Milwaukee County

Milwaukee County follows Wisconsin law on arrests, release, and courts. These rules are the same in every county in the state; the full set covers prosecutors, defense, and jails too.

Who decides release first

For most misdemeanors, a police officer or the jail can take cash bail under the statewide misdemeanor bail schedule. For felonies, a circuit court commissioner or circuit judge sets bail at the initial appearance. Wisconsin bars paid bail bondsmen, so sureties must be unpaid people.

Wis. Stat. 969.07Wis. Stat. 969.065Wis. Stat. 969.12Wis. Stat. 757.69(1)(b)Wis. Stat. 968.075(2m), (5)

Time to see a judge

A person who is arrested must be taken before a judge within a reasonable time in the county where the offense is charged. Wisconsin law sets no number of hours.

Wis. Stat. 970.01(1)

Money bail

Wisconsin courts may set cash bail. A surety must be a state resident and an unpaid natural person, so commercial bail bonds are not allowed.

Wis. Stat. 969.12

Courts

The circuit court in each county hears every felony and misdemeanor. Many cities, towns, and villages have a municipal court, but it hears only local ordinance violations punished by fines, not crimes.

Wis. Const. art. VII, secs. 6-7Wis. Stat. 755.045

Judges and magistrates

Voters elect circuit judges to six-year terms on a ballot with no party label. The chief judge of each judicial district appoints circuit court commissioners, who can hold initial appearances and set bail and must have been licensed lawyers for three years. Municipal judges are elected to terms of up to four years.

Wis. Const. art. VII, sec. 7Wis. Stat. 5.60(1)Wis. Stat. 757.68Wis. Stat. 757.69SCR ch. 75Wis. Stat. 755.01-.02

Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Municipal courts are left out of limited_courts because they hear only ordinance forfeiture cases. wispd.org returned errors, so the defense section rests on statute. Whether municipal judges must be lawyers was not checked; it doesn't affect criminal cases.

Pretrial practice

Advancing Pretrial lists it as a Public Safety Assessment site since 2016.

Advancing Pretrial Policy and Research, PSA sites list (page modified 2026-06-03)

• Milwaukee Police DepartmentMilwaukee city559,717 served
• West Allis Police DepartmentCity59,618 served
• Wauwatosa Police DepartmentWauwatosa city48,869 served
• Oak Creek Police DepartmentOak Creek city38,780 served
• Greenfield Police DepartmentGreenfield city37,076 served
• Franklin Police DepartmentFranklin city36,675 served
• South Milwaukee Police DepartmentSouth Milwaukee city20,084 served
• Cudahy Police DepartmentCity17,572 served
• Glendale Police DepartmentGlendale city14,630 served
• Whitefish Bay Police DepartmentWhitefish Bay village14,422 served
• Greendale Police DepartmentGreendale village14,351 served
• Shorewood Police DepartmentShorewood village13,433 served
• Brown Deer Police DepartmentBrown Deer village12,520 served
• St. Francis Police DepartmentSt. Francis city8,895 served
• Hales Corners Police DepartmentHales Corners village7,773 served
• Fox Point Police DepartmentCity6,507 served
• Bayside Police DepartmentBayside village4,305 served
• West Milwaukee Police DepartmentWest Milwaukee village3,966 served
• River Hills Police DepartmentRiver Hills village1,527 served
• Marquette UniversityUniversity or College
• Milwaukee County Sheriff's OfficeCounty
• State Fair Park PoliceOther State Agency
• University of Wisconsin: MilwaukeeUniversity or College

Agencies: FBI NIBRS master file 2025 batch headers; names from the FBI agency list, pulled 2026-09-29. An agency that serves several counties appears on each. Population served is the FBI's figure.