Mayor wants landlord registration, parent consent for gun searches
Madison police would enlist parental permission to search for guns in their children?s bedrooms in one part of a multifaceted plan outlined Thursday by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.
The search and seizure proposal is one of a long list initiatives ? some new and some old ? that Cieslewicz wants examined in the wake of a sharp increase in gun violence on the south and west sides of Madison this year.
?We?ve got to be tough,? Cieslewicz said. ?We?ve got to pull every enforcement lever we have to deal with people who deal drugs and people who fire guns.?
It won?t work without contributions from community leaders, clergy and landlords, he said.
Utilizing parental consent to a search instead of a search warrant approved by a judge is a way to move quickly ? before the guns can do damage ? when police are tipped off to the location of a weapon in the hands of a juvenile.
A key to making it work is recruiting active support from neighborhood elders, clergy and other leaders to help police persuade parents to permit searches, said Michael Scott, director of the UW-Madison Center for Problem-Oriented Policing.
Scott was a St. Louis Police Department administrator in 1993 when the department adopted a similar program. As part of the deal with parents, when guns were found, there was no prosecution, except in extreme cases where the guns had already been used in serious crimes, Scott said.
?It makes getting guns out of the hands of kids the highest priority, an even higher priority than prosecution,? Scott said.
Wray has said that the community must break through a ?no-snitch? culture made up of people who won?t report wrongdoers to police.
?His interest is to connect in particular with young, African-American males and have some impact so that they can come to the table and understand the ethics and values of this community,? said Police Department spokesman Joel DeSpain. ?We have to find those people in the community who can really get the ear of the young people.?
Part of the problem lies with individuals and families who sometimes live in bigger cities and sometimes live here, he said.
On June 9, a day after police held a news conference asking the public for help controlling rapidly increasing gun incidents, 17-year-old Karamee Collins Jr. was shot and killed on Leland Drive in the Meadowood neighborhood.
On Thursday, classmates of Collins from Memorial High School were hanging out at West Towne Mall where they talked about the shooting, gang activity in school and an influx of residents from Chicago where violence is a more common occurrence.
Michelle Tazifua, who will be a sophomore in the fall, said parents allowing police searches would only breed mistrust within families and wouldn?t solve the problem.
?If my mom went through my stuff without my permission, I would be upset,? Tazifua said. ?If you have something to say, just say it. Don?t hide stuff because the situation will get worse and worse.?
Weston Tran, who will be a senior at Madison West High School, said there should be more laws banning guns. He agreed with the idea of parental-consent searches. ?I don?t have anything to hide from my parents,? he said.
Chris Ahmuty, director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Wisconsin, said consent searches can present pitfalls, including higher risk of racial profiling. ?Policing may not sacrifice constitutional rights for convenience?s sake.?
This year?s sudden surge in violence echoes events of two years ago. At that time, a series of homicides exposed broad neighborhood concerns about offenses such as loitering and loud music. After a series of heated public meetings, the city added 30 positions to the Police Department.
Cieslewicz said the city will continue to strengthen public safety, but another surge in police numbers isn?t the answer.
?Any experience in any city around the country would tell you you don?t solve the problem of crime by flooding the area with police, because you can?t do it forever, and it just pushes the people who are causing problems to other places in the city,? he said.
Cieslewicz wants the police chief to convene a multi-jurisdictional task force targeting gun violence and those suspected of contributing to it.
Other parts of the mayor?s plan are intended to build on existing neighborhood efforts and city initiatives to monitor neighborhoods and deploy police to problem areas.
Neighborhood groups, the city departments of civil rights and community services would be involved along with landlords, churches and neighborhood associations, according to a three-page outline of the plan.
Cieslewicz also is calling for a program under which landlords would register their properties and provide contact information for a local person responsible for each property.
Absentee landlords and apartment owners who don?t screen out troublemakers are considered a major factor in neighborhood crime.
?We?ve made progress, but not enough progress when we witness what?s happened in the last few weeks,? Cieslewicz said. ?We have one of the safest cities in America, but it doesn?t feel that way if you are in a particular neighborhood where crime is up.?
Madison police would enlist parental permission to search for guns in their children?s bedrooms in one part of a multifaceted plan outlined Thursday by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.
The search and seizure proposal is one of a long list initiatives ? some new and some old ? that Cieslewicz wants examined in the wake of a sharp increase in gun violence on the south and west sides of Madison this year.
?We?ve got to be tough,? Cieslewicz said. ?We?ve got to pull every enforcement lever we have to deal with people who deal drugs and people who fire guns.?
It won?t work without contributions from community leaders, clergy and landlords, he said.
Utilizing parental consent to a search instead of a search warrant approved by a judge is a way to move quickly ? before the guns can do damage ? when police are tipped off to the location of a weapon in the hands of a juvenile.
A key to making it work is recruiting active support from neighborhood elders, clergy and other leaders to help police persuade parents to permit searches, said Michael Scott, director of the UW-Madison Center for Problem-Oriented Policing.
Scott was a St. Louis Police Department administrator in 1993 when the department adopted a similar program. As part of the deal with parents, when guns were found, there was no prosecution, except in extreme cases where the guns had already been used in serious crimes, Scott said.
?It makes getting guns out of the hands of kids the highest priority, an even higher priority than prosecution,? Scott said.
Wray has said that the community must break through a ?no-snitch? culture made up of people who won?t report wrongdoers to police.
?His interest is to connect in particular with young, African-American males and have some impact so that they can come to the table and understand the ethics and values of this community,? said Police Department spokesman Joel DeSpain. ?We have to find those people in the community who can really get the ear of the young people.?
Part of the problem lies with individuals and families who sometimes live in bigger cities and sometimes live here, he said.
On June 9, a day after police held a news conference asking the public for help controlling rapidly increasing gun incidents, 17-year-old Karamee Collins Jr. was shot and killed on Leland Drive in the Meadowood neighborhood.
On Thursday, classmates of Collins from Memorial High School were hanging out at West Towne Mall where they talked about the shooting, gang activity in school and an influx of residents from Chicago where violence is a more common occurrence.
Michelle Tazifua, who will be a sophomore in the fall, said parents allowing police searches would only breed mistrust within families and wouldn?t solve the problem.
?If my mom went through my stuff without my permission, I would be upset,? Tazifua said. ?If you have something to say, just say it. Don?t hide stuff because the situation will get worse and worse.?
Weston Tran, who will be a senior at Madison West High School, said there should be more laws banning guns. He agreed with the idea of parental-consent searches. ?I don?t have anything to hide from my parents,? he said.
Chris Ahmuty, director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Wisconsin, said consent searches can present pitfalls, including higher risk of racial profiling. ?Policing may not sacrifice constitutional rights for convenience?s sake.?
This year?s sudden surge in violence echoes events of two years ago. At that time, a series of homicides exposed broad neighborhood concerns about offenses such as loitering and loud music. After a series of heated public meetings, the city added 30 positions to the Police Department.
Cieslewicz said the city will continue to strengthen public safety, but another surge in police numbers isn?t the answer.
?Any experience in any city around the country would tell you you don?t solve the problem of crime by flooding the area with police, because you can?t do it forever, and it just pushes the people who are causing problems to other places in the city,? he said.
Cieslewicz wants the police chief to convene a multi-jurisdictional task force targeting gun violence and those suspected of contributing to it.
Other parts of the mayor?s plan are intended to build on existing neighborhood efforts and city initiatives to monitor neighborhoods and deploy police to problem areas.
Neighborhood groups, the city departments of civil rights and community services would be involved along with landlords, churches and neighborhood associations, according to a three-page outline of the plan.
Cieslewicz also is calling for a program under which landlords would register their properties and provide contact information for a local person responsible for each property.
Absentee landlords and apartment owners who don?t screen out troublemakers are considered a major factor in neighborhood crime.
?We?ve made progress, but not enough progress when we witness what?s happened in the last few weeks,? Cieslewicz said. ?We have one of the safest cities in America, but it doesn?t feel that way if you are in a particular neighborhood where crime is up.?
