Crime is on the rise in Madison---- and thugs are targeting downtown.
It's happened in other cities like Orlando, Detroit, Cincinnati...
places that now roll up their sidewalks at 5 p.m.

Madison Magazine recently featured an article warning about a "wave of violence" downtown.
It's backed by police numbers indicating robbery reports are at more than 200 this year with 117 for this same time period last year downtown.
However; last week's Isthmus disagreed... citing police numbers for non-robbery assaults.
Those stat's are virtually the same from last year to this year at around 212.

I asked a friend about the conflicting opinions----- and she told me if you're the victim of a crime, you don't really care which column of numbers you fall in.
You just want it stopped.
Now.

My friend also speaks from experience.
She was one of the people downtown who had a gun held to her head while she was robbed.
She's lived in downtown Madison for years.. and had plans to start a business soon.
Not anymore.
Now she's talking about moving back to Milwaukee.
MILWAUKEE.
My heart hurts for the others who may make the same decisions before this is solved.

We've lived in the types of cities I wrote about at the beginning of this blog.
It's part of the reason we were excited to come home to Wisconsin and Madison in particular.
I still feel safe here; but probably because I've already lived in worse places.

I do love Madison and especially downtown.
I hope we can keep it lovable for all of us in the future.

Send me your thoughts: tbarr@wisctv.com

Also; the Guardian Angels are starting a chapter here this month. I've reported long-term on the group in several different cities; including New York, where we followed and investigated their crime-fighting efforts.
It's a start.. and based on what I've learned during my past reports; it can be the key to kick-starting a community willing to stand up against crime.