Police Chief Edward Flynn (left) speaks with Mayor Tom Barrett about a rash of carjackings in Milwaukee by juveniles already under court supervision. Credit: Samuel Caravana

By of the

Five juveniles suspected in yet another Milwaukee carjacking were arrested Thursday after a chase that ended in Washington County.

For Mayor Tom Barrett and Police Chief Edward Flynn, the arrests amounted to the latest case of juvenile offenders committing crimes while under lax supervision.

Four of the five juveniles had been released or escaped from supervision for prior armed robberies and car thefts, and the fifth's fingerprints were on a car from a dealership last month.

"Offenders who have multiple arrests, violate juvenile supervision standards, are on probation/parole and commit yet another crime must face real consequences," Barrett said in a news release.

"This is not happening and that has to change. It's clear, arrests alone, without meaningful sanctions, are not and will not deter juvenile crime."

According to Barrett's office, nearly 500 juveniles have been subjects in 703 arrests for car theft since Jan. 1, 2015.

Of those, 130 were arrested two or more times, 27 were arrested four or more times and two were arrested six times.

"None of these kids are new to this," Barrett said at a news conference Thursday. "If the message that we're sending them is to go home, it's only going to get worse. There has to be consequences."

Barrett said he wanted to see other government agencies, such county and state probation officials and the judicial system, stepping up to help with the problem.

"I think other units of government need to step beyond ideological rhetoric and start talking about problem solving," Flynn said.

Of the five suspects arrested Thursday, four are 15 and one is 17.

Of the younger group, one had been on county supervision for two counts of armed robbery, but stopped reporting to his probation agent April 18. One was on supervision for car theft and resisting arrest. One was charged with armed robbery March 26 and went missing from the Carmelite group home May 30. Another was arrested March 10 in Brown Deer on charges of carjacking and is on county probation for car theft and didn't show up where he was supposed to June 1.

The lax supervision of the suspects by government agencies that are responsible for overseeing people on supervision is a pattern, Flynn said.

"Everybody we arrest, sometimes it feels like, is already out 'on supervision,'" he said. "It's a running joke. Being on county supervision is not being on supervision at all, and the kids know it."

The 17-year-old and two of the 15-year-olds are connected by fingerprints to a break-in at a south side car dealership last month, during a rash of burglaries at dealerships in which thieves steal keys, and then the cars they start.

According to the Washington County Sheriff's Office, it was notified at 12:38 a.m. that Milwaukee police were in high-speed pursuit of a car reported stolen on Wednesday.

Milwaukee police Sgt. Timothy Gauerke said suspects, armed with a handgun, took a white Honda Civic from a 53-year-old woman about 1 p.m. in the 3500 block of S. 27th St. and fled.

Shortly after midnight, police spotted the car in the area of N. Hopkins and W. Burleigh streets, Gauerke said, and the chase was on.

More than 20 miles later, at Highway 164 and Tuckaway Lane in Richfield, the Honda got a flat, became disabled and the five suspects fled on foot.

Washington County deputies assisted Milwaukee police in the search.

About 4:45 a.m., a resident reported a suspect near Highway 164 and Monches Road. Police responded there and, with the help of police dogs, tracked and arrested all five suspects without incident.