Thursday morning, the Madison Police Department reported the sixth murder in Madison in 2008. Juan J. Bernal, 22, of Madison was stabbed outside the Plaza Tavern following an altercation with another bar patron Wednesday evening.
This homicide comes only two days into the new school year and follows a tragic end to the 2007-'08 academic year.
In February 2007, the Madison City Council approved the Downtown Safety Initiative, citing the need to decrease crime before and after bar time. The Initiative received $100,000 in funding to increase police overtime on Friday and Saturday nights in addition to the installation of new security cameras in the downtown area.
From 2006 to 2007, the number of violent crimes reported in the Central District decreased from 253 to 178, and Madison Police credit programs like the Downtown Safety Initiative for the decrease. But incidents like Wednesday night's stabbing indicate the Madison police still have room for improvement of late-night safety downtown.
Increasing police presence on the weekends is great, but the city must make sure to maintain the effort on weekdays as well. Madison bars are frequented every night of the week, not only on the weekends.
And though all the police presence in the world might not have been able to prevent Wednesday's killing, the MPD needs to provide some re-assurance to the UW-Madison community. Students left campus last summer still uneasy about losing Brittany Zimmermann to a violent crime, and many must still feel unsafe considering the case's many loose ends. No students were involved this time, but Wednesday night's incident will do nothing but remind students that police have provided few answers to a case that took one of their own.
Whether it involves releasing more information, enacting a new initiative or merely addressing students directly and personally on the issue of safety, the MPD needs to instill some confidence in the student body. Fear among students will only grow with each unsolved violent crime, and police need to remind and assure them that Madison is still a relatively safe city.
