“But a lot of the crime on the East Side is drunken students taking stuff out of your yard, whereas in Riverwest there’s a potential for it to be more serious.”
Jeanette Brickner, UWM student and Riverwest resident

The Riverwest neighborhood is a haven for those off the beaten path. Restored homes, galleries, salons, acupuncturists, coffeehouses, thrift stores and taverns dot the streets of this trendy Milwaukee neighborhood.

Riverwest did not always bear such an image. Quite the opposite, in fact; housing was low quality and much of the neighborhood was unsafe. According to police, drug houses, theft, robbery and assault were rampant.

Now, housing is of a higher quality and much of the neighborhood — bordered by Capitol Drive on the north, the Milwaukee River on the east and south, and Holton Street on the west — has been transformed into a safer place, police and residents said. The crime rate has also improved.

There was generally no increase in crime in the last year, but there were spikes around holiday times, said Bruce Scott, community liaison for Milwaukee Police Department District Five.

Many students choose to live in Riverwest for the less expensive housing and different environment the neighborhood provides.

“I moved to Riverwest after living on the East Side for two years,” said Jeanette Brickner, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student and Riverwest resident. “It’s a lot cheaper, and it’s actually more of a tight-knit community.”

Brickner said that the crime in Riverwest is comparable to that on the East Side, but she believes more severe crimes happen in the neighborhood.

“Crime is actually about the same (as it is on the East Side),” she said. “I would say it’s actually worse from my own experiences. But a lot of the crime on the East Side is drunken students taking stuff out of your yard, whereas in Riverwest there’s a potential for it to be more serious.”

Scott said Milwaukee police welcome help from the community.

“What makes police work work is community involvement,” he said. “We need the community to help us.”

In particular, the Milwaukee Police Department wants to establish better relations with the students, Scott said.

To that end, the police department has been trying to find a student for an internship program.

“It’s an accredited program that has been approved by the university,” Scott said. “All we’re looking for is a liaison between the police departments and the students living off campus so we can inform and educate the students as to what’s going on in their neighborhoods.”

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