GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Is crime on the rise and are certain properties to blame? That is what one Green Bay alderman wants to know about a neighborhood in his west-side district.
Alderman Chris Wery says he wants crime data for Western Avenue and Admiral Court.
It comes after two high-profile incidents on those streets last month.
On April 7th, Green Bay Police K-9, Pyro, was stabbed during a high-risk call in the 1300 block of Western Avenue.
On April 26th, police say a 46-year-old man died in their custody after they had to use a Taser on him on Shirley Street. Police say before that, the man was pounding on doors and chasing people on Admiral Court.
“Right after the police dog incident is when it started bubbling up and then after the gentleman had the issue on Shirley, then the cries came louder saying ‘hey, what’s going on?’” said Wery.
Wery tells FOX 11 he wants data like the number of police calls, type of calls, and what addresses police are frequenting.
“I’d like to look at the data and see is there a spike?” Is there something going on? Are there landlords maybe not doing their jobs? Is there something we can proactively do or now do to combat this?”
Police Commander Kevin Warych tells FOX 11 the P-D has already had one meeting with concerned neighbors last week.
“We talked about perception versus crime. Though crime could be decreasing, people’s perception could be increasing.”
Warych says he needs to look at the data from those streets but says from his personal knowledge, he knows there is a high number of calls to that area.
“When there is high call volume in a designated part of the city, it’s going to cause concern. We as a police department are conscious of that, so we’ll deploy our resources. Our community policing officers will be there, we’ll spend some more discretionary time in those areas. For one, we deter crime, and two, we’re managing the perceptions so people feel safe.”
“They’re doing as much as they can, what a cop can do,” said Melvin Kluth of Green Bay.
Kluth has lived on Western Avenue for 45 years. He says he feels safe, and police are doing well in all but one area.
“What we have a problem with are the speeders.”.
Kluth admits to seeing a lot of police activity on the other end of his street. He hopes a crime study will help, and expose the fast drivers to police at the same time.
Alderman Wery’s request for a study is expected to be taken up at a city committee meeting next week.
As for the high-profile incidents, Pyro has been on the road to recovery, and the Appleton Police Department is investigating the incident where the man died in Green Bay Police’s custody.
