MILWAUKEE — When District Attorney John Chisholm announced he would not run for re-election, his second in command had one thought.
“That I would be announcing to run for District Attorney,” Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern said. “I’m very appreciative of what John’s done and of course, I’ve worked closely with him over the years, and I think he’s done a terrific job. I’m ready to make my case to the community that they can put their trust in me.”
For the last 26 years, Lovern has worked as a prosecutor in Milwaukee. He’s raised a family here and he wants to make a positive impact on the crime issues facing the community.
“I have great love for this community,” Lovern said. “I’ve had a lot of involvement in this community outside the office so it really was an easy decision for me.”
The top priority for Lovern is safety. He feels the DA’s Office can play a role in not only holding criminals accountable but even having an impact on crime prevention.
“The District Attorney can have that impact by actually working with the business community to think about how public safety actually is something that we work on as a community from day one and not something that the system works on after bad things happen,” Lovern said. “Part of what our fundamental role is, is to not only respond to people’s bad decisions, particularly those that hurt others, but to do whatever we can to implement whatever strategies we can to prevent crime from happening in the first place. One of those important aspects of crime prevention in the first place is improving the economic plight for everybody in the community.”
To make that impact, he says the DA’s Office should work to support neighborhood centers like the Boys & Girls Club or the Urban Ecology Centers. Getting involved in unifying the community is part of an effort he’s already undertaken through Community Prosecution Units.
“I think the community could expend an expansion of some of the work we’ve already done in the area of community prosecution,” Lovern said. “John [Chisholm] deserves a great deal of credit for expanding community prosecution and the ways that we have taken our office and moved it outside the walls of the courthouse complex. It does enhance public safety because it better unifies communities and neighborhoods with law enforcement which is really key toward enhancing safety.”
Wednesday, the City of Milwaukee announced crime statistics from 2023. It included a drop in most violent crimes. Most notably, there were 46 fewer homicides in 2023 compared to 2022, a 21.4 percent drop. Though homicides are up 81.7 percent since 2018.
“People should feel safe in their daily lives,” Lovern said. “The way to do that certainly, traditionally and fundamentally, is to take a very strong response in the criminal justice system in the court system to those who are committing violent crime against other people.”
It’s something that would be a change from the action in the DA’s Office since 2015. According to reports from the DA’s Office, felony charges issued dropped 16.7 percent from 2015 to 2022. But it’s not for a lack of opportunity to issue charges. During that same time frame, law enforcement agencies referred just 3.6 percent fewer felony cases to the DA’s Office. Lovern says, if he’s elected, these numbers will increase.
“I absolutely do,” Lovern said. “One of the things we’ve done, even in the last year that was at my urging internally, was to improve the communication between law enforcement agencies throughout Milwaukee County.”
In the DA’s Office, they have trained and experienced law enforcement officers working as liaisons between every police agency in the county to assist attorneys get everything they need to move cases forward.
“I think we’ve seen that program work very, very well,” Lovern said. “That relationship is built to be even stronger and I expect that to continue moving forward in the days and years ahead.”
That’s not to say under Lovern, people can expect the DA’s Office to just throw folks in jail.
“We balance it by determining the type of conduct that someone is engaging in,” Lovern said. “Someone who is hurting somebody else deserves a strong response in the traditional fashion from the criminal justice system. Somebody who is more of a threat to themselves because of an addiction issue because of a mental health issue or because of something else going on that’s just out of character for them deserves to have a therapeutic intervention or some other opportunity to restore themselves that doesn’t need the weight and expense of the criminal justice system.”
And law enforcement won’t be exempt from the law. Lovern says he plans to hold officers who cross the line accountable.
“I will take a serious approach to anyone who violates the law,” Lovern said. “It’s particularly important for law enforcement officers because we put such trust in them and we give them such authority and we need them to exercise that authority in such an appropriate way. It’s important to hold them accountable in the times that doesn’t happen.”
Should there be enough candidates for District Attorney, the primary election would be on the ballot in August, with the General Election set for November.
“I’m ready to make my case to the community that they can put their trust in me and that I understand what I think the concerns of the community are,” Lovern said. “I intend to move forward and do everything I can to earn that trust and make this community even safer and healthier and more prosperous moving forward.”
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