Significant crime declines in 2025 typically would have been presented by Milwaukee leaders as a positive step forward for the community, but a rise in homicides undercut that.
City officials reckoned with those conflicting data points at a Jan. 8 press conference, where they noted it overwhelmingly was a positive year from a public safety standpoint. That’s because, from 2024 to 2025, the city saw substantial declines in violent crime, property crime and non-fatal shootings.
But any enthusiasm for those improvements was dampened by a rise in homicides in the city last year, when 10 more murders occurred from the year prior, with 142 total in 2025. Officials said the rise – which came amid a large national decline in murder – was driven by the availability of firearms and troubling incidents that occurred in private spaces where conflict arose.
“The numbers are remarkably positive in the city of Milwaukee,” Mayor Cavalier Johnson said at the press conference. “The anomaly though of course … is the most serious crime.”
Most of the crime statistics presented regarded what the FBI calls Part 1 crimes. Those are defined as homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and vehicle theft.
The overall decline in those crimes, down 17% in 2025, is particularly high when compared to 2024. That year, Part 1 crime dropped 4%.
Among the most significant year-over-year crime statistics is a decline of 22% in violent crime, a 15% dip in property crime and 19% dip in non-fatal shootings.
Johnson previously called the rise in homicides “vexing” in the week before the press conference. That’s in part due to the decline in non-fatal shootings, which dropped to 515 from 639 a year ago. Two years ago, the city had 838 non-fatal shootings.
On Jan. 8, Police Chief Jeffrey Norman had his own descriptor for the rise, saying he was “baffled.”
That’s due to the circumstances in which some shootings occurred, he said. Norman referenced the shootings of pharmaceutical student Ariel Spillner, with another pharmaceutical student arrested for it, and 4-year-old Ralph Taylor III, in which the boy’s father was arrested for the murder.
Norman described each situation as that of a “deadly combination.” Each showed a lack of impulse control in conflicts and what occurs when there’s widespread availability of firearms.
Norman called on faith groups, neighbors and others to help collectively prevent violence and de-escalate violent situations.
“I have to tell you, as I look at each and every homicide that occurs in this city, I am absolutely baffled,” he said. “These tragedies cannot be made up.”
Further drawing concern was the rise in juvenile homicide suspects in the last year.
Incidents rose 57% where juveniles, defined as those under the age of 17, were suspects – rising from 14 to 22. Four of those suspects were 13 years old, the youngest age the police investigated for murder.
Young victims rose 10% as well, to 22 juvenile deaths in 2025.
That rise reflects a need for greater time and proximity with the city’s youth, said Adam Procell, executive director of the city’s Office of Community Wellness and Safety.
“If we don’t find a way to invest time in our youth to show them what nonviolent conflict resolution looks like, we can’t expect them to model something that they’ve never seen before,” he said. “If we don’t find a way to intervene, shame on us.”
Johnson called for federal and state gun policy changes in light of the statistics.
“We don’t want people who would commit crimes with guns to get their hands on them, and it’s far too easy for those people to get their hands on those firearms,” he said.
The city’s clearance rate for 2025 homicides, or cases that were solved, was at 82%, according to police data. That figure factors in cases of past years’ homicides that the department solves.
Meanwhile, criminal prosecutions and misdemeanors remained high, said Milwaukee County District Attorney Kent Lovern.
His office filed 5,761 felony cases, down from 5,908 in 2024 and 5,770 in 2023. That is the highest three-year average of the last decade, Lovern said.
In 2025, the office filed 500 more misdemeanor cases than the year before, from 4,063 to 4,576. That was driven by prosecuting domestic violence cases, Lovern said.
Deadly crashes decline, but overall remained at prior year’s numbers
Through 2025, fatal crashes dipped 17% from 2024, down to 55 from 66 deadly crashes.
That figure comes as overall crashes remained at roughly 14,300 each year. Hit-and-run crashes similarly stayed at a static level, with about 5,400 occurring each year.
Carjackings, a high-profile crime that plagued the city in 2024, cut nearly in half, from 513 in 2024 to 264 in 2025.
Those come as prosecution for reckless driving has increased, Lovern said. His office’s criminal traffic prosecutions increased 50% in 2025 from 2024, from 795 cases to 1,212 cases.
The end of 2025 also saw a new state law enacted, which made it easier for police to tow the vehicles of reckless drivers. Norman said the department has towed 31 cars under the new law in the two months since it passed.
This story was updated with new information.
David Clarey is a public safety reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached at dclarey@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee leaders grapple with the city’s rise in homicides in 2025
Reporting by David Clarey, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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