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Madison police, fire and public-health leaders report crime declines, CARES growth and new investigative structure
Summary
Madison police, fire and public-health officials briefed the Common Council on Oct. 8 on crime trends, the CARES crisis-response expansion and a restructuring of MPD investigative units; officials said specialized detectives and community partnerships drove recent reductions while CARES seeks to extend hours and expand to Sun Prairie.
Mayor Rhodes Conway convened a public-safety update at the Oct. 8 Madison Common Council meeting that included presentations from Police Chief Barnes, Assistant Fire Chief Chris Hammes and Arielle Smith, director of policy, planning and evaluation at Public Health — Madison & Dane County.
Chief Barnes said the department remains focused on proactive crime prevention, community outreach, employee wellness, data-driven reforms and a restructuring of investigative services into specialized units. "Research shows that specialization is better for detective work than generalization," he said, describing new family-justice-sensitive units, a property-crimes section, computer-and-financial-crimes investigators and continued special-victims and violent-crimes capacity. Barnes said the change will roll out at a regular…
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