On a recent trip to Chicago, we found ourselves contradicting ourselves as we explained to friends that Minneapolis is safe. We live in South Minneapolis, and we have never referred to it as “unsafe.” We still wouldn’t. But it was difficult to explain how, in the past year alone, our house was broken into and a man with a knife fled through the front window. Then a dozen neighborhood vehicles had their windows smashed in a single night. A man was chased through our yard at 7:15 AM by an extremely large and agitated man claiming the chased man had broken into his car. Days later, the catalytic converter of our car was stolen. We added to the litany: we were blocked from using Nicollet recently because of an active shooter, one that drew armored vehicles and multiple snipers to the area of Alex Pretti’s murder.
We hadn’t intended to be shocking. Our friends, visiting from Brooklyn via Chicago, laughed when we defended our city as safe. Nothing similar had happened to them on the streets of New York.
The Stubborn Statistics
We’d like to see our local politicians as preoccupied with crime as they are with bath houses and whether our city codes have the correct gender-inclusive language. They may not have noticed, but unlike the rest of the country, nearly every crime category in Minneapolis is trending at or above where it was this time last year. If July 4th marks the heart of summer, there might be much more to come.
There have been a few disturbing examples lately that received little attention. On Sunday, one person was shot and killed and another wounded near the Wedge Coop. Police said one group fired on another. Then on Monday, three people were shot near University Avenue Northeast, one with life-threatening gunshot wounds. Multiple rounds of gunfire erupted, and several people were seen running from the area. Here’s what we typically learn about these shootings: “No arrests have been made and MPD forensic scientists processed the scene and collected evidence.”
The lack of concern from elected officials occupying City Hall is disappointing. They seem to have plenty of time to chatter on social media about causes they personally care about, but when it comes to families and victims impacted by shootings and other serious crimes in this city, they are quiet. One gets the sense they believe that if they simply ignore what is happening, it will go away. We recognize the city has initiated its coordinated Operation Safe Summer, but recent events give us reason to think its effectiveness will be marginal.
Violence interrupters, Community Safety Ambassadors, and other programs continue to show few results, but they are liked in theory and so they continue without question. If anyone claims these programs are effective, they’re implying the level of violence in the city would be even worse than current levels without them.
Preventing crime is complex. We understand there are many factors that lead to gun violence. One of them: gangs fueled by money earned from selling destructive drugs like crystal meth and fentanyl on our streets. They have turf to protect. Grievances are settled with guns. These crimes don’t fit neatly into calls for harm reduction and voluntary treatment.
There must be a more holistic approach, one that spans multiple agencies and treats the sale and use of these highly addictive and dangerous drugs as having consequences beyond the individual user. Before that user bought their packets, a string of laws was broken and lives were ruined to get it to them.
A friend of mine showed me live video from outside his apartment building a few weeks ago. Within fifteen minutes, at least half a dozen drug deals took place. Multiple calls to police were met with resistance. He was told that if they don’t allow the drug dealing, dealers will simply move somewhere else. Neighbors feel held hostage, unable to walk safely on their street.
These problems extend beyond the user. There must be a mix of incentives that encourage treatment, education, healthcare, housing, and job placement that can slow down shootings and drug use in this city. However, we won’t get there without sustained attention from elected officials, and that is currently absent.
The Citizen Responsibility
To be clear: highlighting these issues is more than a call for more police. As we see time and again, they are picking up shell casings after the shootings take place. They rarely prevent crimes, and the rate at which they solve them is terrible. More police could act as a deterrent, but that is but one factor. More police could also contribute to higher clearance rates. Crime victims deserve greater accountability from the system.
Family. Economic development. Jobs. Education and the opportunity for improving an individual’s life, these would seem as great, or greater, determinants of crime involvement than the current anti-violence programs being funded by the city and county.
Residents and politicians who stoke the flames of righteousness will need to stop turning their backs on the problem for progress to be made. At the recent DFL endorsing conventions, some delegates literally turned their backs on Sheriff Witt. This act of performative virtue signaling accomplished nothing other than showing that the DFL is bereft of ideas for how to address the daily harm victims of crime are experiencing.
It’s easy to oppose the police with a poster or a post on social media. It’s incredibly difficult to give someone a reason to stay in school, work hard, and start a family. Those actions take time. They’re difficult. And the sense of pride they elicit contains more private joy than flash.
The violence taking place in our streets. The dismissive attitude about it. The families forced to care for the wounded and maimed. These are causes worth our attention. Until we can change the current trajectory in a meaningful way, Minneapolis will continue to tread in the murky waters of stagnation.
