Milwaukee Police issued 194 tickets in 2023, DPW issued thousands, few pay

It doesn’t take long when driving in the Milwaukee area to spot a car without a license plate. One rideshare driver saw so many that she asked WISN 12 News to investigate the problem. “We have one, we have a Lincoln right next to us,” Lacrisha Lewis said as she drove on Milwaukee’s south side. “No license plate.”Less than five minutes into a trip, Lewis spotted several cars without license plates or registration. She saw so many vehicles with no license plates and reckless drivers behind the wheel that she bought a dashboard camera to record everything. “To have evidence of what I see when I’m behind the wheel,” she said. After contacting 12 News Investigates, we asked the question: “How many drivers get ticketed by the police or the city because they “Don’t have a license plate?” Public records obtained by 12 News Investigates show that in 2023, Milwaukee police ticketed 194 drivers for missing or incorrectly displayed license plates. Police penalized 2,331 drivers with expired license plates or false registration. Numbers are slowly recovering after falling during COVID-19. In 2019, police ticketed 3,828 drivers for expired or incorrect registration and 371 for missing or incorrectly displayed license plates. In 2020, police ticketed 1,904 drivers for expired or incorrectly affixed registration and 230 for missing or incorrectly affixed license plates. In 2021, police issued tickets to 1,288 drivers for expired or incorrectly affixed registration and 167 for missing or incorrectly affixed license plates. In 2022, there were 1,989 drivers due to expired or incorrectly attached registration and 238 drivers due to missing or incorrectly attached license plates. “When I look at these numbers, it’s a joke,” Lewis said. Milwaukee Police Capt. Brad Schlei leads the city’s special patrol division. He attributes the lower numbers to COVID-19 and staffing shortages. But, he said, they are slowly recovering. “We hold our officers accountable and we hold ourselves accountable to issue these tickets when we see these violations and when it is appropriate,” he said. “We also balance our traffic enforcement with our criminal activity and that type of surveillance.” Schlei said the department’s traffic safety unit, which focuses solely on traffic, has declined in numbers. The department was founded in 2021 and has 20 officers. Now, he said, they’re down to 10. “We are in the process of increasing this number through transfers to the traffic safety unit,” he said. The City of Milwaukee also relies on the Department of Public Works to assist with monitoring. The DPW issued more traffic tickets last year than in the previous five years. In 2023, the DPW issued 56,352 tickets for missing or improper license plates. However, traffic offenders don’t seem to be paying them: last year, 10,840 traffic tickets were paid, which corresponds to 19.23%. The Milwaukee DPW also issued 16,552 additional tickets for failure to register last year. In 2022, the DPW issued 44,204 for missing or improper license plates and 14,842 for lack of registration. The tickets issued by DPW Parking Enforcement are tickets that are placed on a vehicle and not given to the driver. The DPW declined an interview with 12 News Investigates. When asked whether the traffic ticket model was effective, the DPW responded: “False citations are issued to encourage compliance. The DPW can tow a vehicle after three tickets. Last year, parking attendants ticketed two different cars 20 times. “Is catching someone without a license plate a precursor to later pulling them over on the street when it comes to reckless driving?” asked investigative reporter James Stratton. “It can make a difference in educating that person,” Schlei said. “If we stop them, we have some options. Of course, when we issue a ticket, it is both a form of enforcement and education.”Lewis hopes that more tickets will lead to safer driving in the future. “They don’t care,” she said. “Otherwise we wouldn’t be dealing with this problem.”