Madison police, fire and public-health leaders report crime declines, CARES growth and new investigative structure

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 shift change and that each district will continue to have detectives and neighborhood-resource officers assigned.

Assistant Chief Chris Hammes described the Community Alternative Response Emergency Services (CARES) pilot, a community-paramedicine model staffed by a Madison Fire community paramedic and a Journey Mental Health crisis worker. CARES has grown from about 1,500 calls in 2022 to estimated 3,300 calls in 2024; through September 2024 the program recorded roughly 2,590 responses and projects further growth. Hammes said about half of CARES encounters are resolved on scene, approximately 26% resulted in transport (often to emergency rooms), and roughly 2% of CARES encounters ultimately involved transfer to law enforcement. He described a pilot expansion to Sun Prairie and a planned centralization of CARES units and vehicles at a remodeled fire facility at 1234 E. Washington Ave.

Arielle Smith, who leads the Violence Prevention Unit at Public Health, summarized prevention and intervention work: a 136-member coalition, grant-supported community partners (13 grantees totalling roughly $760,000 across cohorts), and intervention supports tied to recent violent incidents including services for individuals and community healing events. Smith noted a county-funded RFP in development for 2025 (about $300,000) to continue community violence-prevention investments.

Council members pressed presenters on gaps and implementation details. On night-time CARES hours, Hammes said staffing the crisis-worker role overnight is the biggest barrier but that data analysis is guiding expansion decisions: "We're gonna continue to look at the data, and ultimately, try to address, if staffing the staffing model is such that we can continue to expand," he said. Barnes defended the investigative redesign as the product of internal study and detective input and said community engagement will be preserved in the new model. On body-worn cameras and de‑escalation training, Barnes cited active-bystandership and duty‑to‑intervene training as central reforms.

What happens next: staff said CAReS expansion and investigative reassignments have implementation plans (facility remodels and shift changes) and that the council will receive follow-up materials, including the final body‑worn‑camera pilot report in coming weeks. The council did not vote on the substantive program expansions at the Oct. 8 meeting; those items remain under committee and implementation planning.