Police Records No Longer Open in Many Communities

Fear over multimillion dollar lawsuits has prompted many departments to strictly follow requirements in the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act that may or may not apply. And in doing so, they're violating the state's open records law.

A legal battle in Illinois over a $20 parking ticket could potentially cost a Chicago suburb tens of millions of dollars — and fear that the case could have implications here is prompting many Milwaukee-area police departments to drastically clamp down on how much information they’re releasing to the public. In a matter of months, police departments from Caledonia to Port Washington have stopped providing names of people their officers are arresting, ticketing or contacting, and, in some cases, won’t even release details on where a crime occurred because of the pending litigation in Illinois. We could see a closing off of Wisconsin’s open records laws — laws that are considered among the strongest in the country. “There’s the real …

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Stolen Credit Card Used at Best Buy

Fox Point police say someone used a stolen credit card to buy computers at RiverPoint shopping center earlier this month.

Fox Point police are investigating a report of a stolen credit card being used to purchase two MacBook Pro computers at Best Buy in RiverPoint shopping center at 2:50 p.m. on March 4. The credit card is believed to have been stolen at TJ Maxx in Brown Deer on Feb. 25, when a woman in her early 30s reportedly distracted the card owner with questions while another man stole her wallet. Immediately after the incident, two subjects were witnessed purchasing two MacBook Pro laptops for $3,000 at Best Buy. They also bought merchandise at the Apple store in Bayshore Town Center. Police are investigating the incident using footage from the store's surveillance cameras.

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FBI Seeks Suspects in 8 Credit Union, Bank Robberies

In one case in Wauwatosa, the two subjects robbed three telllers at gunpoint and made off in a stolen car, found burned a short time later. In Racine, the same bank was hit twice, two weeks apart.

Local law enforcement and the FBI are seeking suspects in at least eight credit union and bank robberies in the past month throughout Southeast Wisconsin, according to our partners at Fox 6 News. The FBI Milwaukee Division is seeking the public’s help in identifying these serial robbery suspects at seven credit unions and one bank, all thought to be related and committed by the same subjects. The robberies occurred at the following financial institutions, Fox News said: Anyone with information on these cases is urged to call local law enforcement or the FBI Milwaukee Division at 414-276-4684. In the Wauwatosa robbery, two men entered the Landmark Credit Union on Thursday, wearing masks and each with a gun. One of them robbed three tellers …

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OMGPD: Let's Get S'more Drugs, Nerds Shall Rule the World and More

It's been immortalized on radio morning shows such as Dave and Carole and Kramp and Adler ... here's this past week's installment of strange and incredible suburban crime, OMG PD.

Process Server Punched Out in Fox Point

A Fox Point resident refused to accept the papers that were coming his way so he grabbed the process server by the neck, repeatedly punched him in the face and kicked him in the groin.

Crime Corner: Woman Cited for OWI After Trying to Park in Two Different Driveways

A woman makes off with an 'armload' of items at CVS.

The following are summaries of reports from the Fox Point and Bayside police departments: Theft: A woman decided she could simply walk out of CVS Pharmacy with an armload of items around 10 a.m. on Nov. 16. When Fox Point police arrived, the manager told them a woman had taken a bottle of Viva La Juicy Parfum Spray, valued at $9.99, and left the store setting off the theft alarm. Little did the manager and clerk know, she was taking much more than just the spray. When the alarm went off, the clerk said she looked up and saw the “armload” of items that were leaving the store. Surveillance footage shows two women had come into the store and simply left about 10 minutes before the incident, "as if casing the store for the theft," the manager …

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Crime Corner: Drunk Driver Blows Through Red Light, Hits Another Vehicle in Bayside

Also in the reports: a car is stolen, a missing stroller is found, and fines are paid.

Bayside police received a call to the 400 block of West Brown Deer Road on Friday and found two vehicles near First Star Bank at 11:10 p.m. The first vehicle had two wheels on the sidewalk and two on the roadway. The driver, a 29-year-old woman from Pewaukee, was talking on a cell phone when officers arrived. The office asked her if everything was OK, she replied that she had just been in an accident, pointed to another vehicle parked about 60 feet ahead and said that the car “just hit me.” The driver was unharmed, but when she spoke, officers said her speech was slurred and her eyes were glassy and red. The officer walked over to the other vehicle and he could see that the passenger door and window was smashed. The passenger, a 29-year-…

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One-Legged Man Drives Through McDonald's, But Not Using the Drive-Thru

Man crashes into side of building, and McDonald's employee helps him out before he speeds off.

At around 7:15 a.m. on March 27, a one-legged man drove into the north side of the McDonald's at 8739 N. Port Washington Rd., then fled the scene after receiving help from an employee. McDonald's surveillance cameras caught the man as his GMC Jimmy backed through the parking lot, over the curb and straight into the building. His rear window was open and barely still attached to the SUV after the accident. As the video shows, the driver crawls out of the SUV and drags himself towards the back of the truck to check out the damage. A McDonald's employee, on his way to take out the garbage, steps outside and offers to help the driver get his wheelchair out of the back of the SUV, as the video shows he is an amputee. But on second thought, the …

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Four-Inch Heels Prove Bad Idea During Sobriety Test

A 31-year-old woman asks officer, 'Are we in Cudahy yet?'

Just before 3 a.m. Saturday, a 31-year-old Racine woman was pulled over by Fox Point police in the 8100 block of North Port Washington Road for going 50 mph in a 35-mph zone. When officers approached the vehicle, their report states, they could smell alcohol on the breath of the driver and her eyes were glossy and bloodshot — tell-tale signs of drinking. The driver was accompanied by a passenger, a 43-year-old woman from Franksville. Both appeared confused and asked the officers, "Are we in Cudahy?" The officer explained to them that they were actually in Fox Point, far from where the driver said they were trying to go, Racine. When asked if she'd been drinking, the woman told police she'd only had two drinks and a shot while drinking in …

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