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Mayor Outlines New Plan To Cut Southwest Side Crime

Plan Would Create New Landlord Registry

Posted: 7:24 pm CDT June 25, 2009

Madison's mayor on Thursday outlined his strategic plan to cut crime on the city's southwest side.

Part of the new multifaceted plan includes allowing police to search and seize guns from Madison juveniles without a search warrant.

Much of the plan to combat crime simply supports ongoing city and grassroots efforts to pull the neighborhoods together more. But other parts are new and likely to spark some controversy.

In an effort to cut gun violence, the mayor wants to potentially copy a St. Louis program that got many guns off the streets.

Police would get a parent's permission to enter a home, search for juvenile weapons and seize them, all without a search warrant.

In return, the teenagers would not face prosecution.

Other efforts in the anti-crime plan include a new landlord registry to crackdown on bad landlords who don't screen their tenants.

Landlords would have to sign a form downtown and leave a contact name and number in case there's a problem. The move stops short of full licensing.

"It's a step short of licensing but I think licensing landlords isn't something we should take off the table. That might be something we want to do in the future, but I think registries are a step in the right direction," said Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.

The mayor's plan comes two years after hundreds raised crime issues in the Orchard Ridge and Meadowood neighborhoods on the southwest side.

The mayor is also proposing a plan developed in High Point, N.C. There, serial offenders face police, prosecutors and neighbors -- even victims. They tell offenders to change their behavior or face certain prosecution.

The mayor said it has been quite successful in getting through to otherwise tough criminals in North Carolina.

The city is seeking a federal grant for that program.

The search and seizure program will be debated internally by police before being tried. That could be months away.

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