Marquette University launched a new police unit focused on curbing reckless driving around campus just a few months before two student-athletes died in a crash about a mile from campus.
Scott Michaud, 19, and Noah Snyder, 20, were killed in the Sept. 5 crash on the 2700 block of West St. Paul Avenue — about two blocks outside of the new unit’s patrol zone.
Michaud and Snyder were members of the men’s lacrosse team. Four other students, three of them lacrosse student-athletes, were injured in the crash. A 41-year old woman was arrested on suspicion of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle after police say she collided with the vehicle carrying students at about 5 p.m.
The new unit speaks to Marquette’s efforts to address the reckless driving problem plaguing Milwaukee streets. University President Kimo Ah Yun called the tragedy “unimaginable.”
“You kind of work your way through it because you don’t expect it to happen, especially when they’re so young,” he said at a Sept. 8 event. “So we’re working through it as a campus.”
Marquette transitioned its public safety department to a commissioned police department a decade ago after passage of a state law. Its sworn officers have the same powers as City of Milwaukee police to enforce the law, as well as university rules, within its patrol zone.
Marquette’s new traffic enforcement unit began June 1. Operating within the department’s same patrol zone, it initiated more than 200 traffic stops and issued 171 city citations in its first 11 weeks. That’s a 165% increase in traffic stops and a 242% increase in citations over the same time period in 2024.
The unit also made 14 arrests for operating while intoxicated, up from two OWI arrests within the same timeframe in 2024.
The Marquette University Police Department includes 48 sworn officers. No new hires were made to create the traffic enforcement unit. Instead, existing officers staff the unit through shifts that come without direct assignments. The number of officers assigned to the unit per shift varies, depending on patrol needs that day.
Asked whether Marquette is considering expanding the unit’s reach in the wake of the crash, university spokesperson Kevin Conway said its effectiveness and use is being assessed and discussed. He declined to say how many officers were assigned to the unit at the time of the crash.
Chief Edith Hudson, in a Aug. 19 statement before the crash, said the new unit has increased pedestrian safety. Using speed detection devices, officers identify, pull over and cite speeding and reckless drivers.
“College campuses are pedestrian focused spaces, and with a small investment in speed detection equipment and additional officer training, we are making strides in mitigating reckless driving in and around our campus,” Hudson said in the statement. “Our goal is to create an effective deterrence to reckless driving in our community and ultimately change dangerous traffic behaviors.”
Another fatal crash near campus occurred in 2020. A man speeding near North 10th Street and West Wisconsin Avenue hit Joe Daniels, dean of the university’s business college. The man, Jordan G. Jones, initially persuaded his girlfriend to take the blame because his license was suspended at the time but later pleaded guilty.
Kelly Meyerhofer has covered higher education in Wisconsin since 2018. Contact her at kmeyerhofer@gannett.com or 414-223-5168. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @KellyMeyerhofer.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Months before student deaths, Marquette launched police unit to curb reckless driving
Reporting by Kelly Meyerhofer, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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