MADISON, Wis. — A group of fed up community members are demanding the city do something about the burglaries, break ins, shootings and car thefts in their neighborhoods sharing those concerns with Madison officials Saturday morning.
Bonnie Roe organized the event Neighborhood Safety Conversation at Elver Park after feeling frustrated she wasn’t able to share her concerns on local crime at city meetings.
“It became clear to me that there’s just not a place,” Roe said. “I wasn’t finding a place to voice my concerns about safety and gun violence and stuff at these city meetings because when you go you have to speak on the agenda items or nothing.”
Many of her neighbors shared her concerns and aired their grievances to west side Alders, the Deputy Mayor Linda Vakunta, and the Chief of Police Shon Barnes.
“If our community does not feel safe that is a big worry for me it’s a big worry for our department,” said Barnes.
Barnes also said a big part of making people safe is addressing the difference between fear of crime and actual crime.
He said while these reported crimes are concerning, most crimes, with the exception of car thefts, are actually down this year compared to last.
Barnes also admitted he could use more staff and when it comes to policing his officers can only do so much.
“There’s times in this city where we’re busy with priority calls and we can’t get to some of those smaller non-priority calls,” he said.
Barnes then echoed suggestions from the group to stay vigilant and intervene when they see suspicious behavior so long as it’s safe.
“We need to establish a community where everyone is a police officer and everyone works towards the good of the community,” he said.
As for concerns this could lead to profiling he said there wasn’t any.
“What is it about the behavior? Not what is it about the person?” he added. “What leads to profiling is when you call based on the person, but behaviors are different.”
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