By the numbers: Flynn’s time as police chief Diversity in the police force
Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn retires Friday, marking the end of a 10-year career. Have crime rates fallen since he was appointed in 2008?
How has police funding changed? Has the police department improved diversity in its ranks?
Here’s a look at the numbers behind Flynn’s time as police chief:
A growing police budget
Over the past two decades city officials have dedicated a larger and larger portion of the city budget to the police department.
In 2000, roughly one-third of the general city purpose budget went to the the police department. The general city purpose budget excludes capital improvements, debt services and enterprise funds, like the parking department, which earns revenue from non-tax sources.
By the time Flynn became police chief in 2008, this share had grown to 38%.
Now, as Flynn leaves, almost half of the general city purpose budget is dedicated to the police department — 48% in 2017.
Much of this increase came in the final two years of Flynn’s tenure when the police budget increased by more than $50 million — from $249 to $302 million between 2015 and 2017.
Along with this influx of money, there have been a number of big changes to how the Milwaukee Police Department operates, including an increased focus on data-driven policing and a reorganization of the department’s structure.
How did these changes and a boost in the police budget affect the crime numbers for the city?
Crime rates
The rate of property crimes such as theft, burglary and arson declined 35% from 2008 to 2017.
This drop is largely because of a 49% decline in the theft rate, excluding auto thefts. While the number of car thefts is down from 2008, auto thefts spiked in 2014 and 2015 before decreasing again over the past two years. Over the same period of time, the rate of violent crime increased 9%. Violent crime includes aggravated assault, robbery, rape and murder.
While this increase was largely driven by a jump in aggravated assaults, the number of homicides has also grown significantly during Flynn’s tenure.
From 2008 to 2017, the homicide rate grew by 66%, from 12.1 to 20.0 homicides per 100,000 people.
This breaks with what has been a general downward trend in the homicide rate since the early 1990s, when the number of homicides spiked to historic levels.
When Flynn arrived in Milwaukee, the demographics of the police department did not mirror those of the city. In the 10 years since, little has changed.
In Milwaukee, 39% of residents are black or African-American. For sworn officers and command staff in the police department this figure is 18%; down from 20% in 2008 when Flynn was appointed police chief.
The percentage of Hispanic police officers grew slightly, from 11% in 2008 to 13% in 2015. The Hispanic population makes up 18% of Milwaukee residents.
Roughly 83% of police officers are men, a figure that’s been about the same since 2008.
Notes: The crime and homicide rates were calculated using population figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Census doesn’t publish population numbers for years between 1960, 1970, 1980 and 1990. Gaps were filled assuming population grew at a constant rate between these years. The budget figures are from the adopted budget plans. These figures may differ from earlier proposed plans and from the actual expenditures.