way, to cover a beat 24 hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week, given the necessity of allowing days off and vacations, 6 officers are needed to have at least one officer on the beat at all times.  It is important to know that Patrol Officers do not necessarily “walk” a beat and are, in fact, likely to spend most of their time in a patrol car so that they can respond rapidly and effectively to calls for assistance.  The minimum number of Patrol Officers covering the City of Madison is 20 at 1pm, 31 at 5pm, and 23 at 5am.

 

“Neighborhood officers” are officers who walk the streets of a selected, usually high-problem area. These officers know the people, issues, and history of a neighborhood on a first hand basis.  Such officers are not in great supply, even though it appears from discussion at the hearings that they are in great demand. There are only 15 neighborhood officers in Madison. The Central District has four -- one for Langdon Street, one for State Street, one for the Bassett Neighborhood, one for Williamson Street.

 

The final staffing issue of note is that the Central District has no secretarial support.  Rather, officers answer telephone calls, type reports, and do filing.

 

Figure 1.

MPD staffing: Facts for 1996 and 2001.

 

 

                 1996

                2001

Percent Change

Population of Madison

            200,814

           208,217

      3.7%

Number of calls needing police service

            139,519

          151,595

      8.7%

Authorized police strength (Number authorized by the city budget)

                   350

                 382

      9.1%

Number of detectives in the MPD

                     46

                   53

      15%

 

 

Areas of concern & Suggestions for Change

 

Citizen input at the Central District hearing fell into three areas – separating State Street from the rest of the Central District, adding a TLNA Neighborhood Officer, and beefing up traffic calming efforts.

 

The idea of separating State Street from the rest of the District came about for several reasons.  First, it was acknowledged that State Street consumes the vast portion of the MPD resources that are allocated to the Central District. This is, in part, due to the large number of bars and the density of the population in the State Street area.  The most common law enforcement needs in TLNA relate to noise and vandalism, problems that tend to arise when bars close.  This is precisely the time when most officers are consumed with problems on State Street, leaving little coverage for Tenney Lapham. In the past the MPD has had little interest in separating State Street from the rest of the District, but it was pointed out that the construction of the new Arts Center affords an opportunity to reconsider whether the State Street area should be considered as a district separate from the rest of the Central District. 

 

The second idea -- having a neighborhood officer -- is something that many TLNA residents have wanted for a long time.  As mentioned above, TLNA problems often revolve around drunken, rowdy behaviors (noise, vandalism, graffiti) that occur primarily at bar time, and many residents have wished for enhanced police presence at those times.  TLNA residents have also voiced the idea that many disturbances come from residents of a few “problem” or “nuisance” houses.  It is felt that a neighborhood officer would be able to generate relationships with landlords and tenants alike with an increased effectiveness in dealing with these nuisance houses.

 

The third idea -- traffic calming -- is again something that many TLNA residents have wanted for a long time.  It is also something that many residents have been actively involved in promoting.  There seems to be some progress in dealing with this problem on some side streets, although even on side streets there is much room for improvement.  The major thoroughfares, such a Gorham and Johnson, remain very problematic. 

 

What do you think?

What Safety problems in TLNA need attention?  What are your ideas about solutions for ongoing problems? 

-Sandy Ward,

TLNA Safety Committee

sward@facstaff.wisc.edu

 

 

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