Strategies to Stop Crime Before It Starts By U.S. Senator Russ Feingold June 19, 2007 The heart-wrenching stories of children in Milwaukee becoming victims of violent crime have taken a toll on the entire Milwaukee community. When a little girl like Jasmine Owens can be killed by a drive-by shooter while skipping rope in her own front yard, no one can feel truly safe. Tragic deaths like that of Jasmine Owens are part of a significant increase in crime in Milwaukee. According to a recent report released by the Police Executive Research Forum, Milwaukee's homicide rates have increased by 17 percent, robbery rates by 39 percent, and aggravated assault by 85 percent in the past 2 years. When it comes to increasing crime rates, Milwaukee isn’t alone. A 2005 FBI Uniform Crime Report showed a startling increase in violent crime nationwide, reporting the largest percent increase in violent crime in 14 years. And a preliminary FBI report suggests that violent crime continued to rise in 2006. This isn’t just a local problem, and it can’t be fully addressed with just local resources. It is the federal government’s responsibility to step in and help. I’m a strong supporter of the Byrne and COPS federal grant programs to provide resources to state and local officials for community policing and other crime-fighting strategies, and I will continue to push for full funding of those programs. But we also need to think about how we can prevent crimes from happening in the first place, and avoid future tragedies like the ones that have struck Milwaukee’s neighborhoods. To prevent crime, it will take everyone in the community -- schools, community organizations, police officers and others – working together to reduce violence. And one question communities face is figuring out which crime prevention strategies will work best. There is information available about a range of different strategies, but no single community organization or law enforcement agency has time to wade through it all by themselves. So I have introduced the PRECAUTION Act, or Prevention Resources for Eliminating Criminal Activity Using Tailored Interventions in Our Neighborhoods Act, to study which crime prevention and intervention strategies are the most effective, and in what contexts. These findings would be summarized in a report, written in plain language and focused on practical issues that communities would face as they put these prevention programs into action. Under the PRECAUTION Act, schools, community organizations, police officers and others would get easily accessible information about crime prevention strategies that have been proven to work. But the bill also goes beyond that, funding grant programs to put some of the most promising strategies to the test. The commission would follow the progress of these pilot projects and issue a final report after they have been completed. This bill won’t address all the problems that Milwaukee and other cities are facing. But it does give some help to over-burdened community organizers, schools, and police officers, and it invests important federal resources in stopping crime before it starts, so that we can restore a level of safety and security to our neighborhoods and communities. I am very pleased that this legislation has broad-based support. It has received endorsements from the organization Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, the Council for Excellence in Government, the American Society of Criminology, the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association, and the Consortium of Social Science Associations. And it recently won the approval of the Senate Judiciary Committee. At a conference of police chiefs and mayors from more than 50 cities around the country, these leaders agreed that while there is a desperate need to focus on violent crime in the law enforcement community, “other municipal agencies and social services organizations, including schools, mental health, public health, courts, corrections, and conflict management groups need to be brought together to partner toward the common goal of reducing violent crime.” The PRECAUTION Act will make sure that these voices are heard. I am committed to working in the Senate to find the best possible strategies for preventing crime, and to provide the information and resources needed to stop more senseless tragedies in Milwaukee and nationwide.