Crime

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kirby96
Union Depot
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Re: City living trends and predictions

Postby kirby96 » April 8th, 2016, 12:27 pm

I generally fall into the camp that the headline grabbing 'crime is soaring' stories of the past year are largely due to crime rates coming off of historical lows (i.e. they probably don't represent some sort of structural change in crime), but man, apparently I haven't been following the topic too much this year. Some of the stats at the bottom of this story are pretty alarming. Apparently Minneapolis gun shot victims in Q1 are up 91% (?!?) to 65 over last year. North Minneapolis being the real story, shooting victims up from 17 to 48, so I guess 'rest-of-city' is flat at 17.

http://www.startribune.com/police-annou ... 375046181/

mulad
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Re: Crime

Postby mulad » April 8th, 2016, 1:06 pm

It could be due to a pretty small number of people changing their behaviors. In Richmond, California, it was estimated that about 70% of the shootings in the city (population 103,000) were due to 17 people.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-a ... mind?act=2

acs
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Crime

Postby acs » April 8th, 2016, 1:12 pm

I'd say it's a bit more simple than that. We've had relatively warm weather and an early spring. Yeah, our long cold winters suck but they sure do a good job keeping the riff raff cooped up and out of trouble. Thankfully so far this year murders are flat because, as one cop put it, "we've been blessed by bad aim". Hard to shoot someone when you're shivering.

nate
Landmark Center
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Re: Crime

Postby nate » April 11th, 2016, 4:14 pm

Apparently Chicago crime is way up this year, beyond just what is to be expected by seasonal variation due to warm weather, and a correlation exists between the release of the Laquan McDonald tape and a decrease in "proactive policing" measures by Chicago PD.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/gun ... o-release/

The troubling question to me is this: what if "proactive policing" is genuinely effective at reducing crime rates? I wish there wasn't a choice between racial justice and crime rates, but what if there is? I have a strong feeling which side of the dilemma most of our population will fall on.

Anecdata: there have been four separate "shots fired" incidents audible from my house in Midway in the last two months. There was one in the previous 18 months. It is scary.

kirby96
Union Depot
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Re: Crime

Postby kirby96 » April 12th, 2016, 9:55 am

The troubling question to me is this: what if "proactive policing" is genuinely effective at reducing crime rates? I wish there wasn't a choice between racial justice and crime rates, but what if there is? I have a strong feeling which side of the dilemma most of our population will fall on.

Anecdata: there have been four separate "shots fired" incidents audible from my house in Midway in the last two months. There was one in the previous 18 months. It is scary.
Well, I think a lot of people would say that there are a whole bunch of things we could do that would almost certainly reduce crime but we don't because they violate civil rights.

That said, it does appear that (at least in Chicago and Baltimore, from what I've heard) while 'pro-active policing' is declining, it thus far seems to have been replaced with 'nothing'.

Mitt SchIsaac
Block E
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Re: Downtown Crime

Postby Mitt SchIsaac » April 30th, 2016, 6:35 pm

This issue is very complicated and the solutions do not lie entirely with government. Cultural changes are also needed. Teenage sexuality is extremely taboo in this country despite a highly sexualized culture. Accepting that teen sex will happen and trying to prevent pregnancy would drastically reduce teen births. Attitudes towards education among the poor need to change. Again we're taking about a huge problem that extends way beyond this board and minneapolis saint paul.
True.

This is hard to talk about, but we also have to be honest that in the US this can be organized around racial lines. Unfortunately when people bring this up they usually are blaming the powers that be, the police, the government, for racism. While that plays a part (certainly to a huge extent in the past) we also have to ask Black and Latino communities to address gang culture, absentee fathers, and lack of property ownership. Also the whole police issue needs to be worked out before we can have a prosperous and happy North Minneapolis. This will probably mean the cops will have to enact reforms, but also we need community leaders, whoever they actually are, to make an effort to make amends. Unfortunately normal people run away from the topic of race, even when it is the minority communities that are the major source of disparate criminals, and so the only people who talk about it candidly are racists and extreme social justice folks (also racists). It will take a combination of government and social forces to solve inner city crime, and addressing the fact that it isn't Indian Mathletes who are doing the stabbings is step 1.

mnmike
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis General Topics & Development Map

Postby mnmike » October 7th, 2016, 9:29 am

This!

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... nepin.html

I have recently written to Frey and Goodman about this...I have noticed how it has gotten worse. All summer I was pretty much embarrassed that this is what visitors see as I walked down Hennepin each day...and it is worse at night. I am not sure we went a single weekend all summer without a shooting or stabbing in this area? Business owners are rightly concerned. I know safety meetings have been stepped up, and I have seen some ideas implemented to help. But it is just a mess. And we don't really want to just push it under the rug to a different area of the city either...have to try harder to get to the roots of the problems.

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amiller92
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis General Topics & Development Map

Postby amiller92 » October 7th, 2016, 12:08 pm

I am sure we went more than one weekend all summer without a shooting or stabbing in this area.

Let's stick to numbers and not hype and remember that year-over-year comparisons are noisy.

mnmike
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis General Topics & Development Map

Postby mnmike » October 7th, 2016, 1:00 pm

I am not trying to exaggerate, I am honestly not sure we did?...I will try to look up the numbers when I get a chance...but I saw Jacob Frey mention that stat a few weeks ago. Anyway, it shouldn't be ignored or brushed off as "oh it isn't as bad as they say". It is bad enough...certainly worse than the entertainment districts/downtowns in our peer cities. It's a problem the city has to delve into. A lot of people on this forum specifically seem to ignore this as an issue, or brush it away as hype or "suburban people being afraid"...well it isn't that. I have a good friend that frequents the Brass Rail...he has been locked in the bar twice since the start of summer because of gunfire outside. I have a couple friends who got caught in tear gas outside of the 90s a couple weeks ago because the cops were addressing some gang activity. Another acquaintance witnessed the shooting outside the library last week... This isn't just your "oh that's city living stuff" and it is getting out of hand. I have witnessed blatant drug dealing many many many times on Hennepin this summer in broad daylight usually walking around 6pm, and on 2 occasions saw guns involved (luckily not use!). Finally I spoke to a DID rep, before I could finish he cut me off and say "every day it is the same !" Said he calls the police but they don't do anything. Not good...needs to be talked about. Having as much civic pride as I do, this is very upsetting! Sick of it being brushed off....we should be embarrassed.
Last edited by mnmike on October 7th, 2016, 1:13 pm, edited 3 times in total.

grant1simons2
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis General Topics & Development Map

Postby grant1simons2 » October 7th, 2016, 1:08 pm

Guys, it's pretty bad. It needs to be addressed immediately.

acs
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis General Topics & Development Map

Postby acs » October 7th, 2016, 1:11 pm

It's not just that it's bad, I could deal with it if it was at a constant level. It's just that over my 4 years of living on Hennepin Ave it's gotten worse and that I won't tolerate in my neighborhood.

EOst
Capella Tower
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Re: Downtown Minneapolis General Topics & Development Map

Postby EOst » October 7th, 2016, 1:12 pm

Whether or not it's "bad," does anyone have an actual solution?

acs
Wells Fargo Center
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Joined: March 26th, 2014, 8:41 pm

Re: Crime

Postby acs » October 7th, 2016, 1:16 pm

If anyone had the silver bullet to stop gang violence they'd immediately get my vote for president of the United States.

mnmike
Wells Fargo Center
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Joined: June 2nd, 2012, 11:01 am

Re: Crime

Postby mnmike » October 7th, 2016, 1:24 pm

Sorry for my rant...but it is very upsetting to see! I know people on this forum are as big of proponents of Minneapolis as I am...we (as a city) need to figure out how to fix it! There is no one magic solution...but the start is bringing attention to it I guess. Which I am trying to do. A few of my friends and I have contacted council members so that they know we are paying attention and are concerned. Goodman and Frey have responded very quickly. Hopefully we will see some new ideas coming.

seanrichardryan
IDS Center
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Re: Crime

Postby seanrichardryan » October 7th, 2016, 3:46 pm

Watched a drug deal yesterday, just down the street from the guys passing a joint around. Of course I say the exact same behavior on Hennepin in 2005.
Q. What, what? A. In da butt.

mnmike
Wells Fargo Center
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Joined: June 2nd, 2012, 11:01 am

Re: Crime

Postby mnmike » October 7th, 2016, 11:17 pm

Oh okay...so everything is fine and it's the same as 05. Okay, we will just keep ignoring it.

PS. It's not the same as 05' or 10', and it's exactly that attitude of brushing it off that is making things worse.

EOst
Capella Tower
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Location: Saint Paul

Re: Crime

Postby EOst » October 8th, 2016, 10:07 am

You're right; by the numbers, things are actually better now than in '05.

mnmike
Wells Fargo Center
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Joined: June 2nd, 2012, 11:01 am

Re: Crime

Postby mnmike » October 8th, 2016, 10:25 am

Again....Go downtown. It's not better. You Can just keep pretending it's not a problem if you like. Numbers can be misleading...could be better in specific crimes or across the broad area, but the entertainment district and north part of nic are noticeably worse.

mplsjaromir
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Crime

Postby mplsjaromir » October 8th, 2016, 12:34 pm

Anecdotes are better than statistics.

mnmike
Wells Fargo Center
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Joined: June 2nd, 2012, 11:01 am

Re: Crime

Postby mnmike » October 8th, 2016, 12:58 pm

:roll: I believe if you look at the stats, shootings are way up. At least according to the police chief.


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