Madison Police Chief Mike Koval to begin releasing nightly crime recaps - Madison.com

Madison Police Chief Mike Koval said he will begin publicly posting daily recaps of overnight police calls on his blog Monday, as he tries to sound a broader community alarm on crime.

Koval said he has been writing recaps each morning for about three months and sending the reports to City Council members and Mayor Paul Soglin, but will begin posting them for the public Monday at noon.

The reports contain details of what Koval considers the most significant crimes each night between the hours of 5 p.m. and 5 a.m.

“I’ll use my blog as basically a daily, overnight log, to give my community a sense of what are the dynamics, what are the complexities, what are the labor-intensive kind of calls that our police department responds to every night,” Koval said.

Koval began writing the daily reports, what he calls “snapshots,” of overnight crime, after a press conference in April 28 where his response to a reporter’s question landed him in hot water with Mayor Paul Soglin.

“There was a crime wave, and (police spokesman) Joel (DeSpain) thought it would be best that — because he was getting blitzkrieged — we really ought to do a press conference on these six significant crimes that took place over a brief period of time of eight hours,” Koval said. “We were on priority calls all night because we couldn’t keep up with the capacity issues.”

At the press conference, a reporter asked Koval if the number of crimes that night was evidence of a need for more police officers. Soglin saw Koval’s affirmative answer as a way of campaigning for public funds outside the usual budget process.

Since then, Koval said he has written a snapshot of the overnight reports everyday, including weekends, to send to elected city officials.

“I’m trying to educate them — this was not a circus, theatrical moment where I’m posturing to try to get bodies,” Koval said of his comment at the press conference. “This was attempting to sound a moment of alarm to our community, and I can prove it because I’ll send you every night’s overnights.”

The police department responds to more than 400 calls on some nights, not including parking violations or accidental 911 dials, he said.

Koval said the snapshots will not include details of each call, but rather an overview of what he said represent the most significant crimes and the prevailing trends in Madison. These include any violent crimes as well as drug overdoses and mental health calls.

“I want to paint the picture of how that takes hours when done properly,” Koval said.

The police department’s annual report for 2016 showed a 4.2 percent decrease in overall crime in Madison compared to 2015 — due to large drops in reported burglaries, fraud and drug charges — although forcible sex offenses and stolen vehicles saw increases.

Homicide rates also rose last year with eight in 2016, compared to six in 2015. There have been nine homicides in Madison so far in 2017, which is the highest number since 10 people were murdered in 2008.

Police do not have detailed records of confirmed incidents of shots fired in 2015, but between January and July this year and the same period last year, there has been a 63 percent increase.

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