Crime in Milwaukee decreased for an eighth consecutive quarter, but Police Chief Edward Flynn cautioned that the downward trend could be slowed or reversed by the struggling economy and the early release of some prisoners, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Reported crime fell 7.2 percent in 2009 when compared with the previous year and 11.9 percent when compared with 2007.
While crime has steadily decreased locally and nationally, there is a possibility that the recession’s full effect on crime has not been felt, said criminologist Richard Rosenfeld of the University of Missouri-St. Louis. “What we may be seeing here is simply a delayed response to the current recession, so we may well see increases in (some) crimes over time,” Rosenfeld said. “Thus far, we haven’t seen across-the-board increases, so only time will tell.”