WISCONSIN RANKS FIRST FOR ARRESTS PER 100,000 RESIDENTS

Theories On Why Include Differing Counting Methods

When it comes to racking up arrests, no state can beat Wisconsin.

A new study by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance found the state led the
country in 2002 with a whopping 8,286 arrests made per 100,000 residents,
compared with the national average of 4,839 per 100,000.

Quotable

Wisconsin does an awful job of separating out civil forfeitures from
arrests. In other states, for disorderly conduct, vandalism or a liquor law
violation, it's usually not recorded as an arrest."

- Stan Stojkovic, criminal justice professor, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Ranking second and third were the states of Arkansas and Mississippi, not
the sort of company Wisconsin normally keeps.

This is no one-year blip: As far back as 1993, Wisconsin ranked No. 1.

"To be number one and to be that far above average is shocking to me," said
Dale Knapp, the study's author.

What makes this ranking all the stranger is that Wisconsinites are less
likely to commit crimes. We rank 45th in the level of violent crime and
36th in property crime, the alliance found.

So why the high arrest rate?

"Wisconsin's large number of police likely play a role," Knapp's study
suggested, citing a Census Bureau survey of government employees showing
Wisconsin had 2.8 police officers per 1,000 residents, compared with 2.7
nationally in 2002.

"I think the more officers you have, you're going to have more arrests,"
said Jim Cardinal, executive director of the Wisconsin Sheriffs and Deputy
Sheriffs Association.

But would a tiny difference in numbers of police create an arrest rate
almost twice that of other states?

Jim Palmer, a lobbyist for the Wisconsin Professional Police Association,
was dubious.

"I don't think we have too many law enforcement officers," he said,
pointing to data from the state Office of Justice Assistance showing
Wisconsin has fewer officers per capita than other states.

These statistics are collected from each state by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and count all personnel, while the Census Bureau's survey is
subject to sampling error. And when all personnel are counted, Wisconsin
has slightly fewer sworn officers and fewer civilian law enforcement
employees per capita than the national average.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee criminal justice professor Stan
Stojkovic, dean of the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, said the
higher arrest rate here may merely reflect a different style of police
reporting.

"Wisconsin does an awful job of separating out civil forfeitures from
arrests," he said. "In other states, for disorderly conduct, vandalism or a
liquor law violation, it's usually not recorded as an arrest."

Dave Steingraber, executive director of the Office of Justice Assistance
and a former police chief for Menomonee Falls and Middleton, said this
approach is particularly widespread for juvenile incidents.

"There's a practice of counting any documented contact with a juvenile as
an arrest."

The Census Bureau statistics buttress this theory. Wisconsin ranks 17th in
the number of arrests for violent crimes but first in arrests for both
disorderly conduct and vandalism, third for curfew violations/loitering and
for weapons possession, fourth for liquor law violations and eighth for
runaways.

Wisconsin ranks first among the states in juvenile arrests per capita,
Steingraber said.

"I think that mostly comes from the low-level offenses," he said.

Steingraber said most police officers had gone through training at the UW
Extension class taught by Frank Crisafi, a longtime attorney who now works
for the Madison public schools, but has taught on a part-time basis.

For 37 years, Crisafi said, he has taught a one-week course on how to
handle juveniles, emphasizing the need to create a "full paperwork trail"
on any subjects encountered.

"Just about everybody who works with juveniles has gotten the training,"
Steingraber said.

Crisafi noted his class doesn't really discuss how to record arrests.
Steingraber, however, theorized that the emphasis on recording all
information has led police to chalk up arrests for conduct that wouldn't
make the cut in other states.

Whatever its proficiency at such paperwork, Wisconsin still outperforms
other states in making arrests for the eight "index" crimes, from violent
crimes like murder and rape to property crimes like burglary and motor
vehicle theft. Nationally, police cleared or arrested someone for 20% of
these offenses, while the Wisconsin rate was 24.4%.

So Wisconsin is definitely out-arresting other states - just not at a pace
suggested by that dramatic first-place rating.