Good afternoon. Uh I'm joined here by uh our award-winning district attorney, John Chisum. I'm also joined by Paul Sarah from Cleared Channel Outdoor. Uh the chairman of the public safety committee, Bob Donovan, as well as Alderman Jim Wikoviaak. Uh we're here to draw attention to a series of billboards in the community. Um we think they send an important message. As you can see on the picture of the billboard is a large picture of Victor Vez. Our goal is not to make Victor famous. Our goal is to make him infamous. As you know, he shot three of our officers last year. One of them, Officer Alex Arce, may never work again. The purpose of this billboard is to send the message that was firmly delivered by District Attorney Chisum and the courts that it's not open season on police officers. The second message is just as important. There are a lot of young men out there pressured to join gangs. There are young men out there who think they can prove themselves by impressing the leaders of gangs. This billboard gives the message that if you don't lose your life on the streets of our city in gang related violence, you may well spend the rest of your life in prison because of that same violence. We're spreading this message around the community. It is our hope and expectation that it'll be a cause for conversation. It's our hope and expectation that parents will talk to their children. It's our hope and expectation that young men who might be tempted to join a gang or participate in gang activities may draw from this the message that we're sending. Don't waste your life and don't attempt to attack the agents of law enforcement. I'm going to ask District Attorney Chisum to speak next. As you know, yesterday he received an award for the Community Prosecution Unit, which is in all sincerity a I think a uh a national model for how to connect uh prosecutorial resources to police resources, and it's one that we're pleased to be able to work with. DHSM, thank you very much, Chief. Life is about choices. Alex RC and Victor Velos came from the same neighborhood. They came from the same life experiences and Alex RC made a choice in life. He chose to serve the public. He chose to put his life on the line. And one of the things that I took from that sentencing. One of the most poant moments was when Alex described after he had been shot his fear that he was going to die in front of his own mother's house while serving the public. You know, Alex RC faced the same circumstances, challenges that many, many of our kids face. He didn't make the choice that Victor Velos made. And what our message is very simple. Don't make that choice. We'll stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you in your neighborhoods. We'll do everything in our power to give you every opportunity we possibly can, but you can't pick up a gun. You can't join a gang. You can't deal drugs. You can't arm you can't do these armed robberies. You can't engage in criminal activity. If you do that, there's going to be a consequence. And the consequence is going to be jail. It's going to be prison. And in the worst case, it'll be the grave. Uh our ultimate goal here is to create create safe communities where everybody is working together to make this a better, prosperous, healthier community. And you can't do that if you're picking up a gun. So again, let's make the choice that Alex RC made and let's work all together to make this a better community and the heroic manner that someone like Alex RC did. Let's not pick up the gun. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, I ne next like to ask Paul Sarah from Clear CH Channel Outdoors to speak. Uh, Clear Channel has been a real community partner with the police department. Whether it's missing children or wanted felons, uh, they've been a great help to us communicating to the public. And I'd like him to speak a few moments about this particular uh, issue. Thank you, police chief Flynn and all our Mr. Chisum. Uh, my name is Paul Sarah, last name spelled S A R A, and president of Clear Channel Outdoor. Milwaukee has entered a new era, one in which people will no longer tolerate the senseless crimes that occur all too often. As a lifelong resident and businessman of Milwaukee area, we can't sit back and ignore the senseless crime taking place in our wonderful city of Milwaukee. Chief Flynn and Mayor Barrett, as well as our council members, are leading the efforts to build a safer, more sane community. When we have people consciously making decisions to harm others in our community, they must realize, and these posters will send the message, that there are consequences to pay. Our elected officials and law enforcement personnel can only succeed if each member of our community takes up the challenge to take our city back and supports the efforts to build a true community partnership. Today, we send the message with these posters that the good people of Milwaukee own the streets and not the thugs. If you do bad things, you will serve the time. Clear Channel Outdoor has an ongoing commitment to supporting those efforts, whether targeted at gang violence, engaging the community to help report crime with anonymous tip lines, neighborhood patrols, or any other programs designed to make Milwaukee the best place in the country to live. Thank you very much. Thanks, Paul. I'd like to ask now the chairman of the public safety committee, Alderman Bob Donovan, to speak. Thank you, Chief. I can honestly tell you in the last year or so, I have seen a dramatic change in Milwaukee, in the police department, in the district attorney's office, and certainly in businesses and individuals willing to get involved in the fight against crime. I want to publicly acknowledge Clear Channel for their partnership uh with the Milwaukee Police Department and others to really take a bite out of crime to really step up and put their money where their mouth is. Uh that's important and that's the only way that things can really be turned around. I want to acknowledge the chief. Uh, I will honestly tell you, uh, I don't believe we've had, uh, uh, this kind of a chief, uh, aggressively fighting, uh, crime in the city of Milwaukee since Harold Brier, and I think we're all better off as a result. I'm very appreciative of his direction he's taken this department. I have seen a turnaround in the morale of officers, which is very important. John Chisum, I think, is a a fabulous district attorney and his vision with the community prosecution program is also making a difference. So, all of these partners, all of these entities working together, it is making the snowball pick up speed and people are getting on board and that's what's so critical. I've seen a huge increase in this area of the number of block watches, people willing to get involved. Those are all positive things. So again, thanks to Clear Channel and the Milwaukee Police Department for their great job. Thank you. Uh thank you, Chairman. I'd like to now have uh Alderman Jim with Koviaak say a few words. Thank you, Chief. Very briefly, I would like every young person that lives in this neighborhood to see that billboard when they contemplate their future. I want to thank Clear Channel for their donation. I want to thank uh uh the chief and the entire Milwaukee Police Department for all the all their dedicated staff that puts their life on their on on the line every day to uh protect the citizens of the city of Milwaukee. This this is a strong message and I want I want every young person in this neighborhood to see that. Thank you. Um and now we have a Steve Fent uh speaking for the Southside Organizing Committee. Thank you, Chief. Uh my name is Steve Fent. and with the Southside Organizing Committee. We're very pleased to see these billboards and want to thank uh Clear Channel for for donating them. I think uh District Attorney Chisum was very eloquent. I mean, people have choices in their life. I mean, this uh the the two the young man who was shot uh the young men that were the young police officer who were shot and and they came from the same neighborhood. We've worked in this neighborhood for a long time. Um and we are very pleased with the work of the police. the police are doing, the men that are out, men and women that are out there. Um, we have more citizens cooperating than ever before. Uh, the and the police and district attorney working together. We're we're just very pleased with all this and and we have now the business community coming out with this sign. This is great and uh we hope to keep moving forward. Thank you. All right. Thanks all. If you've uh got some questions, we can take a couple of questions. From your experience, Chief, uh what kind of something that really can have an impact on young men mostly joining gangs or is this mostly for perception reasons that this helps the neighborhood? Well, we've got six of these billboards around the the neighborhood thanks to Clear Channel Outdoors. No, it's in a genuine attempt at communication. Um, we want people to understand, as the DA said, choices have consequences and they're real. If you're 15 or 16 or 17 years old and you think in order to make your reputation, you've got to shoot somebody. Take a look at that billboard. 60 years. That's a lifetime. Now, it's one thing they're taking their own lives in their hands literally on the street. But it's quite another thing to think that the consequences of their actions may take them off the street for the rest of their lives. We are hoping, as I said earlier, this will stimulate conversation. You know, we need to give parents a little bit of uh tools to use to tell, you know, their son, hey, wait a minute. What are you doing? Didn't you see the billboard around the corner? And we're hoping that some of these guys, once we get past their tough guy bravado, do a little bit of a gut check here. Just how big a risk do they want to take to uh impress their friends?