Milwaukee County
924,216 people, served by 23 police agencies that report to the FBI.
How a case moves here
Milwaukee County follows Wisconsin law on arrests, release, and courts. These rules are the same in every county in the state; the full set covers prosecutors, defense, and jails too.
- Who decides release first
For most misdemeanors, a police officer or the jail can take cash bail under the statewide misdemeanor bail schedule. For felonies, a circuit court commissioner or circuit judge sets bail at the initial appearance. Wisconsin bars paid bail bondsmen, so sureties must be unpaid people.
Wis. Stat. 969.07Wis. Stat. 969.065Wis. Stat. 969.12Wis. Stat. 757.69(1)(b)Wis. Stat. 968.075(2m), (5)- Time to see a judge
A person who is arrested must be taken before a judge within a reasonable time in the county where the offense is charged. Wisconsin law sets no number of hours.
Wis. Stat. 970.01(1)- Money bail
Wisconsin courts may set cash bail. A surety must be a state resident and an unpaid natural person, so commercial bail bonds are not allowed.
Wis. Stat. 969.12- Courts
The circuit court in each county hears every felony and misdemeanor. Many cities, towns, and villages have a municipal court, but it hears only local ordinance violations punished by fines, not crimes.
Wis. Const. art. VII, secs. 6-7Wis. Stat. 755.045- Judges and magistrates
Voters elect circuit judges to six-year terms on a ballot with no party label. The chief judge of each judicial district appoints circuit court commissioners, who can hold initial appearances and set bail and must have been licensed lawyers for three years. Municipal judges are elected to terms of up to four years.
Wis. Const. art. VII, sec. 7Wis. Stat. 5.60(1)Wis. Stat. 757.68Wis. Stat. 757.69SCR ch. 75Wis. Stat. 755.01-.02
Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Municipal courts are left out of limited_courts because they hear only ordinance forfeiture cases. wispd.org returned errors, so the defense section rests on statute. Whether municipal judges must be lawyers was not checked; it doesn't affect criminal cases.
What this county does differently
- Pretrial practice
Advancing Pretrial lists it as a Public Safety Assessment site since 2016.
Advancing Pretrial Policy and Research, PSA sites list (page modified 2026-06-03)
Cities and towns
- Milwaukee566,973
- West Allis59,612
- Wauwatosa48,529
- Greenfield37,345
- Oak Creek37,325
- Franklin35,886
- South Milwaukee20,442
- Cudahy17,853
- Whitefish Bay village14,665
- Greendale village14,594
- Glendale13,656
- Shorewood village13,627
- Brown Deer village12,564
- St. Francis9,004
- Hales Corners village7,689
- Fox Point village6,683
- Bayside village4,329
- West Milwaukee village4,038
- River Hills village1,632
Every city, village, town, and township with any of its land in Milwaukee County, largest first. Population, the whole place's: Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024.
Police agencies
- Milwaukee Police DepartmentCity police department559,717 served
- West Allis Police DepartmentCity police department59,618 served
- Wauwatosa Police DepartmentCity police department48,869 served
- Oak Creek Police DepartmentCity police department38,780 served
- Greenfield Police DepartmentCity police department37,076 served
- Franklin Police DepartmentCity police department36,675 served
- South Milwaukee Police DepartmentCity police department20,084 served
- Cudahy Police DepartmentCity police department17,572 served
- Glendale Police DepartmentCity police department14,630 served
- Whitefish Bay Police DepartmentCity police department14,422 served
- Greendale Police DepartmentCity police department14,351 served
- Shorewood Police DepartmentCity police department13,433 served
- Brown Deer Police DepartmentCity police department12,520 served
- St. Francis Police DepartmentCity police department8,895 served
- Hales Corners Police DepartmentCity police department7,773 served
- Fox Point Police DepartmentCity police department6,507 served
- Bayside Police DepartmentCity police department4,305 served
- West Milwaukee Police DepartmentCity police department3,966 served
- River Hills Police DepartmentCity police department1,527 served
- Marquette UniversityCollege or university police
- Milwaukee County Sheriff's OfficeSheriff or county police
- State Fair Park PoliceOther state agency
- University of Wisconsin: MilwaukeeCollege or university police
Agencies: FBI NIBRS master file 2025 batch headers; names from the FBI agency list, pulled 2026-09-29. An agency that serves several counties appears on each. Population served is the FBI's figure.
Crime
The crime index
| Offense | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Per 100k | Wisconsin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crime | 10,519 | 9,558 | 8,936 | 9,024 | 7,098 | 977 | 297 |
| Murder | 205 | 224 | 179 | 146 | 152 | 20 | 5 |
| Rape | 589 | 545 | 518 | 502 | 402 | 55 | 40 |
| Robbery | 2,147 | 1,864 | 1,806 | 1,967 | 1,388 | 199 | 41 |
| Aggravated assault | 7,578 | 6,925 | 6,433 | 6,409 | 5,156 | 704 | 212 |
| Property crime | 32,766 | 27,620 | 23,333 | 23,380 | 20,625 | 2,766 | 1,285 |
| Burglary | 3,390 | 2,733 | 2,740 | 2,656 | 2,281 | 299 | 143 |
| Larceny | 17,175 | 15,427 | 14,039 | 13,769 | 12,878 | 1,587 | 937 |
| Motor vehicle theft | 12,201 | 9,460 | 6,554 | 6,955 | 5,466 | 880 | 206 |
| Arson | 265 | 266 | 195 | 203 | 178 | 24 | 7 |
Outside the crime index
| Offense | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Per 100k | Wisconsin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All offenses outside the crime index | 37,400 | 35,818 | 33,791 | 34,933 | 32,092 | 3,768 | 2,474 |
| Simple assault and intimidation | 9,924 | 9,674 | 9,941 | 11,222 | 11,176 | 1,125 | 571 |
| Vandalism | 8,695 | 7,723 | 6,909 | 7,566 | 6,382 | 807 | 422 |
| Fraud | 2,055 | 2,000 | 1,730 | 1,878 | 1,640 | 201 | 262 |
| Drug abuse violations | 6,219 | 6,002 | 5,801 | 6,014 | 6,027 | 651 | 834 |
| Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc. | 8,101 | 8,138 | 7,239 | 5,977 | 4,964 | 745 | 198 |
| Stolen property: buying, receiving, possessing | 904 | 695 | 637 | 719 | 642 | 78 | 23 |
| Forgery and counterfeiting | 225 | 311 | 296 | 359 | 283 | 32 | 37 |
| Embezzlement | 186 | 268 | 237 | 211 | 109 | 22 | 12 |
| Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution) | 543 | 505 | 476 | 404 | 369 | 50 | 47 |
| Prostitution and commercialized vice | 104 | 55 | 49 | 51 | 43 | 6.5 | 4.9 |
| Gambling | 2 | 4 | 2 | 5 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 0.1 | |
| Other Group A offenses | 442 | 443 | 476 | 530 | 452 | 51 | 63 |
| Manslaughter by negligence (not in the total) | 22 | 25 | 34 | 34 | 27 | 3.1 | 1.4 |
| Human trafficking (not in the total) | 15 | 33 | 30 | 36 | 24 | 3 | 1.8 |
Offenses agencies in Milwaukee County reported to the FBI in incident detail (NIBRS), each year, the second table by the arrest class each offense falls in. Per 100k: offenses per 100,000 people the reporting agencies police, 2021 to 2025 added together, beside Wisconsin's rate over the same years. Agencies that reported part of a year are counted with their people, as the state's rates count them. – means too few for a rate: the count is under 20.
Source: FBI NIBRS national master files, each agency's offenses and the FBI's population for it. Wisconsin: the crime index: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, CrimeDB's chosen value per year (the state page's figures); outside it: FBI NIBRS, agencies that sent incident detail.