Milwaukee’s Witness Protection Plan Dedicated

The murder of Maurice Pulley Jr. two years ago is helping prevent further crimes of the same kind in Milwaukee. In 2007, Pulley was fatally shot outside his home after he agreed to testify in court against a former assailant.

Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm has been working for two years to reinstitute a Milwaukee County witness protection program. On June 30 the program was dedicated to Maurice Pulley Jr., according to several media sources.

Chisholm announced last year that the pilot protection program had charged 20 people, mostly in domestic violence cases, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Mr. Chisholm received a $50,000 grant to the get program underway and has almost seven times that much allotted in the 2009 operating budget.

The program does not offer round the clock protection, but focuses on following up on and intervening early in a case.

In 2008, the year following the start of the program, Milwaukee’s murder rate dropped to as low as it was in 1985. Chisholm believes that, in addition to other mitigating factors, the new proactive approach in potentially violent crimes is responsible, according the Chicago Tribune.