At a time of severe manpower shortages and increased response times, Milwaukee’s assistant police chief has ordered nightly foot patrols for months in an area that includes the District 3 neighborhood where he lives, even instructing that officers should park their squads in front of his home, Wisconsin Right Now has confirmed.
On Saturday, we discovered patrol officers doing just that and got it on video.
That’s even though Asst. Chief Steven Johnson’s north-side neighborhood has lower reported crime than many other areas of the district that aren’t getting similar treatment. This comes as police response times have increased in recent years, even for priority 1 calls, and foot patrols have become a thing of the past for much of the city.
Many officers throughout the department have “all been upset with it since it started,” a law enforcement source told WRN. “There was a time there was a shooting a couple blocks away and the squad assigned to it could not leave to go help.”
In a department with 26% fewer officers than the mid-1990s, routinely removing a two-man squad from other duties can have a big impact. District 3’s early shift (2nd shift) usually has only about 4 to 6 squads on patrol every evening, sources tell us. Response times have spiked throughout the city, even for priority 1 calls. District 3 is a busy district.
Four separate well-placed law enforcement sources expressed concern to Wisconsin Right Now about the situation. We are keeping them anonymous because they fear losing their jobs for speaking out. Johnson’s directive is well-known throughout the department, and it’s outraged many for months.
“It’s outrageous,” one of the sources told Wisconsin Right Now. “No one else in the community gets that kind of service with the staffing we have. Total abuse of power.”
The source called it “wasted manpower.”
Another source said officers perceive the foot patrols as taxpayer-funded personal security for the assistant chief.
Wisconsin Right Now received multiple tips that Assistant Police Chief Steve Johnson ordered the foot patrol back in August because of some criminal activity in his neighborhood. Two sources told us he was upset about fights that occurred in the area that were unrelated to him.
Initially, the foot patrol was assigned 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the sources said; however, we are told that has now been reduced to only 2nd shift (4 p.m. to midnight). Those foot patrol officers are not available to leave the beat area to take other calls and are required to request another squad to relieve them for any breaks, sources say.
Johnson was promoted to his current rank in December of 2021. He oversees the Patrol Bureau operations which consist of Districts 1-7, and Specialized Patrol Division.
“There are no other neighborhoods being assigned to this. Not in district 3, or anywhere else in the city,” a source said in October.
Crime Mapping Shows District 3 Crime Is Clustered Elsewhere
We decided to dig into the crime statistics of District 3 because the core rationale MPD gave us for the deployment is a series of crimes in the area.
MPD said the special foot patrol was needed due to “numerous shots fired in that area, reckless driving, two shootings and multiple drug dealing complaints.”
However, we found the special foot patrol is occurring in a relatively quiet neighborhood with lower crime numbers than other areas of the district.
Above is a map of District 3. The red circle represents the area of Johnson’s initial foot patrol area. The shaded areas represent crime density; the light shades have lower reported crimes, and darker shades have higher reported crimes. We filled in some polygons with the numbers of reported crimes in the last 12 months per the Milwaukee Police Crime Dashboard.
In other words, the analysis shows, there are other higher-crime areas elsewhere in the district.
One law enforcement source questioned why the resources aren’t being deployed closer to North 35th and 40th Streets. “A large quantity of homicides and crime in the city are there. Why is there no beat there?” said the source.
The Dry Ink Board
To confirm the sources’ claims, Wisconsin Right Now obtained a photo of a directive written on a dry ink board in the lieutenant’s office of District 3. MPD’s spokesperson confirmed to WRN that the writing was still on the board as of December 15.
“Per AC Johnson, need a foot beat 2 person 13th St. to 20th St. on Galena St. Park on (removed by us) St.,” the directive says.
To protect Johnson’s privacy, we removed the location where the officers are supposed to park from the photo, which is the block where his home is located.
“Citizens are waiting hours for some calls for service, while an assistant chief gets more protection than the mayor,” a law enforcement source told WRN.
MPD’s spokesperson told Wisconsin Right Now that the boundaries for the foot patrols are now broader than that but admitted the area still includes Johnson’s block on Galena.
“District Three does have beat (foot) patrol occurring on Galena, but it is not limited to this block. In fact, the beat encompasses a larger geographical area running from West Vliet Street to West Walnut Street,” the spokesperson said, adding that the broader deployment began in late September.
That area still includes Johnson’s home and is a relatively small area of the District.
The spokesperson initially said the claims were inaccurate, adding, “this was nothing that command staff (including Chief Norman) was aware of.”
When we subsequently showed the spokesperson the dry ink board photo with the narrower deployment, she then acknowledged that it was a “note at the district.” The spokesperson claimed the directive was outdated but admitted it could have been prompted when “AC Johnson made a call for service late August/early September related to criminal activity on his block.”
West Walnut to Vliet Streets, with Galena in the middle, is still a small area, although the spokesperson did not specify the eastern and western borders. However, on the eastern side, the district ends at roughly 10th Street in that area.
Here is a full map of District 3, showing the foot patrol is still in a relatively small area of it.
Our sources say that, while the boundaries may have expanded somewhat since August, officers are still being told to park and walk near Johnson’s home.
However, one source pointblank said the department is not telling the truth. This source contacted us after the story ran and said, “As it was 100% ordered by AC Johnson so whatever the spokesperson told you was wrong and they did not expand the foot patrol to Walnut or Vliet. It was not due to drug dealing and they never get shots fired calls over there. It was due to petty crime in that area that was isolated to one household and that problem was dealt with and no longer exists.”
As one of the other sources put it, officers are instructed to “keep near his (Johnson’s) residence” and “sit on his house” as part of the foot patrols.
The sources believe that was the goal of the special patrol in the first place, and one well-placed source said Johnson has personally checked on whether officers were near his home.
A source told us on December 17, “Yes, squads are continuing to be on that walking beat daily 4pm-12a.”
And that’s exactly what we found two officers doing on Saturday around 5 p.m.
Johnson “has used a two-man squad as personal security near his residence since mid August. It was initially 24/7 but has been cut back to 4 p.m.-12 a.m.,” another law enforcement source alleged.
District 3 is located on the north side of Milwaukee and comprises 11.8 square miles with a district population of over 100,000 residents.
A Trip to the Neighborhood
On Saturday, at about 5 p.m., WRN went to the location where Johnson lives and upon our arrival, we indeed observed a marked Milwaukee police squad parked on West Galena close to the assistant chief’s house as photographed above.
We did alert officers to our presence and advised them we would be photographing them. We did not ask the officers any questions, and they did not offer any comment.
We watched two officers walk the area for approximately 90 minutes (before we left), periodically returning to their squad for a few minutes. It should be noted that there was no visible activity on Johnson’s block while this was occurring; the street was desolate.
Serious crimes were occurring in other areas of District 3 at the same time, police calls for service show, including a robbery, battery, a threat, and the sound of gunshots being detected by the department’s Shotspotter system. In other words, especially at a time of extremely short staffing, the two officers could have been used elsewhere in the district.
WRN has been able to confirm Johnson’s address through public records. We will not report his exact address for his safety other than to say he does live near the location where officers park their squad and patrol on foot.
Another law enforcement source said, “Yes, it’s been going on for months, wasted manpower in that district.”
Milwaukee Police Reaction in Detail
We reached out to MPD for comment.
A spokesperson initially told us, “District Three does have beat (foot) patrol occurring on Galena, but it is not limited to this block. In fact, the beat encompasses a larger geographical area running from West Vliet Street to West Walnut Street. The reason for this particular deployment were numerous shots fired in that area, reckless driving, two shootings, and multiple drug dealing complaints. This deployment began in late September of 2023. It is not a drain on district resources, as every district has focus areas where they strategically deploy officers to target crime.”
However, when we showed them the directive written on the dry ink board, which specifies a smaller foot patrol area, MPD responded, “Yes, that is a note at the District. The Captain indicated it has been there for months (so it is pretty out of date). We don’t know who wrote it, but speculate it could have been prompted when AC Johnson made a call for service in late August/early September related to criminal activity on his block.”
What isn’t out of date, according to our sources and own observation, is that Johnson’s home is still part of it.
About Assistant Chief Steven Johnson
According to the Milwaukee Police Department website, “Assistant Chief Steven Johnson was appointed to the Milwaukee Police Department in May of 1997. As an officer, Assistant Chief Johnson was assigned to serve District 1 and District 3. In May of 2007, Assistant Chief Johnson was promoted to Police Sergeant and was assigned to District 4.
As a Police Sergeant, he also was assigned to Districts 7, 5, and Technical Communication Division (TCD). In November of 2017, he was promoted to Police Lieutenant and was assigned to the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB): Sensitive Crimes Division (SCD), as the Early Shift commander. In April of 2018, he was transferred to District 3 and served as the Early Shift commander. In September of 2020, he was promoted to Captain of Police and took over command of District 3. District Three is located on the west side of Milwaukee.
District Three is comprised of 11.8 square miles with a district population in excess of 100,000 residents. In September of 2021, he was transferred to the Office of the Chief to serve as the Executive Officer of the Patrol Bureau. Assistant Chief Johnson was promoted to his current rank in December of 2021. He oversees the Patrol Bureau operations which consist of Districts 1-7, and Specialized Patrol Division (SPD).
Assistant Chief Johnson is a resident of the City of Milwaukee. He is a graduate of Milwaukee James Madison High School. Assistant Chief Johnson holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh (UWO). While attending UWO, Assistant Chief Johnson joined Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. in 1993 and still an active member with the organization as a Platinum Life Member.
Assistant Chief Johnson is a graduate of the FBI-Law Enforcement Executive Development Association (LEEDA) Executive Leadership Institute (ELI) and Command Leadership Institute (CLI), International Association of Chiefs of Police Leadership in Police (LPO), Northwestern University Center for Public Safety Supervision of Police Personnel, and the Milwaukee Police Department Crisis Intervention Team (CIT).”
Table of Contents
