Milwaukee Mayhem: Majority of city’s crimes go unsolved

The latest snapshot of crime in Milwaukee shows that most crimes in the city don’t end with an arrest.

Milwaukee Police on Thursday released their crime statistics from 2022, and those statistics show the majority of crimes in the city are unsolved.

"Let me be clear, I'm not satisfied," Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said. "I'm not satisfied with where we are with the levels of crime and violence here in the city."

Police in Milwaukee ‘cleared’, or made an arrest, in 57% of the city’s murders in 2022. That’s the best arrest rate out of any crime. Officers also made an arrest in 56% of the city’s stabbings last year.

After that, the clearance rate dropped into the 30s, and eventually into the single digits.

MPD’s numbers show that just 6% of car thefts in Milwaukee ended with an arrest in 2022.

That means of the 8,743 cars that were stolen, only 525 cases ended with an arrest.

2022’s 6% car theft clearance rate, however, was better than the clearance rate for the previous three years.

In 2021, Milwaukee Police made an arrest in just 3% of car thefts. In 2020 that number was just 2%. In 2019 Milwaukee Police made an arrest in 3% of car thefts.

Milwaukee Police also saw single digit arrest rates for burglary cases in 2022.

Milwaukee’s crime numbers are a bit better for the first half of this year.

MPD says 74% of homicides have ended with an arrest in 2023. But most of the rest of the city’s crimes continue to go unsolved.

The 2023 arrest rate for stolen cars, for example, is once again at 6%.