http://youtu.be/xFRm-gq6hPQ

(Photos by Edgar Mendez)

Advertisement

Block watch captains and members gathered recently at Longfellow School, 1021 S. 21st St., where officials from the Milwaukee Police Department District 2 recognized them for their crime-prevention efforts. Other guests included Mayor Tom Barrett, state Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa (D-Milwaukee) and Aldermen James Witkowiak and Bob Donovan.

District 2 has 214 block watches, the most in the city, according to police Capt. Rebecca Pixley. During the past year, 62 new block watches were formed in the district.

The mayor urged those in attendance to continue their vigilance and efforts to make neighborhoods safe for everyone.

“My vision is to have a city where grandmothers can sit on their porch and watch their grandchildren play, regardless of the economic situation in the neighborhood.” Barrett said. “Block watches play a big part in that.”

Creative Commons License

Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.

Raised in a South Side neighborhood where he still lives, Edgar Mendez is the managing editor of the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. Mendez is a proud graduate of UW-Milwaukee, where he double majored in journalism and sociology, and of Marquette University, where he earned a master’s degree in communication. He won a 2018 Regional Edward R. Murrow Award and 2014, 2017, and 2018 Milwaukee Press Club Awards for his reporting on taverns, marijuana law enforcement, and lead in water service lines. In 2008, he won a Society of Professional Journalists’ regional award for columns dealing with issues such as poverty, homelessness and racism. His writing has been published by the Associated Press, Reuters, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other media. He has also co-authored three articles published in scholarly journals.