The Sconi

Violent crime continues to increase in Wisconsin, with homicides leading the wave across the state, according to statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Data Explorer (CDE) website, Wisconsin saw violent crime rise by 8.8% across the state. However, the website’s data showed a marked increase in homicides, which jumped by 66% since 2019. To step up crime prevention efforts, Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul recently announced a plan to use $45 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, with $25 million earmarked for violence prevention efforts and $20 million to be used to enhance victim services, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. 

"This is another public health crisis that needs our attention and action, and like any public health issue, it starts with prevention," Evers told Wisconsin Public Radio. 

In 2020, there were 398.5 violent crimes per 100,000 people in the state, according to the FBI’s CDE website, the highest level since there were 404.5 per 100,000 people in 2010. The Manhattan Institute’s Heather McDonald offered some insight to the Independent Women’s Forum.  

“The rise in crime we’ve seen since the George Floyd death and the riots over the summer is astounding,” she told the organization. “Last year we saw the largest percentage increase in homicides in this nation’s history and it’s gotten worse in 2021.” 

According to the website data, there were 271 homicides in the state in 2020, and this is in keeping with national data, showing that 2020 was a deadly year. 

“It is the largest increase in 100 years,” Robert Anderson, chief of mortality statistics branch for the National Center for Health Statistics, told CNN. 

One issue that has offered a new challenge for reducing violent crime is police retirements and resignations in Wisconsin and elsewhere, with McDonald telling Fox News earlier this year that police retirements were up 45% this year, while resignations increased by 10%. She told the network that the rash of retirements and resignations came in the wake of the rise in “defund the police” efforts across the country. 

With many police leaving the ranks, those that remain are in a difficult position, with the Fraternal Order of Police reporting that police had been targeted in 75 ambush-style attacks this year, while 241 officers were shot, and 44 were killed. 

The SLED data also noted that guns were used as a weapon in 84% of the murder cases in 2020, with the suspect knowing the victim in 58% of cases, according to the data.