Violent crime in Milwaukee for the first quarter of 2010 is down nearly 16 percent compared with the same period last year and 40.2 percent compared with 2007, says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Police Chief Edward Flynn cited three factors: police use of real-time crime data to monitor trends and form deployment strategies; an increased police presence in high-crime neighborhoods, and improved collaboration between the department’s detective and patrol bureaus, which operated relatively independently of each other until recent years.
“One always takes a chance when you try to explain crime trends specifically,” Flynn said. “I don’t have a PhD. I know I am announcing a correlation with our efforts. I can’t prove causation.” FBI data from cities across the U.S. has shown a decrease. While many might assume that crime increases during difficult economic times, little evidence exists to support the theory, law enforcement officials and criminologists have said.