The Star Tribune has an excellent article about the now defunct Gang Strike Task Force.
There's enough sludge to chew on for a while, but one of the more interesting segments deals with the information or misinformation, coming from the HCSO:
Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek, who with Campion backed the inquiries that brought the Strike Force down, says his department did not rely on the unit, "and now that they are gone, we do not miss them."
Stanek created a countywide antigang strategy with assistance from suburban police. He said violent crime in the county is down 29 percent.
Really? But wait in the same article:
In Minneapolis, though, homicides rose from four last year at this time to 21 so far this year. While violent crime is up over last year, it is "well within the average range for the past five years," said Deputy Police Chief Rob Allen. The increase still is unacceptable, he said, and the city is working hard to reduce it.
Which part is fact and which part is fiction?
Seriously, either violent crime is down or it's up. Or perhaps Minneapolis is no longer part of Hennepin County.
I know the administration reads this blog, please post on it and back up the claim.
There's enough sludge to chew on for a while, but one of the more interesting segments deals with the information or misinformation, coming from the HCSO:
Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek, who with Campion backed the inquiries that brought the Strike Force down, says his department did not rely on the unit, "and now that they are gone, we do not miss them."
Stanek created a countywide antigang strategy with assistance from suburban police. He said violent crime in the county is down 29 percent.
Really? But wait in the same article:
In Minneapolis, though, homicides rose from four last year at this time to 21 so far this year. While violent crime is up over last year, it is "well within the average range for the past five years," said Deputy Police Chief Rob Allen. The increase still is unacceptable, he said, and the city is working hard to reduce it.
Which part is fact and which part is fiction?
Seriously, either violent crime is down or it's up. Or perhaps Minneapolis is no longer part of Hennepin County.
I know the administration reads this blog, please post on it and back up the claim.
Violent Crime was down countywide through the end of 2009, though the final numbers will not be out until August from the BCA Crime Information Report. The Sheriff probably has some preliminary numbers from the cities.
ReplyDeleteYou can follow the weekly and ytd Mpls crime trends here. Reported Violent and Property crime are up and overall arrests are down. The arrests being down are probably related to jail bookings being down. http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/police/crime-statistics/codefor/arrests.asp
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. It shows a climbing violent crime rate for Minneapolis all year (2010).
1,719 violent crimes by this time 2009 and 1,849 this year.
I can't say for the rest of the County but Minneapolis is by far the most populous city in the county.