GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The Green Bay Police Department is stepping up enforcement in a west side park after hearing concerns from neighbors.
The extra focus comes after Alderman Chris Wery requested a crime study in May for the area surrounding Colburn Park and on Western Avenue between Oneida and Taylor Streets.
Lt. Steve Mahoney tells FOX 11 police are installing cameras at Colburn Park, will place its armored ‘Armadillo’ vehicle in the parking lot and have officers frequent the area more often.
“We had some homeless people in the park, some drug usage in the park, intoxicated people in the park, issues like that in the park after hours.”
Neighbors raised their concerns in the spring. That’s the same time Wery asked for his crime analysis for the park area and Western Avenue.
The month prior, police K-9 Pyro was stabbed in the 1300 block of Western Ave. In another incident, a 46-year-old man died in police custody after a Taser was used on him near Colburn Park.
“There’s some data and perception that if there is an issue on Western Avenue, whoever is causing the problem is running or trying to evade they head towards the Colburn Park area because it is a wooded area,” said Mahoney.
The police department’s numbers show police calls went up for four straight years in the area surrounding Colburn before lowering slightly last year.
On Western Avenue, police numbers show a Milwaukee-area couple owns five of the top 10 properties for police calls.
However, Mahoney says the number of apartment units the couple is responsible for is more of a reason for the high numbers rather than poor management.
“Just because there is a high volume of police calls, it doesn’t automatically mean we will start a nuisance abatement program. If they are willing to work with us and let us alleviate the problems, alleviate the crime, make the area a nicer place, we want to work with them instead of always issuing citations or billing them for our services.”
Police say they continue to work with neighbors to make sure any concerns are being addressed.
