In recent years, there’s been a familiar back-and-forth between the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) and the neighborhoods: police encourage residents, organizations and businesses to take an active role in safety while the community sings a common refrain: the city needs more cops.

Neighborhoods do play a part, convening crime-and-safety committees, block clubs and public/private partnerships like the downtown Safe Zone Collaborative. As for more cops on the street: the first two classes of police academy recruits graduated in February. They’ll train for six months, and it’s too soon to tell where they’ll be permanently assigned, said Lt. Amelia Huffman, the MPD’s public information officer.

In January, the MPD began working with neighborhood groups on Neighborhood Policing Plans that will identify specific trends, priorities, strategies and goals — to be recorded and posted online — for the police and community alike. Some neighborhood groups and the police have sent out surveys and requests for input; contact your respective organization or precinct to participate.

The MPD is also switching to new software that should make full-year, neighborhood-level crime statistics — now next to impossible to tally — more accurate and available online, said Allan Knox, crime analyst for the MPD.
Undaunted, The Bridge used existing quarterly and monthly MPD data to crunch year-end totals of Part One crimes (see chart, page 9) for each of our ten neighborhoods for the past five years.

While these data are not 100 percent accurate, said Knox, they are the most accurate numbers available, and they do represent a 5-year trend in the neighborhoods.

That said, Knox and others caution to look behind the numbers, as well. The Bridge also talked with both police and residents to do just that.

Como

Highlight: From 2005 to 2006, theft from motor vehicles was down from 57 incidents to 42.

While violent crime seems to be declining, said James de Sota, coordinator for the Southeast Como Improvement Association (SECIA), the neighborhood group formed a safety committee at the end of 2006 to further reduce remaining crime.

DeSota said the committee has reached out to students; it is co-chaired by Jeremiah Peterson, the Minnesota Student Association’s (MSA) representative to SECIA. Peterson helped organize last fall’s Safety Walk, which brought students, University officials, and community members together to walk the area to pinpoint safety hazards. Peterson said his greatest challenge is motivating other students, whom he feels are oblivious to crime and safety issues.

On Feb. 6, as part of the Restorative Justice Community Action (RCJA) program, John Hartford made a public apology to the SECIA board for his part in a September 2006 party, at which he was cited for underage drink ing. Hartford said the RCJA process had “opened his eyes” to the fact that the neighborhood includes families and “actual community members.”

SECIA publishes on its website, www.secomo.org, a weekly list of crimes reported (from MPD crime maps) and their estimated location.

Marcy-Holmes

Highlight: From 2005 to 2006, assault was down from 43 to 38.

Marcy-Holmes experienced a significant increase in crime from 2004 to 2005, especially in robberies, assaults, burglaries and thefts, aggressive panhandling, and open drug dealing on the streets. While the exact reasons for the increases are complex, Tom Lincoln, chair of the neighborhood’s safety and livability committee, thinks changes in housing patterns played a significant role. Students moving to newer housing complexes left a vacuum that landlords struggling to rent sometimes fill with less desirable occupants.

Lincoln said the committee works with landlords to remove tenants from problem properties. In one case, Lincoln said the committee worked to revoke an owner’s rental license at an apartment building that had become a notorious site for flagrant drug dealing and illegal weapons. The tenants were evicted, and a significant proportion of the most visible crimes in the neighborhood disappeared.

Lt. Robert Skomra, commander for the 2nd Precinct, cited Marcy-Holmes as a model to other neighborhoods, calling it “well-organized” and “very effective” in responding to crime.

Nicollet Island/East Bank

Highlight: From 2005 to 2006, theft was down from 110 to 96.

While crime in this area has been and continues to be low, residents and business owners do report some burglaries, and, though rare, serious crimes do happen, like the murder in 2005 of Billy Walsh, a bouncer at Nye’s, 112 East Hennepin Ave.

“Everything on the East Bank is big buildings with security, and there’s always someone around,” said Victor Grambsch, president of the Nicollet Island/East Bank Neighborhood Association (NIEBNA). He cited some break-ins and attempted burglaries, but said such crimes are unusual in the area, especially on the East Bank. Some businesses have had problems with graffiti, but he said activity on the streets, and the existence of a 2nd Precinct substation on University Avenue, keeps crime down.

Quyen Tran, the owner of Pacifier, 310 East Hennepin Ave., improved their security system after a break-in when they first opened, but shoplifting (theft) is a much more regular problem, said Tran.

Nicollet Island resident Chris Steller was the victim of an attempted burglary in November. “The main thing was that they were so bold,” he said. “They were cutting screens and breaking in when people were home.” Still, Steller said that crime on the island is sporadic, and spillover from downtown or Marcy-Holmes “doesn’t amount to much.”

Prospect Park/East River Road

Highlight: From 2005 to 2006, assault was up from 9 to 16, and burglary was down from 89 to 77.

As in neighboring Como and Marcy-Holmes, crime spiked in 2005, with a slight decline last year. Using MPD crime maps, the Prospect Park East River Road Improvement Association (PPERRIA) found the increase tied to three new student housing complexes, Melrose Place, Jefferson Commons and University Village, around which students are primarily targets of crime, said PPERRIA president Joe Ring. As a result, PPERRIA is working with existing management companies and prospective developers to make improvements in security, lighting, parking and communication.

Ring said there’s a disconnect between homeowners and students when it comes to crime. For example, there’s been talk of forming a walking patrol, but people living in the older residential areas — where crime is less common — believe it falls to students to take action around student housing.

Ring said he would like to see more officers patrolling Prospect Park, especially around the large student housing complexes, perhaps through funding from the recently drafted University impact report.

University

Highlight: From 2005 to 2006, assault was up from 11 to 20, robbery was down from 35 to 23, and theft remained high (from 590 to 619).

While University crime has increased, the majority are nonviolent crimes like thefts of bikes, purses, backpacks, and laptops. Many of those crimes could be reduced if students better protected themselves and their possessions, said Skomra.

University of Minnesota Police Department (UMPD) Chief Greg Hestness agreed. “When they’re out walking, students are often on their phone, not paying attention, or have gotten themselves intoxicated, which makes them easy victims,” said Hestness. “We tell students they need to stay in lighted areas, walk in groups, and be very aware of their surroundings.”

Hestness and Skomra said students also need to be accountable for crimes they commit, like illegal drinking, partying, and the resulting criminal activities. Skomra is unsympathetic to students who complain they’re being unfairly targeted by “party sweep” patrols. “Those students don’t realize how [their behavior] detracts from the neighborhood, with all the noise, the urination, the vandalism, the sex in public,” he said.

Hestness believes the UMPD’s efforts to control underage drinking ultimately prevent students from becoming victims of violent crimes and accidents, especially those involving alcohol.

Cedar-Riverside

Highlight: From 2005 to 2006, rape was up from 8 to 12, robbery was up from 74 to 109, and assault was down from 60 to 45.

Serious crime has increased steadily in this area, but so have efforts to stop it.

Todd Smith, outgoing chair of the West Bank Community Coalition’s (WBCC) crime-and-safety committee, cited low-level drug activity, harassment, muggings and panhandling, as well as youths harassing businesses, throwing bricks, and wielding bats and knives on Cedar Avenue.

Luther Krueger, crime prevention specialist for the MPD’s 1st Precinct, said robbery was up especially.

In response, the WBCC has hired a part-time safety coordinator, initiated a block club (which Krueger trained) and added lighting at the Cedar-Riverside LRT station. Smith said Community Impact Statements — emailed by Krueger and returned by concerned community members — have been a major tool in prosecuting offenders. Smith supports the safety cameras installed last fall but said he understands why they’ve been controversial.

“Are people willing to sacrifice a degree of personal freedom for enhanced safety?” he asked. “This is a great neighborhood until you get clocked in the head with a brick.”

Smith would like to see a Safe Zone–like collaboration between security from the colleges and Riverside Plaza, but ultimately, he said: “What I’d like is more cops.”

Downtown East

Highlight: From 2005 to 2006, robbery was up from 6 to 14, burglary was up from 7 to 15, and assault was up from 3 to 13.

Livability crimes — like panhandling, littering, aggressive loitering, public drunkenness — top the concerns of Tom Hoch, chair of the Downtown Minneapolis Neighborhood Association’s (DMNA) crime-and-safety committee. “It undermines the feeling of safety,” he said. The DMNA adopted “community expectations,” the so-called code of conduct, last year, and Hoch said the number one priority is a cleaner downtown. “If it’s not clean, it suggests that no one is in control,” he said.

Hoch noted the area’s increasing population and said incidents are likely to go up because there are more people. “You have to look behind the numbers,” he said.

Krueger said residents should not fall into a false sense of security, especially in garages, where he’s seen plenty of burglaries. Leave nothing in your car: lock and alarm it, he said.

Krueger said the slow condo market has resulted in some units being rented or sold to drug dealers and even, in one instance, a suspected prostitute. He said condo associations. real estate agents and landlords need to take more responsibility for tenant screening and behavior.

Longfellow and Cooper

Highlight: From 2005 to 2006, robbery was down from 46 to 35.

Longfellow is the only Bridgeland neighborhood to see a steady annual decrease in crime. Shun Tillman, 3rd Precinct crime prevention specialist, said businesses along the Lake Street corridor — where he estimated that 35 percent of Longfellow crime happens — have “ramped up” against crimes with private security and off-duty police. Further south, the more residential areas see residential crimes like break-ins, especially of garages, Tillman said, but the rate is decreasing. “I’d like to say the message has gotten through and people are locking their garage doors,” he said.

Cooper, “the quietest of all five Longfellow neighborhoods,” said Tillman, follows the same residential pattern as the rest of Longfellow, but at a lower rate of incidence.

The Longfellow Community Council has an active and established crime-and-safety committee, said Tillman, although he’d like to see some new people join the “core group that comes on a regular basis.”

Seward

Highlight: From 2005 to 2006, assault was up from 29 to 34, theft was down from 308 to 188.

With higher crime rates around the north-end business district and quieter residential areas south, Seward is similar to Longfellow, said Tillman. The number one issue is robbery of person, especially getting off of buses or the light rail.

“Be aware, be alert, look at your surroundings,” he cautioned.

Joan Vanhalla, crime-and-safety staff for Seward Neighborhood Group (SNG), agreed that assault and robberies are the main concerns but added home burglaries to the list.

Vanhalla said communication between neighbors is key to keeping a safe neighborhood. Seward has quite a few block clubs, and SNG keeps an email list of 150 people. Though there are no formal walking clubs, volunteers remove graffiti, she said.

“Graffiti is a hard one to tackle,” said Tillman, but he said the SNG-sponsored art mural on the Riverside Market, 2823 East Franklin Ave., has helped reduce “tagging” on the building. “Graffiti artists have a code that they don’t paint over artwork,” he said.

Vanhalla said the issue of neighborhood crime can’t be solved without a strong partnership between the community and police, but she added that there aren’t enough police. “The hard part is when people start to feel hopeless and give up,” she said. “That’s what you don’t want neighborhood people to do.”

last revised: March 28, 2008

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