MILWAUKEE — This week, TMJ4 launched a new series called Project: Drive Safer. It’s a joint effort with community partners to tackle reckless driving in Milwaukee. In this story, we’re focusing on reckless driving enforcement.
So far this year, the Milwaukee Police Department’s Traffic Safety Unit (T.S.U.) has given out nearly 10,000 traffic citations for all sorts of violations. But data shows fewer reckless driving citations are being issued now than the year before this specialized team was assembled.
"Now's the time to apply pressure to the reckless drivers, now's not the time to pull back,” said Jordan Morales.
Morales considers reckless driving the number one quality of life issue in Milwaukee and a constant problem in the Sherman Park neighborhood where he calls home.
While he’s pleased the Milwaukee Police Department launched the Traffic Safety Unit a year and a half ago to enhance reckless driving enforcement, he’s critical of the number of traffic citations they’re issuing.
"Right now we've hit a point where the traffic safety unit, their officers are issuing about two citations a day, each officer, each individual officer. And that's an officer that's supposed to be dedicated full time to traffic enforcement,” he said.
TMJ4 independently verified the average number of citations Morales cited was correct.
Milwaukee Police Captain Jeffrey Sunn says T.S.U. officers are focused on pulling over the worst reckless drivers in the city, not just handing out more traffic tickets.
"They may be stopping somebody going 15 miles over the limit and they're going to give them a warning and whatnot, but their ideal mission is to target the really egregious drivers,” Captain Sunn said.
This year, the Traffic Safety Unit has issued more than 1,600 citations for speeding at least 25 m.p.h. over the posted limit, that’s about three times more than the rest of the police force combined.
The team of approximately 18 patrol officers provides saturation patrols on a stretch of roadway several hours each day. Captain Sunn says those deployment areas are selected based on traffic statistics and aldermanic complaints.
"The normal calls for service that district squads handle, the Traffic Safety Unit doesn't have that kind of burden, they just deal with the reckless driving,” Captain Sunn explained.
MPD data shows The Traffic Safety Unit has issued about 140 reckless driving citations in 2022. The department as a whole has handed out just over 300 reckless driving tickets. That’s about a hundred fewer than this time in 2020 when the Traffic Safety Unit didn’t exist. Morales thinks that’s a problem.
"Is 300 reckless driving tickets indicative of a public safety crisis? No, not really over a year's time,” Morales said. “I think they should be issuing more of that ticket specifically because I think that's a weightier ticket compared to speeding."
Captain Sunn says MPD considers four traffic violations the most egregious forms of reckless driving. Not just the reckless driving citation itself, but also fleeing police, racing, and speeding 25 over the limit.
When they’re all combined, the department has issued about 900 more of those tickets this year compared to this time in 2020.
Captain Sunn says reckless driving enforcement will increase if more people are part of the solution.
"We'll take any kind of information you can give us in regards to the type of driving, license plate, and a description of the vehicle."
The Traffic Safety Unit’s deployment calendar can be found on its website, MPDTSU.org. People are encouraged to file complaints about reckless driving incidents they see on the website as well.
