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I should feel safe
Criminal activity in neighborhood should be addressed
By Mary Franzen
This is getting bad, ladies and gentlemen, and it seems like nothing is being done about it.
One night not too long ago, I was drunk, (and that is an important point). I walked out of my house at about 3 a.m. after I heard a commotion outside. I stayed on my porch and saw a group of guys yelling.
The guy in the middle of the group was holding a rather large kitchen knife. In my drunkenness I yelled, “If that’s a knife that’s not fing funny.” One of the guys yelled back, “You know what’s not funny? My buddy just got a fing gun to his head, they took his wallet.”
Feeling stupid, I turned around and went back inside. I woke up the next morning with plans, ideas if you will, on how to keep my neighborhood a little safer; because, to be honest, people are far more vulnerable and far braver when they are drunk. This is a seriously bad mix if someone else has a gun.
I started to make signs that said “Effective Now: The Milwaukee District 5 police will be placing under-covers walking alone or in groups around the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus.” This was in order to scare any suspecting muggers away from students.
Then I thought again and decided that I was hung over and this idea should set for awhile. After all, everyone knows how much cops love it when you upstage them.
All of a sudden I realized that I had no idea what kind of action the cops are taking. I live basically at the epicenter of crime around campus (at about Cramer and Newberry, give or take a block). I haven’t seen any increase in the patrol cars or bike cops around my house, and that is ridiculous.
This is getting bad, ladies and gentlemen, and it seems like nothing is being done about it. If something IS being done, I should be able to see it.
Everyone should be able to feel safe in their neighborhood. The cops should be doing their job: protecting and serving.
We aren’t dumb college students, but we can be drunk college students. And even if you are under 21 that doesn’t make this your fault; preventing crime is not our responsibility.
There are people who get paid for this - the women and men in blue should make me feel a little safer walking home at night on a well-lit street.
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