The city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has a significant problem with reckless driving, and it has seen a rise in both street racing and 'street takeovers' throughout the city. During the Labor Day weekend, there were twenty such takeovers in a single night.
The Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) had established a directed patrol mission (DPM), a special unit dedicated to watching social media for reports of any takeover and then working to shut them down. MPD was using Wisconsin Statute § 341.65 to seize vehicles used in street takeovers. That statute allows municipalities to take vehicles that are not 'street legal' or are used in the commission of a crime.
Despite having the legal backing to end these dangerous and illegal street takeovers, MPD ended up disbanding the unit shortly before the Labor Day weekend. Police Chief Jeffrey Norman denied the existence of the special unit, calling it 'nonsense.'
EXCLUSIVE: Milwaukee Police shut down the special unit established to stop street takeovers just weeks before there were 20 street takeovers in Milwaukee in a single night over Labor Day Weekend. 🧵🧵🧵 pic.twitter.com/kAIpmhMNfg
— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) September 4, 2025
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Sources tell 'The Dan O’Donnell Show' that Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman’s insistence that there was a directed patrol mission (DPM) for street racing and street takeovers is 'nonsense.'
'They cancelled the entire DPM and sent all of those resources downtown to Water Street to supplement the existing patrols there to prevent shootings and homicides downtown,' the source said. 'We haven’t had an actual street takeover deployment in a month.'
That has coincided with a major increase in street racing in Milwaukee, as the 'usual weekend racers' have now been joined by hundreds more spectators as word has gotten out on social media that police officers are no longer actively patrolling for street racing.
'There are the usual weekend racers and now there are new social media takeover guys,' a source said. 'It’s gotten completely out of control.'
Despite receiving over 20 calls for street takeovers overnight on August 30-31, police units lacked the manpower to respond to all the calls.
From January to June of this year, Milwaukee saw a 13% increase in homicides over 2024 and 274 non-fatal shootings. The overall crime rate is 5,015.8 per 100,000 people, putting it 115% over the national average, and in terms of safety, the city ranks 331 out of 336 Wisconsin cities and 9,409 out of 9,869 cities nationally.
Despite growing problems with street racing and crime in general, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, like his Democratic counterparts in Chicago and other cities, opposes President Trump's efforts to crack down on crime. Instead, Johnson is demanding more federal money for housing, claiming it will help address the problem.
Milwaukee is plagued by street takeovers--in which thugs literally take over streets and race illegal cars--but Mayor Cavalier Johnson won't allow President Trump to help. Instead, he just wants more federal money for housing, which he says will "curb some of this behavior." pic.twitter.com/HdsFA2BVQc
— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) September 5, 2025
Johnson was unclear about how more federal housing dollars would address street racing. Meanwhile, Republicans in the state legislature have asked the mayor how he plans to address increasing crime in the city, with an emphasis on getting more sworn officers on the streets.