GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The Green Bay Police Department is putting a spotlight on gun violence.
Both Mayor Eric Genrich and Police Chief Chris Davis say there is a significant escalation of gun violence in the city at a Friday briefing.
The event was set before a series of shots-fired incidents Thursday night became the latest reminder of the problem.
Three people were arrested in the wake of seven reported shots fired incidents on Thursday. Chief Davis says it’s currently unclear how many of those are related to each other, but investigators believe some are likely related to previous incidents.
Chief Davis said the community will notice an increased presence of police as a way to deter violence. They will also be increasing patrols during times when most of the shootings have been happening.
However, Chief Davis said, “It’s not something we can police our way out of.”
He says while reports of shootings are high, they are still some that go unreported.
A big part of the solution is community involvement.
If you see or have any information about these types of incidents, or notice something suspicious, you are encouraged to notify police; either by calling (920) 448-3200 or leaving anonymous tips through Crime Stoppers.
“It’s pretty apparent to people when there are gunshots in their neighborhood, so we want them to call us for that,” he said. “What we’re not asking people to do is just if you see somebody you don’t recognize in your neighborhood or something like that to call the police because that’s really not the solution to this problem.”
Chief Davis says it’s hard to pinpoint a single reason why gun violence is increasing in Green Bay.
“There’s always this tendency to want to simplify something that is a very complex problem and so it’s neither a completely homegrown problem or something that’s coming from the outside,” he said.
Adding, “Over time, what I’ve seen is for a lot of people involved in gun violence in public spaces, putting aside domestic violence or other situations that involve gun violence, the risk benefit calculation has changed from what it was before the pandemic for some reason. And it used to be if I was in one of these groups that was feuding with each other, it was almost more risky for me to be out in public, illegally carrying a firearm because of the risk of getting caught with it than it was to be caught without one by one of my rivals and what we’re seeing is that when we talk to some of these folks involved in this activity is that that risk benefit calculation has flip-flopped, and now there’s more concern because you know that the person or the people you are in a disagreement with are likely to be armed if and when you encounter them out in the community so there’s almost this sense that one feels at more risk of not being armed.”
When Davis took office in September, he announced a goal of making Green Bay “the safest city in the United States.”
Nonetheless, the city continues to experience gun violence. In the wake of two shootings that left bullet holes in the windows of a home on Hubbard Street, Ald. Brian Johnson proposed a city task force on gun violence.
Last year, the city saw six homicides, up from three in 2019 and one in 2018.
Both Davis and his predecessor, Andrew Smith, have said the gun violence was a result of disputes among a small group of people.
