Uh and let me begin by patting you on the back. Uh it was about a year and a half ago when we embarked on our our search for a new chief and I said at that time that I wanted to have a police chief who was proactive. I wanted this department to be a proactive police department. I wanted a chief who could garner the support of the rank and file and I wanted a chief who understood the nuances of a multi-racial multicultural city. I felt those three criteria were extremely important uh to this city's success. over the last year and a half or the last 13 or 14 months, I think we've all seen that Chief Flynn has hit the ground running, has come in, has worked very very closely with the rank and file, has worked very very closely with the district attorney's office for which I'm thankful, has worked closely with the US attorney's office, uh, and that partnership I'm thankful for as well. He's worked closely, as has others in the department, uh, with the homicide review commission, uh, with church groups, with community groups. And what we've been able to do as a result of that, I think, has had really a significant turnaround in this city. That is extremely important to me. It is more important to the citizens of this city. I have said over and over again that my vision of crime is quite simple. I want grandmas to be able to sit on the front porch in the summer and I want their grandkids to be able to play in the yard in the summer as well. And we see these statistics today of crime going down in nine out of 10 categories. The one thing that the chief didn't mention uh but we'll hear more about it in the weeks and months to come is we've seen an increase in scraped knees in this city. Uh and the reason we've seen an increase in scraped knees is because more kids can play on the on the street in front of their house and more parents are comfortable having their kids play in the neighborhoods. That to me is very very important as well. The statistics tell a lot but if you look even deeper in these statistics they tell you I think an even more striking story. One of the areas that I've been involved in is the effort against illegal guns, the mayors against illegal guns. And if you delve into these statistics, you're going to see something that I think is quite remarkable. In 1999 in this city, we had 100 homicides that occurred as a result of use of a handgun. 100 homicides in 1999. Over the last decade, that number has fluctuated, but has pretty much stayed in the area between 70 and 100. Last year, there were 35 homicides as a result of use of a handgun. That's a drop of 65% from 1999. That comes as a result of an aggressive, proactive police department that's out there taking illegal guns off the street. And that's something I'm very thankful to the rank and file of this police department for doing. They have been out there seizing illegal guns. And that is something that is very important to the citizens of the city as well. Last year, they took 2,335 guns off the street. So far this year, 270, which is slightly more than the 254 last year at this time. We talked earlier this year about the reduction in homicides. And again, I think even more striking is the reduction in homicides for young African-American men. When I get a phone call at home, I'm always concerned about what's at the other end when it's the police department because most times it means it's a homicide. What we saw last year was not only a decrease in the number of homicides, but we saw a 65% decrease in the number of homicides of young African-American men. That is nothing short of astonishing. Now, at the same time, we've seen a more proactive police department. We have seen more stops by the police officers, and I'm thankful for that because they have been stops that have been productive. They've been stops that have really resulted in safer neighborhoods. And what we have not seen despite an increase in stops by the police department, we have not seen an increase in the number of citizen complaints. And the reason for that, I believe, is the citizens in this city want to have a safe city. They want to have a a proactive police department. And that's exactly what they're getting under the leadership of Chief Flynn and the great men and women who risk their lives every day. The men and women behind me who serve the Milwaukee Police Department. So, I want to thank them, each and every one of them, for being out there on a daily basis making this city safer. I want to thank the chief for his leadership. I want to thank District Attorney John Chisum for his support, President Hines for the work that he's done on the council to get us the resources for this police department. I want to thank the US Attorney's Office, the Homicide Review Commission, the churches, everyone who's been involved in making this a safer city. We're not done yet, but we are certainly headed in the right direction. Thank you.