'We have to do something differently': City leaders address rising rate of carjackings, break-ins in Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE — A major rise in car break-ins has the community asking for answers. On Friday, Milwaukee city leaders addressed what is being done to fix the rise in crime.

In the last month alone, the city has seen a 30% jump in car break-ins — and that’s only counting the incidents that have been reported to police.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson, alongside representatives from MPD and the Common Council, came to the table to address the issue.

Officials are asking for residents to report any and all crimes they see and to be careful storing their belongings in their cars.

“I’m going to call on strict accountability, strict accountability on those criminal actions,” said Mayor Johnson.

The mayor emphasized that residents, specifically, should not leave any firearms inside vehicles.

Watch: City leaders address rising rate of carjackings, break-ins in Milwaukee

City leaders address car-related crimes

“If you are a gun owner, do not leave your gun in the car. Thieves are often looking for weapons to steal and then go and perpetuate crimes in other parts of the city.”

Milwaukee Police Inspector, David Feldmeier, says MPD is allocating more resources to address the crime concerns in the city.

“We are following up on several leads in the downtown area on carjacking, and auto thefts and we are constantly looking for more information.”

Feldmeier said most reports are of groups of teens breaking into these cars.

Common Council President Jose Perez called for changes in the juvenile justice system to keep young people from repeating the same crimes over and over again.

“We have to create a better accountability method for all the entities— probation, parole, the court system,” said Perez. “Everyone involved, we gotta step it up and we gotta do something differently. It can’t be business as usual because that’s gotten us to the point that we’re at now.”

According to MPD, there were 24 arrests for entry to locked vehicles and 135 arrests for carjacking from January 1, 2024, to August 15, 2024.

There were 267 carjackings and 2,047 entries to autos from January 1 to August 15 in 2023, compared to 337 carjackings and 1,878 entries to autos in 2024 during the same period.

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