Number
191200
Version
ORIGINAL
Reference
Sponsor
ALD. DONOVAN
Title
Resolution appropriating $100,000 from the 2019 Common Council Contingent Fund for supplementing Police Department overtime expenditures.
Analysis
This resolution appropriates $100,000 from the 2019 Common Council Contingent Fund for supplementing Police Department overtime expenditures. The additional funding is intended to expand traffic enforcement activities.
Body
Whereas, Police Department street presence and traffic enforcement is a vital tool for encouraging drivers to operate their vehicles in a safe and responsible manner, and in removing unsafe drivers from City streets; and
Whereas, The Police Department has prioritized public education and safe-driving awareness by participating in the Reckless Driving Reduction Initiative, Take It EZ Milwaukee, directed patrol missions, participation in the Carjacking and Reckless Driving Task Force, the #Keep MKE Streets Safe campaign, billboards and other public awareness efforts; and
Whereas, Notwithstanding Police Department traffic enforcement and safe-driving awareness activities, incidents of reckless driving continue to endanger pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers on Milwaukee streets; and
Whereas, The rate of automobile accidents and hit-and-run crashes has increased dramatically in recent years, with the total number of automobile crashes in Milwaukee increasing 35% from 2013 to 2018, while over the same period the total number of hit-and-run crashes increasing 72%; and
Whereas, The Common Council desires to fund expanded traffic enforcement patrols by the Police Department to target the City’s most dangerous intersections and corridors to address reckless driving, speeding, red-light running and other traffic behaviors that endanger pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers in Milwaukee; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, By the Common Council of the City of Milwaukee, that $100,000 is reserved and appropriated from the 2019 Common Council Contingent Fund (0001-9990-C001-006300) for supplementing the Police Department overtime budget; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the proper City officials are authorized to establish the appropriate accounts or funds to expend these funds; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Chief of Police is urged to use the additional overtime funding to expand traffic enforcement activities in Milwaukee, particularly at those intersections and corridors identified by the Department as the most dangerous.
Requestor
Drafter
LRB175384-1
Dana J. Zelazny
October 29, 2019