August Meeting, part 2: HCSO and MPD and the car thieves

Posted on August 22, 2026 | Leave a comment

HCSO and the Car thefts and Juvenile Racers — Freeway Traffic Control

 Lt. Bryan Hermerding, HCSO,  introduced his colleagues, Sgt. Mike Vai, HCSO Auto Theft Task Force and Human Trafficking Unit, and Sgt. Mo Ibrahim MPD, Juvenile Investigations  Unit. The MPD Juvenile Investigations Unit just created the most recent Auto Theft Task Force. which coordinates with Hennepin County. 

Quast:  I’ve asked you to come in and explain your share of dealing with the kids and young adults who steal a car or a couple of cars  and then start racing, committing vandalism and other crimes  around the Metro area. 

It seems very strange that the car thieves so often manage to get out of the way before an MPD or UMPD squad can roll up. Can they hear your communications channels?  

Further,  we have been told in the past that  the MPD and UMPD are only allowed to give chase on under strict protocols.   I believe that when the stolen car gets on a freeway, any search and chase becomes HCSO’s job.  Now can you please correct my misconceptions and explain how HCSO and the MPD work together to get these kids under control? 

Lt.  Hermerding:  I think if we had the solution to that, we could probably patent it and make a lot of money.  All over the country, we’re seeing the same kind of thing: the revolving door with juveniles. 

I  would say that it’s not a matter of having  them having our radio channel.  The law enforcement channels that we use are encrypted.  I believe Minneapolis’s are as well, so being able to hear it in real time is probably not what they’re doing. 

Anytime we call for air support or anything like that, the helicopter and the airplanes can be tracked real time with flight tracking gear.   That could be something that they’re using to see if there is air support overhead. 

Quast:  Where is the MPD  on a chase? Where does the HCSO pick up? 

Hermerding:  Hennepin County does have the option to pursue people in a stolen vehicle. We tend to not do that just because anytime we have a high-speed pursuit going on, there’s a risk to the community.  There is risk to not only the suspect,  who is most likely a kid,  who is in the stolen vehicle.   There’s also a risk that the vehicle being used will  smash into another vehicle. 

About two years ago, we had a vehicle run over a baby carriage and a mom out walking.   The juvenile driver/suspect ran into the stroller. 

Unless there’s a violent offense or some other reason for us to be pursuing, we don’t.  If the vehicle is just stolen and that’s it, and we don’t  have any other information that these kids or suspects committed a violent offense, we  can pursue, but we most likely won’t, because of the danger pursuit poses to the community, to us, and to the suspect.   So we have done that in the past, but we try not to do that often unless there’s a significant  reason to do so. 

It’s just very unpredictable, and very, very dangerous for community members, especially at this time of year when  people are out walking all over the place. 

Also, when you are on the North side and South side and even here [in NE Minneapolis] those streets are tight.   If somebody is walking across the street, that could be it. We don’t want that to happen.   I can’t really speak to MPD’s policy.  

Ibrahim:  It’s similar.  We can’t pursue just based on a stolen vehicle report, but if it’s carjacked, involved in assault with a firearm or anything like that, we do have the ability to chase  after them. It’s got to be a violent crime that is involved. 

I think that in the partnership that we’ve created, Hennepin County has been an amazing partner.  They’ve actually helped the majority of the juvenile arrests in the last month or two, especially the juveniles who’ve been targeting the Northeast neighborhoods. That’s why you see a significant reduction in the damage to property cases –it’s because the partnership that we have and the arrests that we’ve made over the last few  months. 

We try to avoid pursuits when at all possible and use other tactics.  We can wait for that driver to stop and get out of the car, we can use unmarked  vehicles (undercover vehicles), we call them, to follow until the stolen car stops and pulls to the side or the road.   

Hermerding: We are also able to use our enforcement cars, which are those big cars that look like they’ve been used in demo derbies. We’ll use those to pin those vehicles in to make sure that they can’t flee, and then try to take the driver into custody.   Or we can wait until they go into a gas station or grocery store, and quietly go in and try to arrest them with as few issues as possible.    

So that’s the way tactics have evolved and are evolving that way all across the country. It’s not just Minnesota that won’t pursue for those types of crimes. It’s all over the country because it’s just not a safe thing to do. 

Quast:  I have to thank you for that. Thank you very, very much. 

Question (Speaker muffled) about air surveillance

Sgt. Vai: Continuing on air surveillance:  The criminal element may be able to see where  an aircraft is, but drones are smaller.  Of course there are some regulations about them, too.  You can’t just put a drone up anywhere and fly it.  That is a technology that maybe is harder to detect or learn info on.   It will be used  by the criminal.

Air support aircraft have FFA guidelines and the rules which the operators have to follow, which puts them on most radars. State patrol-run aircraft have to put their wing number and more on the public radar, which anyone with a flight app can find. 

Drones, however, do not have to do such a thing.  They are regulated by the FAA, so we do have to ask for permission for many flights, depending on how high we’re going and where we want to go.   We can’t just throw a drone up there because and maybe we’re putting in a flight line, but those do not have to be reported to any kind of radar or FAA system, and they do not show their location. 

It depends on the drone. Some are the size of my hand and some are the size of this table.  It also depends on their battery.  Like your car battery, it is affected by the  temperature that evening or that day.   If it’s a very cold day, then we have short flight times. Warmer days, we can stay up longer. Obviously, we can’t fly any drone 24/7.  Rain, snow, and other weather will keep us on the ground. We also do have tethered drones: they’re on a 20-foot, 30-foot power cord, so we never have to bring it down, but that’s for more of a stationary role.

Using them to chase a “clean” vehicle:  We could, if we have the right drone, yes.  We can also have one drone come down to recharge and another one take off,  if we have the equipment.   So in theory, yes, if everything’s going our way that day. 

Question:  I can’t remember if this is Hennepin or Ramsey County, but I imagine you hear that a little bit.

Vai:  We get confused with the Ramsey County CAT team a lot. [Carjacking and Auto Theft (CAT) Team]  The CAT team’s been around for a long time: it’s Hennepin County out there, Ramsey County out here.  The best way to tell us apart is:   we’re much better looking. 

In  Hennepin County, like you were saying, we have, we have partners that we collaborate with daily who are not necessarily in an agreement or a signed MOU or Memorandum of Understanding.  Our actual task force officially is Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office — That’s Lieutenant, Sergeant, three detectives, Minnetonka Police Department, one detective, St. Louis Park Police Department, one detective, and Edina Police Department, one detective. 

We’re hoping to add a couple more cities this year. But like I said, unofficially, our partners, the ones we collaborate with daily are MPD.  There are another 10, 15 agencies that are with us. 

Quast:  Thank you, that clears up a lot of speculation!

And last agenda item: 

2-PAC  MUST BUILD A BOARD!

I dug up the original 2-PAC charter — the one that is on file with the MN Sec’y of State’s office.    It’s strongly recommended that terms should be limited to 1 or 2 years.   Covid and sequestering interrupted that, but it’s time overdue to get back on track.  (ahem:  I started in January of 2020 and we need someone with fresh ideas sitting in this chair — no doubt you are well aware.)

Dan Miller is already working on Treasurer’s responsibilities, but we still need people to fill the chair, veep, and secretary’s roles.      I plan on staying until the places are filled, AND  won’t leave new  people before they’ve had time to fit the procedure to their view.     No one will be marooned.   New  people will  have other board members’ support  and their experience watching other committees.   I guarantee you that no single role requires years of experience.    The best part is that the entire program gets the energy of new people’s ideas and energy.   

Finally, two seasoned people  will be standing by, working with new people to develop their strengths. 

A board is outlined in the charter (not set in stone), but should include a Chair, a VEEP, a secretary, a treasurer.    It is recommended that the board should have 4 additional people attending Board meetings, to offer ideas, perspectives, and point out stumbling blocks, and to step up if a position is suddenly empty.   

SO:   8 people in total.     Our board will also have two people I’ve dubbed “Senior Advisors”   — people with experience on THIS board (ahem) or people with plenty of experience on other boards.  I’ve asked Karl Smith, who is a pillar of SE Seniors, and who held leadership positions with other groups (non-profit and academic) over his career.     Again, I assure you that no one will have to grope their way through on guesses and blind hopes. 

Let’s see a show of cyber hands.   What are you interested in trying?   We can have a private meeting if we have  at least a few people, and will build on that.   Contact me and we’ll move on from there.  

Emilie Quast, Member

MPD Second Precinct Advisory Council (2-PAC)

1911 Central Ave NE

Minneapolis MN 55418

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Posted in car theft, Juvenile drivers

August Meeting: HCSO and MPD and the car thieves – State of the Precinct: Part 1, STATE OF THE PRECINCT & Officer of the Month

Posted on August 22, 2026 | Leave a comment

Quast:  It is August 10th, it is 6.38 p.m. We have 15 people attending in person and another  5 attending online.   

Before we move to the rest of the meeting, I’m happy to report that we finally have another Lieutenant working in the Second Precinct.   Next month we’ll meet Lt. Anna Hedberg, who has transferred in from the 4th Pct.   She promised me she will be here next month.  

An HCSO speaker has been delayed, so we’ll start with 

STATE OF THE PRECINCT

2nd PCT 28 day Crime report

NIBRS   Crime Metrics
Crime                                                       2026               2025         3 yr. Ave. 
Assault                                                      78                     98                 90
            Incl. Domestic  Ag.Aslt                    1                      0                   1 
Burglary, B&E                                            30                    25                 30
Destruction/Prop.Vandalism                    155                  294               140
homicide, non-neg                                       0                      0                   0
Homicide, negligent                                     0                      0                       
Larceny/theft                                            177                  173                165
MV Theft                                                    82                     95                 87
Robbery                                                       4                       8                 11
        Incl. Car Jacking                                  1                       0                   1
Sex Offenses                                                9                      6                   7
Stolen Property                                             1                      1                   2
 Weapon Law Violations                               2                      2                    2
Shots Fired                                                 20                    17                  19 
Gun Wound Vics.                                         0                       1                   2                                                                                         

Quast:   The vandalism number is just amazing. It’s down by 139 from a year ago!   Everything else is either stat or down slightly,  but the numbers for vandalism are so far down. How come?  Got an idea, Chris? 

Hudoc: Nothing really jumps out for me on that.  I haven’t seen the numbers from the other precincts  to see if they’re seeing anything lower or higher, so I can’t really compare. It’s possible they’re just visiting another area instead of the 2nd Precinct, or there were some arrests made recently that have tamped it down or they’re just not that active.  

[Later he added:  I took a quick look at the citywide vandalism stats.   It appears they are down a bit across the board in Pcts 1, 2, 3, 5.   Pct, 4 had a slight uptick, but everywhere else was lower than before.]

Quast:  One other thing, Officer Hudok.  We also had a distressing notice in the paper about a shooting at the Stone Arch Bridge, about the middle of last week.  Did you get any feedback on that one?

Hudok:  I looked at the report on it and at some of the other information that came in.   The victim in it was somewhat cooperative, claiming not to have been involved in any part of it.  He said  that two groups of people had met up there, and he believed that one [group]  was shooting at the other.  He said he wasn’t involved in either of them. Whether that’s accurate information or not, I don’t know, but that’s the information we have so far from it. We’re still looking into it —  surveillance video and interviewing other people who  were in the area.   There were a few different calibers of firearms involved, and  a fair number of shots fired in that case too.

The victim self-transported to the hospital, and [forensics?] is  digging through camera footage,  trying to identify some other people who  may have been out there at that time. 

Quast:  The last thing that I’m asking Officer Hudok  to talk about, is the Officer of the Month program

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, Officer of the Month is awarded every month, in all five precincts.   Some of those Officer of the Month [OOTM] citations are hair-trigger responses to dangerous situations.   A lot of them are social service actions, when an officer responds with training and compassion to a resident who needs support of some sort.   The officer is cited for getting a person to the help they need. 

When you walk into the precinct, on the walls of the foyer, you’ll see walnut plaques with 12 name tags on each, hanging on the wall.  There’s one for each month, engraved with the name of the officer who received the OOTM that month.   There’s another tag, not in line with the others, which is reserved for Officer of the Year.  

I noticed about three years ago  that too many name slots were blank, and was told that  Lt. Hudok had been acting behind the scenes to get those plaques filled out. He found a company that will organize the whole program.   Lt. Hudok sends them the names to put on the name plates.  

It occurred to me, this man has administrative responsibilities.  He’s already very busy.  This IS something that really could be handled  by 2-PAC.   Our treasurer, Dan Miller,  agreed that this was something he could and should handle. 

The procedure will be that people who wish to contribute to this award or anything else that 2-PAC does, can make out a check and send it to   2-PAC at the Second Precinct.   That is:

MPD 2-PAC.  

1911 Central Ave. NE,   

Mpls, MN 55418.   

Our treasurer will take care of the deposit and send you a thank you note to let you know it arrived  at the right place. 

This is not an expensive program; you can cover the whole year for just around a hundred dollars.  But there are other things that 2-PAC used to do (before COVID) that just haven’t been happening.  We did keep up the December 24th buffet, with generous donations from 2nd Precinct restaurants and financial support from residents.    

BUT 2-PAC did NOT keep up supplying food to Precinct events because there weren’t any Precinct events  during the early Covid years. We now have events (Open House, Open Street events, and others)   so  has to be turned around. and we now have a procedure in place to support it.

OFFICER OF THE MONTH

Lt.Hudok introduced  the most recent Officer of the Month 

Lt. Hudok:   I’m still taking July nominations. I usually wait until early in  the following month to give people a chance to look at every report  that comes in which might be relevant to a nomination.  I  have June’s citation here. 

The OOTM  was awarded to Officer Joshie.   He’s  one of the officers on the overnight watch, from 8:30 PM to 6:30 AM, aka the Dog Watch.

The citation states:  Officer Joshie played a crucial role in three incidents during the month of June. On June 16th, he responded to a jumper on the Hennepin Ave. Bridge.  

While another officer attempted to make contact  with a person in crisis and build rapport, Officer Joshie tactically positioned himself in case this person attempted to jump.  Minutes later, the party did in fact attempt to jump from the bridge, but Officer Joshie was able to pull her to safety. 

There is zero doubt that this person would have perished if not for Officer Joshie’s decisive actions. Officer Joshie and two other officers were nominated for Lifesaving Awards for this incident. 

On June 22nd, Officer Joshie responded to a shooting at  22 University Avenue Northeast. Upon arrival, he quickly assessed the scene and located a male victim suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest.  Officer Joshie immediately evaluated the victim  and determined that he was experiencing  agonal respirations and had no detectable pulse. Without hesitation and despite the dynamic nature of the scene, Officer Joshie immediately initiated CPR while remaining aware of the evolving circumstances around him. 

His decisive actions ensured that lifesaving measures  were initiated without delay until the victim could be transferred to responding EMS personnel for transport to HCMC.  Officer Joshie’s ability to rapidly assess the situation,  remain composed under pressure, and immediately provide lifesaving care demonstrated exceptional professionalism. 

Then the very next week on June 29th,  Officer Joshie responded to an assault where one party was attacked with a knife at 501 East Hennepin.   Upon arrival,  [Officer Joshie]  quickly identified the suspect  who immediately fled on foot. Officer Joshie pursued the suspect and successfully apprehended him after a foot pursuit.   The suspect was subsequently booked into the Hennepin County Jail   for second degree felony assault.

Officer Joshie consistently demonstrates initiative, professionalism, and dedication to the mission of the Minneapolis Police Department.   In the month of June, his actions exemplified this.

Performing life saving actions in two separate incidents and apprehending a violent criminal in another shows the dedication Officer Joshie has to the citizens of Minneapolis. 

As one of the senior officers on the shift, he serves as a mentor and role model for newer officers,  leading by example through his work ethic, sound judgment, and willingness to act  in critical situations.   In response, his supervisors nominated Officer Joshie for June Officer of the Month.

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2-PAC July Meeting, Part 1: Chief Jason Ohotto, MPRB Police

Posted on July 21, 2026 | Leave a comment

Emilie Quast :  It is July 13th  at 6:36pm.   Our guest tonight is Chief Jason Ohotto, who leads the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Police.   

I invited him because last year, 2025,  we had a very disturbing late night July 4 gathering on Boom Island in the 2nd Precinct.     This year, it was quiet.   I want him to explain how the MPRB-PD got things so well contained this year.   What did they do to make all the difference?  I want him to take some credit for what he and his officers accomplished.  Also, if there might be ongoing problems, what should  2nd Precinct residents be on the lookout for?

Chief Ohotto:  I’m the Park Police Chief. I’ve been in this role for 13 years,  and I’ve been with the Park Police for a little over 30 years. I’m proud to say that  I also live on the East Side in the Waite Park neighborhood. I formerly  lived in SE Como for several years. 

I’ve presented to 2-PAC at least two or three other times before. I’m happy to be here.   I’ve got mostly good news to share.

I’m going to go through just a very short slide deck; this will be about five or six slides.  Then I’d like to spend the rest  of my time  just responding to questions you might have.

 I always like to start with a little bit of an explanation of what the Park Police is and why we exist. 

The story of the Park Police is really the story of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.

The Park Board is a semi-autonomous and independently elected board.   It’s responsible for acquiring, developing, operating parks across  the city of Minneapolis. 

The Park Board’s been in existence since 1883 and the Park Police Dept. came into being just a short time after that.   We serve the Park Board’s mission, operating parks across the city of Minneapolis. If you’re interested, you can find the Charter authority in the Minneapolis City Charter, Chapter 6, Section 2E.   It states  that the mayor must appoint police officers to serve the Park Board at their request and that those officers will be paid out of the Park Board’s general fund.

Some ask  why Park Police officers wear Minneapolis Police uniforms.   Under the City Charter,  we are Minneapolis Police Officers.   We’re appointed by the Mayor, and then assigned to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, who are our “bosses”.  I don’t directly answer to the Minneapolis Police Chief or the Mayor or the City Council, although I work with all of those people very closely.

My boss is the Superintendent of Parks,  Al Bangoura,  who is the City Manager for the Park System.  The Superintendent is appointed by the elected Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.   

Most of you who live in the Second Precinct  are represented by Dan Englehart. Jason Garcia represents East Marcy Holmes, from 35W to 2nd Ave NE   https://minneapolisparks.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=f6f46d2b57774f71b16c67faa3d31079 In addition to Commissioners Englehart and Garcia,  there are three at-large commissioners:  Meg Forney, Amber Frederick, and Tom Olson, who also represent the east side along with the rest of the city. That’s a total of nine  Park Commissioners for the city of Minneapolis. 

The Minneapolis park system today is comprised  of 186 parks that span more than 7,000 acres. 

There are more than 30 million visits to these  parks every year.  Two-thirds of those visits take place in our Regional Park system.   Neighborhood parks are the smaller parks — typically, they’ve got an athletic field and a recreation center. Think of Northeast Park or Audubon Park versus the regional parks, which are the big, more natural  resource-based expansive parks like Minnehaha Regional Park, the Mississippi River Bank.

Within the park system, we’re responsible for  55 miles of roadway and about 50 recreation centers.  

Every year there are over 2,000 permitted special events in the park system.  We police about 400 of those 2,000 permitted events, providing event security.

 We just got through the 4th of July “Red, White, and Boom” events.   The weekend before that was Twin Cities Pride, where Loring Park saw hundreds of thousands of people over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  We are the police force that provides event security when those events take place in the park system.  

The park board’s annual budget is about $160 million.  $114 million of that is the General Operating Fund that’s mostly derived from property tax revenue, and then I broke down the rest of the remaining.SEE/GET CHART

And then if you look on the map (see,  https://www.minneapolisparks.org/about-us/maps/)   on the right side of your screen, everything that’s green  is park property.  The green adds up to about 17% of Minneapolis geography.

Today’s Park Police is  budgeted  for 35 police officers,  including the Park Police Chief, two lieutenants who are work-group managers, six patrol sergeants who are first line supervisors, two detectives, and 24 officers. In addition, we also have Park Patrol Agents whose work is similar to MPD Community Service Officer.   Many of them are aspiring to become police officers or are in college or recently graduated from college.  They provide a lot of support work within the police department and low level enforcement like animal control and parking issues.

DEMOGRAPHICS  BY the numbers:  At the end of 2025, we had 50 employees, 32% were employees of color.   The Park Police Department’s annual budget is $8.5 million, or 7.4% of the park board’s general fund.  Contrast with MPD’s $230 million, today.

The Park Police only covers two shifts a day, starting at 7 AM.  We’re supposed to end at 1 a.m.   So from  1 a.m. to  7 a.m., if there’s an emergency within the park system, the MPD would respond to that.   In addition, we share nearly all support services including 911 communications, property and evidence, records management system, crime lab, all of the behind the scenes services needed to make a police department run. There is no duplication of service.  Our officers attend much of the same training as the MPD, including the police academy, the range, and in-service and pre-service training. We do that because we want to make sure that when we’re delivering  service out on the street, next to our MPD colleagues, those services are delivered seamlessly.  The MPD will investigate a homicide if it occurs in the park system. Thankfully, so far this year, we have not had a homicide in the park system, although last year we had four. 

The Park Police does investigate most other crimes that occur in the park system. That has changed a little bit since 2020. Before 2020, MPD took a greater role in investigating  major complex cases.  With the contraction of officers since 2020,  we’ve taken back some of the cases that historically were investigated by MPD, but the nature of the relationship and the reality of policing in Minneapolis is that MPD frequently will arrive on a park police emergency, and park police officers will frequently arrive on an emergency outside of the parks.  That service needs to be consistent, professional and seamless, no matter who shows up.

Headline events in the Second Precinct Parks

One of our most challenging locations over the last18 months or so, has been late night activity, along Main Street SE and on to the Stone Arch Bridge. We’ve had large groups of young people showing up very late at night, involved in disruptive behavior, fights, fireworks, sometimes firearms.

We did have a couple of shootings on the Stone Arch Bridge  in 2025.   That Bridge is probably the most traveled stretch of trail in the state of Minnesota. This late night activity has been very concerning and disruptive to residents on both sides of the river.  I’m not going to take much of the credit for what has changed there this year, and frankly, we’re still dealing with challenges in this area.  This isn’t over, but there has been significantly less crime and violence on the Bridge compared with what we saw last year after the bridge reopened.

I’ve worked very closely with the MPRB Community Connections and Violence Prevention Dept., to get violence interrupter presence into that space, particularly on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. We’ve got Park Board staff working from late evening to the wee hours, doing proactive engagement with the young people that are showing up there, and enforcing standards of conduct in a way that the police typically would not be successful at. I think that that has dissuaded a lot of activity. 

In addition, the MPD, Inspector Fisher, Lieutenant Hudok, all of our partners at the 2nd Precinct are very aware of what’s going on there and have been great partners.  Councilmember Rainville’s office has been extremely involved in the work that’s going on there.  If  Councilmember Rainville is in the room he can speak later in the Q&A about the violence interrupters that are under contract to do work there.  In addition, folks in other parts of the city enterprise are helping out, too. We get a lot of support from the traffic control agents who do parking enforcement in this area. All of these strategies have helped tamp down the disruptive activity  that’s been taking place.  As I said, we’re not all the way through it. We’re still dealing with challenges down there. I’m just pleased to report, though, that the levels of  violence this year  versus the second half of  last year are lower.

BOOM ISLAND

In June, 2025, we had a mass shooting at Boom Island.  One person was murdered and  five other people sustained gunshot wounds. This was a large birthday party that had gotten kicked out of French Regional Park in  Plymouth around nine o’clock at night, and showed up at Boom Island, unpermitted and off of our radar.    There was some posting about this birthday party on social media that drew rivals to the area. A gunfight erupted.  MPRB officers responded with the 2nd Pct. 

 Officers acted heroically.  We had officers both from the Park Police and MPD who received lifesaving awards for the emergency care they rendered during that mass shooting. MPD Homicide investigators did remarkable work. Three people  were charged in this case.  The person who caused the death of the young lady was brought to justice and pleaded guilty.  

So, you know, that certainly was a concerning incident, but it was not the norm for Boom Island.  If you look at the history of crime for Boom Island, it’s not a place that has high levels of trending crime.   BUT, it’s an easy to access, very large space with a large  parking lot.     The possibility for more of these gatherings, these unexpected, illicit late night gatherings became really concerning to me.  

I worked with CM Rainville on it.   We decided to modify the parking limitations at Boom Island. So it used to be that you could park at Boom Island until 10:30 at night.  Very often, picnics were permitted until 10 or 10:30 at night, which meant people weren’t actually leaving until after 11.   We modified the times and made the entire parking lot No Parking  after 9PM.  Then we enforced that by closing a gate.  So the park is open. People can use the park until midnight by ordinance  Developed parks are open from 6am until midnight. But we are limiting the parking in a way  that hadn’t been done prior to last year at Boom Island.And that has brought considerable peace to that neighborhood. And I wish we didn’t have to take things away in order to make them safe, but in this case, limiting parking has been a significant game changer in what’s going on   at Boom Island Park.

I’m also happy to report there’s no single Second Precinct park that has experienced a crime surge or trend so far this year. Our calls for service in the second   precinct are slightly higher than the last couple of years. We’re at 666 so far this year.  At the same point last year. We were at 624. The year before we were at 610.And serious   violent crime, which for me means rape, robbery, homicide, and aggravated assault are also about  the same. We’ve had five reported crimes so far on the east side this year. And we had four last  year and four the year before.

QUESTIONS Questions? Karl Smith has raised his hand. 

Smith:   Two questions for you. As a southeast, long-time southeast resident and long-time bicyclist, I really appreciate the parkways.  I bike them regularly.  One question is about the posted speed limit is 25.   On West River Parkway, commuters are traveling 35 to 40 miles an hour.  That  makes it dangerous for us crossing the Parkway.

Second Question:  There’s been an increase in the number of non-compliant e-bikes. They’re really not e-bikes, they’re motorcycles on the parkways, and those things are scary.   They come whipping by.   Is there any chance chance there’s going to be some enforcement of these non-compliant  nominal e-bikes, which are actually motorcycles?

Ohotto:  First of all, the Park Board did change the speed limits on the parkway from 25 to 20 a few years ago now.  So historically, they had been 25, now they’re all 20.  The reality is that nobody is driving 20 miles an hour.

We field a lot of complaints around aggressive driving across the park system.  In response to those complaints last summer, we finally hit a staffing level where I was comfortable assigning an officer to do traffic enforcement over the summer months.  We expanded that pilot from last summer, when it was only over the summer months, to it’s been full-time since April,   and it’ll be a six-month assignment over the course of the summer.

The officer who’s doing that traffic enforcement is doing an outstanding job. There are frequently days when he comes in with around 15 citations for speeding, which is a significant number in the park system.  

Then he’s going to wherever we’re receiving complaints. So his assignment is pretty much complaint-driven.  He’ll go there.  He’ll do traffic enforcement until folks figure it out.  Then he’ll go to the next focus.

 So we are doing more traffic enforcement to get  the speeds down. 

We’re up against a challenge in that the parkway system, the 55 miles of roadway that constitutes the parkways, was designed and constructed  close to 80 years ago now.  Today, we would never design and construct the parkway system in the linear way that it’s built,  because it just lends itself to speed. You can drive down West River Parkway from Minnehaha Falls to Broadway Avenue North, and I think you only hit one traffic light at Plymouth. We’re also trying to work with our city partners in figuring out ways to do some traffic calming, and maybe, when appropriate, redesign the roadbed of the parkways.  

That’s tremendously expensive, so it’s not going to happen quickly, but we’ll put some natural bends and curves in these roadways to slow folks down. In the meantime, we are doing some speed enforcement. 

The city is also expanding  their enforcement, their camera enforcement pilot.  They got authorization from the state legislature, I think it was two years ago, to install these traffic enforcement cameras.  There’s a handful of them across the city, and that is also being expanded.  We’re hopeful to get some of those on the parkway as well.

The e-bike stuff is a can of worms. I have to say, frankly, I don’t have staff to do any focused or targeted enforcement on the e-bikes that aren’t really e-bikes.

Yet I know that they are causing a lot of trail conflicts, especially in the park system.  I do think that there’s work being done at the legislature to provide some better guidance and classifications around the buckets that these different machines fall into.  

If you’re driving an electric motorcycle that can go 50 miles an hour, even if it has pedals on it, that should probably require some sort of a license, and both a license for the driver and then a license for the vehicle. 

I think we’re getting there, and I think it’s happening at a quicker pace now that we are seeing more trail conflicts, but we’re not in  position yet  to be able to do much enforcement. 

Another question from Dan Miller:  

Miller:  Chief Ohotto, Thank you so much for the work you and your officers do.  It’s deeply appreciated. 

I live at 22nd and McKinley, and it’s about a block off of Stinson Parkway.  I have a perfect view and over the past 10 years have been able to really basically eyeball the speeds that people are moving on Stinson Parkway. 

You do the 3-1-1 calls and you get the speed wagon out or an officer  out.   I know that you’re  shorthanded, but we could really use some help this year.

 I’d just  like to say that some people do drive 20 miles an hour, myself included.  By personal example, I think we teach people to do that.

I’m very excited that 2028 we are planning a street repaving for Stinson Parkway.  Hopefully we could do a little bit more than just repaving and ADA enhancements to try to get the speeds down on there.  I would appreciate more attention on the parkways per se. 

I just sent a fairly lengthy letter to Dan Englehart, my commissioner, and maybe you’ll be hearing a little bit about that.  It’s not so much in your domain, but it’s in really the design and what we can do in the next couple of years to see some improvements.

Ohotto:  Thank you.  Like I said, we’re trying to do more traffic enforcement. We’ve got this assignment that’s spread throughout the entire city.  35 officers divided across two shifts means I  typically have one supervisor and three squads on during the daytime and five squads and one (28:41) supervisor on during the evening.  In summer, those officers are running call to call to call.  It’s not that we’re ignoring your complaints. It’s that we have a staffing  situation that requires us to prioritize  life-safety stuff first.  

Typically, we can do more in the fall and winter seasons, but spring and summer are really tough around here.  Our workload increases by 300 percent in July versus what it is in the  off-season, and we don’t get to flex the number of people that we have working here. We’ve got what we’ve got.

I do think, though, if people are really serious about changing the driving behavior on the parkways, it requires a change in road design.   If you go to any of these parkways you’ll see  they are built for speed, they are straight, they are long, they are linear, there’s no traffic control devices.   I think rather than throwing human resources at this problem,  we need to throw some design resources and reconstruct some of these parkways in a way that slows people down naturally so you don’t have to have a cop sitting out there with a radar gun.

I’m hoping we can get something accomplished by 2028 when this is planned to have a resurfacing.  We’ve got a few years here that hopefully we can get some ears on it. I just wanted to alert you that people are trying.Thank you.

Quast:   Gail has a question at Monroe Village.

Gail here, a question about Park Police policy making  compared to Minneapolis police policy making. Something that’s been in the news quite a bit in the last week or two brings this to mind.    Drones have come up as a big controversy for  Minneapolis police.  Are Park Police policies joined with Minneapolis Police policies,  or do you do your own policy making? 

Ohotto: We do our own policy making. We’re a separate police agency.

There’s a lot of mandated policies by the Minnesota Post Board where we have to  mirror model policy language, but that being said, because we train so closely with Minneapolis, we very often, to the extent possible, try to mirror operational policies of the MPD.

Bonniville:  Has the topic of drones come up for park police? 

Ohotto:  No. We don’t have anybody to fly a drone. We barely have enough people to drive the squad cars, so we don’t have any drones.  We’re not getting any drones. 

In certain circumstances, when we’ve needed support for a missing child or something like that, we have asked for assistance from the Minneapolis Police Dept.  and they have provided that support.

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2-PAC July Meeting, part 2: State of the Precinct, Questions and announcements

Posted on July 21, 2026 | Leave a comment

STATE OF THE PRECINCT

NIBRS   Crime Metrics   28 days ending July 13
Crime                                                       2026               2025         3 yr. Ave. 
Assault                                                       91                      7 0                87
            Incl. Domestic  Ag.Aslt                   13                        7                  8 
Burglary, B&E                                             20                      33                27
Destruction/Prop.Vandalism                     106                      54                76
Homicide, non-neg                                       1                        0                  0
Homicide, negligent                                     0                         0                       
Larceny/theft                                            149                     158               172
MV Theft                                                     55                      59                  69
Robbery                                                        3                       6                  12
        Incl. Car Jacking                                   0                       1                    1
Sex Offenses                                                7                       7                    6
Stolen Property                                            1                       0                     2
 Weapon Law Violations                             4                        8                      7
Shots Fired                                                27                      35                   26
Gun Wound Vics.                                        8                        3        6                                                                                                   
Quast    This is the last 28 days of statistics. 
Assault, as you can see, is up a little bit.  Burglary, Break and Entry  down a bit.   However, property vandalism and destruction is way up.I now understand that has more  to do with stealing cars.  Homicides were fairly calm.  Larceny theft is holding steady.  I  think the vandalism is tied to car theft. 
I’m not sure. Chris can correct me. Shots fired is up.  With July 4th, I’m not going to worry about it too much, but  I am concerned about motor vehicle theft and rise in vandalism. So, Chris, do you have a comment?  

 Hudoc: It’s the same pattern  that we’ve been seeing recently with the juvenile auto thefts and attempted auto thefts.   Some of those vehicles are actually taken.  Some are not, but they attempt to steal it and damage it in the process.

Quast: So It ends up getting two charges, right?

Hudok  If it’s a completed auto theft, it should just be that.  If it’s an attempted auto theft, it would be coded probably with that. If there was damage to it, that would be damaged auto with a notation of attempted auto theft to it.That should be two separate  offenses either completed or attempted with the damage.

Quast:  Karl Smith has a question 

Smith:  Last week, all of my neighbors on both sides of 19th Ave SE between Como and Fairmont had their car windows broken,  sometimes more than one window.   I thought that was kind of diminishing, but now they’re in my neighborhood.

Hudok: Yeah, they seem to move through different neighborhoods for whatever reason. Maybe it’s they don’t want to spend too much time in the same one and, risk  getting caught there. If  they see valuables or they think they see valuables in the vehicle, that’s always an attraction.It has gone down somewhat from earlier this year, but  we still do have the incidents of people just randomly  breaking vehicle windows. There doesn’t  really seem to be a desired attempt to get into the vehicle or take anything from it.  It’s just simply causing that damage. 

Smith:  That seemed to be the case here.  Nothing was taken from inside any of the vehicles.  Several of the people at my Wednesday Breakfast Club had their car windows smashed.

Quast:  Okay, any other trends you want to talk about, Chris?

Hudok: Nothing that comes to mind, but you  mentioned the Fourth of July with, obviously, an increase in some incidents due to the holiday and the weather 

Marie Meyer:   I have a question.    I was just in California.  Because of the fires they have,  they said no fireworks. And then they  had the drones identify which homes, which residences fireworks were coming from.  was a fine then sent to the property owner. 
But they were able to find the exact  address where  these fireworks were being shot up.
 
Hudok :  That it makes sense because  most fireworks complaints we get, by the time the squad is dispatched, and gets there, it’s pretty much over with, right? 

But I suppose having a drone up in the air, they might see where that came from, go back, look at the video, triangulate from the drone’s position and know exactly what residence that came from. 

Meyer, As Gail was talking about drones, I was thinking that  if our shot spotters, could  home in and identify an area or property  where shots are fired, it would seem like they could do surveillance?  Apparently it really works for the fires in California.
 
Hudock: I don’t know what the particular laws or statutes are out there but I think you would have to issue a citation to the person  who was discharging them.

Quast:   If someone wants to pursue this further, I can ask City Attorney Okoronkwo to come in at a future meeting, and discuss it.  Also, the ACLU has a couple of white pages posted on its website.   They’re on open read, so you don’t have to be a member to get in there.  Check:https://www.aclu.org/issues/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/domestic-drones

Bonneville:    Chris, can you give us any update on the event from a week or so ago?   I don’t know if the second person is still alive or not.

Hudok: It’s the 4th of July shootings you’re talking about?  As far as I know  it was just one homicide, but if they had expired I would, I would have that by now. 
One of them was at an unlicensed business, which has since vacated.  I don’t know how long the business had been there,  but it was unlicensed, unregulated, and they have since left. The other was at the Speedway, if I remember correctly.  
It  it seemed to be some different groups of people.  I don’t know if  they had run into each other there or whatever.  Obviously ended in violence there.

I know they’re both, you know, being actively  investigated. and officers are still working through the  investigations.

Quast: I’ve got one more thing  we haven’t covered in the agenda yet.
 
I have put a notice out that the Officer of the Month program is coming back to 2-PAC. 

When I started at 2-PAC some 17 years ago, the award was actually presented at our meeting.  Then due to staffing loss, Covid sequestering  and more, it was moved away. 
 
I believe that shorted both the officers who won the awards, and the people who actually live or work in the 2nd Precinct. 
 
We need to know and be able to identify the people on the MPD who are protecting us in the 2nd Precinct.
 
We need to know those faces.   We need to know those names.   We need to know what they did and why they did it. We need that so we know why we can trust them.

I believe the Officer of the Month never actually went away, but we never heard anything about it at 2-PAC. 
  
I spotted an OOTM award  at MSTAT abut a year ago. so:

We will not go through the (cited) expense of calling an officer to come in to get a round of applause from us, but I’ve asked Lt Hudok to supply us with the officer’s official photograph, and to read the citation into the monthly meeting  so we can see who they are and learn what they did.   

Also, the Lt. has been doing the catch up work to bring our citation plaques (hanging  in the lobby) up to date.    Two years ago, the plaques were there but the name tags were blank.

This will be kept current.

2-PAC   now has a treasurer, Dan Miller.   He and Lt. Hudok will coordinate the project.   

The cost of this project is still under $100, (unbelievably low), but 2-PAC really needs to also step up and contribute to other Precinct-related projects.  

 Picnic foods for the annual Open House would be a good place to contribute.  Table at an Open Streets event in the Precinct?      

 Of course, we welcome time and help for our 10-hour 12/24 buffet for all First Responders who are On Duty on that day.

Send us your questions, ideas,  and any contributions to

 2-PAC 
c/o MPD Second Precinct
1911 Central Ave NE
Minneapolis MN 55418

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MPD 2-PAC June Meeting Report, Part 1: The MPD Forensics Lab: Science in Detection

Posted on June 21, 2026 | Leave a comment

Today is June 8th at 6:30PM.  We have 13 attenders at Monroe Village and another 8 on Zoom.


Note:  This meeting is being recorded. If anyone is having trouble hearing, I am recording this entire program.  I can forward that report to you, so nobody misses anything. 

Our speaker tonight is Josh Von Haugg from the MPD Forensics Lab.   2-PAC has invited the MPD Forensics Lab to come in several times over the years.  Each time,  there’s been something new for us to learn.    Josh, I’d like you to take over from here.

Josh Von Haugg:  I work with the MPD Forensic Services Division.  We’re also called the Crime Lab. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Forensic Science and Crime Scene Investigation from Hilbert College, in New York.  I was hired by MPD in Oct. 2017, so I’ve been here for about nine years now.   

I’m a member of the IAI, International Association for Identification, and Vice President of the MN Division of the IAI, which focuses on local forensic issues.  We have an annual educational conference for forensic professionals and law enforcement in Minnesota.  

I’m also a Certified Crime Scene Investigator.   That certification comes through the IAI. After you have a certain number of course credit hours, external and internal training, you also have training in the crime lab.   At the end of that period you must pass a test to be certified.   You must be recertified every 5 years.  

The MPD Crime Lab is in the Public Service Building, 505 South 4th Ave.,  on the 9th floor of a new all-glass building.  Our up-to-date Crime Lab helps deliver the best forensic services to the city that we can. 

Lab Management includes a Crime Lab Director, a Lab Manager, and a Quality Manager who ensures that our lab is adhering to the quality assurance standards established by ANAB (ANSI National Accreditation Board).  

Staff includes  29 civilian forensic scientists working in the lab, including 7 who are in training right now.  We also have 2 sworn Police Officers and 2 support staff.   

Crime Lab has 6 Sectors:

Video Forensics –  analyzing any video from businesses, private residences (like ring cameras or Google Nest), safe zone cameras which are on light poles or on little trailers.   There may be videos from squad cars videos, cell phones, iPads and more.   

Their goal is to enhance any video to get an image that may show  suspects  or victims.   The videos can also capture data for clothing descriptions or height-weight  comparisons.   If the team can analyze a video very quickly (color or graphics on a suspect’s clothing)  and get that info to officers on a street, the officers might spot suspects who are still in the area.

Computer Forensics is a team of two Sworn Officers  who are in charge of writing their own search warrants.   Only Officers are able to write a warrant.  They are assisted by a civilian forensic scientist who helps write those warrants.  They examine any digital media that might prove or disprove evidence of illegal activity.   They look at computer hard drives,  USB drives or SD cards you might find in a camera. They look at CDs, and even floppy discs. 

This team is looking for communications from cell phones, like call logs, text messages, messaging apps, and internet history, try to see what suspects are looking up, like photos, videos, internet history.   

They have a plug-in device that makes digital copies of everything on that phone, leaving the original intact, so there are no issues with chain of custody or tampering with evidence.

The Forensic Garage   That is vehicle processing — cars, trucks, motorcycles, ATVs and more. The vehicles are a mini crime scene.  The teams are looking for anything that a crime scene investigator is going to look at, but their work is limited to the vehicle.   So they’re looking for latent prints, DNA, maybe hidden compartments (for drugs, guns or similar).   

They can examine a vehicle for mechanical problems, if someone says that their vehicle wasn’t operating properly  before they got into an accident or hit someone, our people might be able to determine if there was a mechanical problem or not.  

 VIN switches: if a vehicle is stolen the thieves [chop shop] often take out different vehicle parts, and sell those parts.  We can check the VIN number on those cars and see if those parts belong to that car itself, or if those parts belong to a different vehicle.  

Bullet trajectories:  If a vehicle has many different bullet holes, Forensics can also determine bullet trajectory, by slipping thin plastic rods into bullet holes to try to determine  the general direction that bullets may have been fired from.  This can help investigators at a scene determine where a suspect was standing and  where the vehicle was at a crime scene.

ABIS stands for the Automated Biometric Identification System. It used to be called AFIS which stood for Automated Fingerprint Identification System.  With the emerging biometric technology of facial recognition and eye scans,  the name covers it all now, so now biometrics, not just fingerprints. 

ABIS is a computer system that compares “points” on a captured fingerprint from a crime scene, with potential matches in the computer database.  Fingerprints on file may have been taken when a person applied for a job, got arrested, or whatever, so it’s in the database.   That latent fingerprint from a crime scene will be compared with prints in the database.   It’s not like on TV, where they scan a print and three seconds later all of a sudden, boom, it’s a 100% match. What this system does give us is potential matches. The computer runs its algorithm, and says, “I think your fingerprint matches these 10 people.”  Then one of the examiners has to look at all 10 of those, to really determine if they think it’s a match or not, and do the final determination.

Firearms and Tool Marks  This team examines any firearms or potential tool marks that are needed for an investigation. [Refers to photos on his tape] 

They compare the different marks found on a bullet casing that was left behind at a crime scene.   They can do proximity and function testing. 

Proximity is trying to determine how far someone may have been away from another person or object when they fired the gun. 

Function testing is to determine if that gun was functioning as it should.   If someone says, “The gun went off and I didn’t touch it at all.” The team can try to determine if that gun was functioning properly, and prove or disprove that person’s statement.

The team can also restore “obliterated serial numbers. [more photos] One photo looks like nothing’s there, but on the other photo you can see numbers.  The team uses chemicals that take off the top layer of the metal and still reveal the serial number on the base metal of that gun.  When criminals think they’re scratching the serial number off, they aren’t.  When the guns are manufactured, the stamp for the serial number is just pressed into the metal so hard, and with such force and such heat, that you’re never really going to fully get rid of it. 

They also utilize IBIS (International Ballistic Identification System) operated by the ATF, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. This is a computer database for firearms like the fingerprint database. IBIS allows for the digital imaging of bullets and casings recovered from crime scenes, so they can be analyzed and compared against a comprehensive database. NIBIN (National Integrated Ballistic Information Network) links ballistic evidence across different cities and jurisdictions to connect separate crime scenes and identify the same weapon being used in multiple crimes.

For firearms, the two main components are the bullets and the casings.  Firearms Unit can examine recovered bullets to determine if they came from a certain gun or not. Bullets may break but if there is an intact bullet, it may have info on it.    The other part is the casing.  In some guns, when the bullet comes out of the barrel, the casings pop out of the gun –they’re what’s left behind at a crime scene. When we’re called to a shooting scene, we collect them and try to figure out if they came from a certain gun.

FIELD OPERATIONS:   crime scene documentation and processing.   This team goes out to the incident site,  collects evidence and brings it back to the lab for processing.

This is what I do.   We’re a 24-7 unit, so we have three shifts: morning, mid, and  night watch.  We have 22 forensic scientists between all three of those shifts, including supervisors. 

We respond to crime scenes. We do the documentation —  photos, videos, a sketch of the crime scene and the processing  — identifying evidence.   Once we’ve mapped those pieces of evidence, we collect them and bring them back to the lab. Then we process those  to get any more evidence they might hold, like fingerprints for comparisons.

If we collect a fingerprint from a crime scene, like a burglary in your house, we’ll come to your house and process for fingerprints.  If we find one, I’ll be trying to determine who they belong to.  If we can do that, an investigator will reach out to the homeowner to see if they can connect that person  to the crime scene.

We’ll also fingerprint homicide victims and others at the morgue, so we have their fingerprints on file in case we ever need to compare them.   If juveniles get arrested, sometimes we’ll process their fingerprints as well, so then they can be identified later on. If I get a print at a crime scene, it may have come from a juvenile who was previously arrested. 

Morgue identification.  If the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office needs some help identifying a body, we’ll use fingerprints to discover who that person is.   By law, theMedical Examiner must have a scientific identification before they can release any names, and one of those ways is fingerprint ID.  Another way is DNA ID, but that takes longer.

Work Orders. This means if we didn’t go out to a crime scene, but an officer went out and didn’t find much evidence or maybe we were at another call, the officer might collect what they spotted and bring it in for the lab.  We’ll examine it when it’s back in the lab.

We also testify in court as expert witnesses,  which goes  much like you see on court TV.  I go to court two or three times a year, depending on how busy the year has been and what charges the city has filed against people.   It’s not a whole lot, but it’s enough to keep you up to pace with what’s going on in the courts and the requirements that they might need:

Scenes we process

Robberies, criminal sexual conducts, burglaries, dead bodies (suicide, suspicious deaths or homicides), carjackings, typically any type of crime.  We assist on search warrants.  

At a Crime Scene  The first thing is we’ll ask, “What’s the story?”  Usually the officers on scene have all the information we need, but if witnesses or victims are there, we’ll ask them because they might have information they forgot to tell the officers, or maybe it’s something the officer didn’t think to ask. 

Then we’ll do a scene walkthrough with the officer and have them show us evidence they’ve got. For a burglary: 

  • Where did they enter the house?  
  • Where did they exit? 
  • What areas were disturbed? 

Then we search for any more evidence we can find.Typically we will place evidence markers —  those little numbered yellow placards you’ll see on the news. We’re  just marking different pieces so we can keep track of it all, especially if the evidence is all the same. If you have different casings, there might be 20 of them, and they all  look the same, but we need to be able to tell them all apart. 

Documentation. We first photograph the big area, showing the entire crime scene or a large area of what we see.  Next we move into mid-range, using a landmark like a sewer grate to show some evidence of location to that grate.  After that, we go back and do close-ups of all our specific pieces of evidence to show what each item is.

For homicides and any type of critical incident in the city, we’ll do a crime scene video, which allows the jury to get a sense of what it was like when we were there. Sometimes from still photos, you can’t tell it’s snowing out.  When you take a video, if you can show snow that could hide a casing we didn’t find until later. It’s good to show environmental conditions.  

For a homicide or critical incident, we’ll do a computer assisted crime scene sketch, based on accurate measurements for good perspective.

In general we try to collect DNA samples first, but especially for outdoor scenes.  If someone took a drink from a bottle or can, we’d want that. 

When a visual search  has been done, we’ll sometimes go back with an ALS or an alternate light source which is like a UV light but with  other colors also.   THose lights are great for finding hairs and fibers at a crime scene that could be important.  We might also use a metal detector for finding any casings that were left outside. 

Storing Evidence:  We don’t use plastic bags because plastic can’t inhibit mold or cross-contamination of DNA. We use paper, paper bags, large paper bags, giant leaf bag size if we have large pieces of evidence.The only times we might use plastic is if there’s potential fentanyl. We want to make sure that we don’t breathe that in.  

Finishing up:  Back at the lab, we document the chain of custody — what we collected and where it went every time it was moved. What additional processing happened, by whom.  Finally, we inventory the evidence with the Property and Evidence Unit.   They store it in a big warehouse until an investigator requests it gets sent to the BCA for further testing if possible.

Any Questions?

Question:  Is  the evidence garage close to the Public Service Center where your lab is?

Von Haugg: Our Forensic Garage is actually within the city of Minneapolis impound lot.   It’s a separate building that has four garage bays to  hold different vehicles.   We have different fenced-in areas for other vehicles. 

Question:  How long do you have to keep evidence? 

Von Haugg:  I don’t know exactly for every crime. Every crime has a different retention period. I believe homicides are indefinitely until they are solved and adjudicated. They have cases from, like the 1930s, I believe.  So they have a lot of evidence, old evidence.  But for some other cases, sometimes it’s only three years.  It depends on state law. 

Question: My last question is how is staffing going in your department, especially since it’s a 24/7 seven operation.  Do you have enough people? 

Von Haugg:  I guess that would depend on who you ask. We have people in training.   The training period for us is two years to go from having your work checked all the time to being an independent examiner.  But once they’re fully through it’s usually smooth sailing. 

I wouldn’t say we’re not understaffed by any means. That’s my opinion.  It really just depends on the workload of the city. What’s the day going to bring? How   busy are we going to be? But the work is rewarding if that helps.

Question:I was wondering about cold cases, if there are just cold cases. 

Von Haugg:  I don’t have much information on cold cases.  I know that if an investigator is still working on a case,  depending on the situation, they can ask us to re-examine some types of evidence.  We don’t do it too often, but it can happen.

Question:  Ghost guns.  Are they easy to detect?

Von Haugg:  I won’t speak too much about it because that’s the Firearms Unit.  I know they do make things more difficult because they don’t have information like a serial numbers, make, or model to track.  But again, there is that NIBIN database.  If a gun was used and fired at a scene, AND  if they have that gun in hand and they have evidence, they might be able to link them together. That database can be used to show if that [ghost] gun was involved in another crime as well.

Question:   When an officer is handing out a ticket, like a speeding ticket, and if you’re going to fight it, it has to be that particular officer who shows up in court. So I’m wondering, how does that work as far as the crime lab? 

Von Haugg:  Yes, if we testify to something we collected. When we write reports, the names of everyone that was there are on that report. Generally, we’ll specify what specific person photographed, what specific person did the sketch, what specific person collected the evidence.  If the case goes to trial, they’d subpoena everyone that’s attached to it. Then the attorney would figure out who needs to testify. Generally, if you’re collecting, you’re going to be the one testifying about collecting that evidence.

Question: Mpls. has extensive services. Do you do work for smaller suburbs, or do they rely on the state? 

Von Haugg: The Minneapolis Crime Lab just does the city of Minneapolis.  Other cities in Hennepin County generally rely on the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office. They also have a forensic laboratory as well.  They can also call in the BCA, just as we can.  

Quast:  Thank you, Josh!

If people have more questions, please send them to me, and I will forward them to Josh, who has agreed to work for us even longer. 

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MPD 2-PAC June Meeting Report, Part 2: STATE OF THE PRECINCT, Preceded by STATE OF 2-PAC

Posted on June 21, 2026 | Leave a comment

STATE OF THE PRECINCT

The State of the Precinct this month starts with the State of 2-PAC. 

2-PAC’s in the news:   In May, the Northeaster sent a reporter to our meeting.  You can read the article in the June 3 issue [ https://www.mynortheaster.com/wp-content/news-archives/260603Northeaster/#page=6  – continued on p. 10]    “My Northeaster” is the only remaining local newspaper we have east of the river.  [If I’m wrong about that, please let me know.]  FFI Phone 612-788-9003   After the 7/1 issue, they will be taking a 3-week break.  

MONROE VILLAGE:  Monroe Village has a new building manager who started just this month.   Ronda Wubena is now the keeper of the gate.  Join me in welcoming her!  

Ronda Wubena:   I’ve been doing property management for 30 years.   I”m happy to be back in the Senior World.   

Quast: I hope we’ll see her at 2-PAC often.  

Her office hours end at 4PM, but you can leave a message.   If you have left something behind after a meeting or have questions about Monroe Village, the Office Phone is 612.594.7994  The entry buzzer is on the directory posted in both foyers.  

STATE OF THE PRECINCT

MPD Lt. Chris Hudock is here to talk about goings on in our Precinct

NIBRS   Crime Metrics
Crime                                                       2026               2025         3 yr. Ave.  
Assault                                                       71                   100                73
            Incl. Domestic  Ag.Aslt                     6                     11                 11  
Burglary, B&E                                             23                    19                 22
Destruction/Prop.Vandalism                     104                  107                 91
homicide, non-neg                                       0                      1                    0
Homicide, negligent                                     0                      0                        
Larceny/theft                                            161                  143                152
MV Theft                                                   118                     83                95
Robbery                                                        8                       5                11
        Incl. Car Jacking                                   1                       1                  1
Sex Offenses                                                7                       4                   5
Stolen Property                                             1                       2                   2
 Weapon Law Violations                               4                        8                  7
Shots Fired                                                 27                      35                 26
Gun Wound Vics.                                         1                         8                  1                                                                                          

 Quast:  What I’d like the most to ask Lt. Hudock about is the high numbers  in destruction/vandalism/MV theft.   Are these still the same roving bands of teenagers, or is this a whole new crop of ding-dongs? 

Hudock:  Yeah. It’s the same trends that we’ve seen before with auto thefts and attempted auto thefts. 

A lot of the damaged autos are attempted auto thefts.  Car door handles are broken off when they’re attempting to steal the vehicle but someone interrupts them.  That gets recorded as attempted auto theft with damage.   Most likely it’s the same groups that have been doing this for some time. I’m sure there are new people involved in it as well, but it’s the same  trend we’ve been chasing for a while.

I know that the Juvenile Unit is heavily involved in it. There’s also a “task force on juvenile auto theft” that’s been making some progress in some areas. But yes, we’re still seeing an increase in both auto thefts and attempted auto thefts.

Quast:  My block seems to be a dumping place for people who want to get away with things.   We’ve got an empty school across the street, so there’s not many eyes on the street.   [I should have added that stolen cars appear now and again on my block — no plates, damaged ignition, etc.]

On 6/7, my neighbor started some car repairs for a friend who then left her car parked on the curb overnight.  On Monday, when I opened my front door to get the paper, I saw that someone had smashed the passenger side window, both in (to unlock the door), and then out because there was broken glass on the boulevard and the street.  All of the regular vehicles, including some vans carrying plumbing gear, were intact. Only the strange car was damaged.

It was like they knew who belonged on the block.  They must know who we are. 

Hudock:  I’m sure they spend time getting familiar with the area and may have seen a vehicle there that hasn’t been there before, so wanted to see what was in it.  Maybe the other residents have been keeping their valuables inside their house or they could have seen something in the vehicle that piqued their interest.  It could have been more malicious than anything else. Late last year, earlier this year, with this spree of just breaking out windows. There are still  instances like that, but not quite as many.  This may be one of those incidents.

Officer of the Month Awards

Quast:  I have one more report that involves Lt. Hudock.  

Many of you probably don’t know it, but every month, the precinct has an Officer of the Month Award. At the end of the year there is also an Officer of the Year Award.  If you’ve been in the lobby of the Precinct, look for an array of plaques on the walls, one for each year, 13 names honored  every year.  

The first time I got into the lobby after Covid, the plaques were hanging there, but no names on the last two or three  of them.   The little bronze tabs were there but they were blank.

I mentioned it to someone.  It got to Lt. Hudock eventually, and he went after it.

He’s found a place, Broadway Awards, that will make it easy to make it happen.  They will work with Lt. Hudock to make sure everything is done right.

Then it occured to me that officers get transferred  and support groups (including 2-PAC)  lose members when they move.  That plus Covid and low MPD staffing, is probably why the engraving got paused.   N.B., all 5 Precincts still made  the awards all the way through Covid, I believe, but the names were not engraved anywhere to hang on the walls of the home Precinct — at least not in the 2nd Pct.   Also, the actual awards were being read at the MNSTAT meeting but not made public to the residents of the Precinct where the officer earned the honor.   

I think we need to hear names and examples of the good policing 2nd Pct. officers give us.

OOTM announcements used to be made at 2-PAC meetings and  entered in the monthly minutes.  That hasn’t happened in a long time.   

At the same time, I’ve been picking at building a 2-PAC board.   I asked a 2nd Precinct resident and good neighbor, Dan Miller to act as 2-PAC Treasurer.   This job is very light lifting.  November and December have some work  for the Treasurer.   IDEA:  What more logical person to keep track  of donations for the award engraving project than our Treasurer?  

Lt Hudock has indicated that Broadway Awards is flexible about what procedure to use to get the money to the right place.   We’ll let people know when the Lt.,  the Treasurer, and I have got that down so it doesn’t disappear with a staff change again.  

By the way, this is a very low cost project.   Donors won’t have to miss a morning coffee to contribute.   

Emilie Quast, Member

MPD 2nd Precinct Advisory Council

1911 Central Ave NE

Minneapolis MN 55414

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MPD 2-PAC May meeting report, with corrections

Posted on May 21, 2026 | Leave a comment

The meeting was called to order shortly after 6:30 PM, 10 people attending in person and 3 by Zoom

First and most important:  there was an error in the NIBRS report that we showed on the 11th.   The correct report is below, with numbers corrected bolded: it’s the 2025 stat for “Destruction.Prop. Vandalism.  

NIBRS   Crime Metrics
Crime                                                       2026               2025         3 yr. Ave.  
Assault                                                       107                    81                86
            Incl. Domestic  Ag.Aslt                      9                     7                    9
Burglary, B&E                                              32                    14                 15
Destruction/Prop.Vandalism                      110                    65                68
homicide, non-neg                                       0                      0        
Homicide, negligent                                     0                      0                        
Larceny/theft                                            185                   175                170
MV Theft                                                     77                     54                 89
Robbery                                                      5                         6                 14
        Incl. Car Jacking                                 1                        1                    1    
 Sex Offenses                                              6                        4                   7
Stolen Property                                           3                        1                    1
Weapons Law Violation                              9                         3                   4  
Shots Fired                                                20                      20                 22
Gun Wound Vics.                                        1                        0                    1       

I do apologize for the error.

I also have to say that the Open  House earlier in the day was better attended than I expected it would be, since the kids were in school and many adults were working.    On the other hand, I got to talk to people from a lot of Safety and First Responder units that I usually
can only read about.   

You may see some of them presenting at future meetings.   

At the evening meeting, I replied to someone commenting about the teens who go on sprees, stealing cars and using them to commit all sorts of mayhem.

I repeated the complaints I’ve heard over the years about revolving door response to some of these young people [caught, sentenced and back on the streets the same day]    I have heard this for years and have no doubts about it at all. BUT . . .

But fortunately City Attorney Okoronkwo was attending.  He popped up reminding us of some of the effective responses that our courts have been handing out for years.   Restorative Justice is just one of the programs we have.    We’ll get more on the effective responses  at future meetings.

Looking at previous reports I’ve  posted in these meetings, I spotted the  report on RICO, and the recent report on the Youth Intervention 
Team (which won an award).

To see what I’m talking about, go back to the entry page you first saw when you pulled up this report.

In the little white box on the left of the screen, enter 
RICO  [which outlines the HC judicial response to youth who need redirection] 
then enter 
O’Rourke [which is Officer O’Rourke explaining his approach to youth who might still be able to listen to an adult friend]


2-PAC Planning Committee — we need one

I’m  delighted to report that Dan Miller has agreed to take on the  position of Treasurer.   We also have two people who have
agreed to serve as “Senior Advisors”   They are experienced Non-Profit members and leaders, who will step in if/when
we need experienced direction.  

Mr. Miller has also found a way to bring our “Officer of Month” and “Officer of the Year” plaques up to date.   Before one of our 2nd Pct Lieutenants got going on this, our officer tributes were something like three years out of date.   This will be fixed.  More on that next month.  (BTW: you’ll be astonished at the extremely low cost of the fix.  I certainly was; it was just something that no one took responsibility to do.)

Again:  we need another 6 people to fill a Planning Committee.   It will cost you about an hour a month of fun brainstorming. 
If you come, I’ll bring some Sarah Jane’s.   

Next Month:  THe MPD Forensic Dept will bring us up to date.  They’ve presented to PAC twice before.   That was back when 
the TV series “CSI….” was on (between 2002 and 2012).  Most likely, I called their presentations “CSI: Minneapolis”.
Consider that an invitation to go back to “Courtwatch2pac” and check it out.  

Happy Summer!
Emilie Quast, Member
MPD Second Precinct Advisory Council (2-PAC)
1911 Central Ave NE
Minneapolis, MN 55418

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APRIL REPORT:  Meet UMPD Chief Davis, and  MPD & UMPD Plans for Keeping Dinkytown and  East M-H  Safe and Peaceful. And State of the Precinct.

Posted on May 1, 2026 | Leave a comment

The MPD 2nd Precinct Advisory Council was called to order shortly after 6:30PM on April 13. 11 people met in person at Monroe Village, and 5 by Zoom.

First on the agenda was our opportunity to meet the new UMPD Chief, Michael Davis.

Chief Davis: It’s good to be here. I’m going to start at the beginning. I’m a native Minnesotan. I grew up in St. Paul and graduated from St. Agnes High School.

I joined the Minneapolis Police Dept. in 1992. I worked in the Phillips Neighborhood and left as a Sector Lieutenant after 16 years.  I then spent 5.5 years as Chief of the Brooklyn Park PD, and 12 years with Northeastern University in Boston.   And now I’m back home to finish everything up.

The U of M has presented an opportunity to turn the system into something that’s cohesive from a security perspective, working with colleagues that I’ve known for a long time. It’s a great honor, so I’m happy to be here.

[Applause] I could go on, but I don’t know if you have any questions.

Quast: The reason I wanted you and Inspector Fischer here today is that the UMPD and the MPD have a long history of cooperation even when that’s not too easy. During the 1970’s protests, people were shot and killed on other campuses across the U.S.  The U of MN president, Malcolm Moos, alerted the UMPD and told the National Guard they were not allowed to cross University Avenue. They didn’t. It was UMPD’s job to make sure the Guard didn’t cross University.

The UMPD and MPD have had a stand-together arrangement for a long time, but a few years ago they started developing a more formal arrangement, which we’ve been hearing about piece-meal. [See https://courtwatch2pac.com/2024/09/23/sept-rept-part-1-new-safety-center-and-more-in-dinkytown-and-east-marcy-holmes/ ] The presenters in 2023 identified a town/campus boundary, but it was a very soft boundary. Also, the UMPD created a new Safety Center in Dinkytown.   

In addition to that, the UMPD has always been responsible for the Cooperative Living complex and other programs in SE Como. [EQ: They’re clustered between 27th and 29th from East Hennepin going south]. I’d like to hear where that stands now. What is the map of responsibility for the UMPD?

Davis: We’re doing several things to assess exactly what our shared jurisdictional model should be. It’s not uncommon for large state schools like us to develop an agreement with the municipality we exist in, to discuss how we can best serve both populations. We have a student population that lives contiguous to campus and many students live  in nearby  neighborhoods as well.  

But it’s beyond that. The question is: what areas do we think determine the experience that students have?

The University of Minnesota. What is that specifically?  On campus proper, and areas that are contiguous to campus. Dinkytown is part of that. We’ll work closely on the safety and security plan for Dinkytown.

University Avenue: The tentative agreement is for UMPD to patrol that, because of the fraternities and others along that area. We have a shared sense of responsibility for that entire area right now. It’s something that we’ll continue to assess.

We’re also looking at it from a data-driven perspective: Where do students gather? Where do they live? What’s the density? What are the expectations of the students that live there?

[EQ: Chief Davis pointed to the Clery Act which is fully explained here: https://www.clerycenter.org/the-clery-act#:~:text=Clery%20Act%20crime%20repo .]

The Clery Act defines what information the U must capture in areas that are owned and operated by the University but also report crimes against students who were on nearby property not owned by the University.

Dinkytown is not technically part of our Clery map, but students are there. The U markets housing available to students all the way to the freeway.

For the last several years, the University has been sharing that responsibility, especially in the Dinkytown area.

I’m working with University and City to examine the demographics around campus and figure out how we can best serve the students and be a partner with the city. When this is decided, I’ll come back and we’ll discuss.

Inspector Fischer: Since Chief Davis took over a week before I started as the inspector here, we kind of started together, which  has worked out really well for both of us.

We’ve met almost once a week for the last eight weeks, collaborating on events at the U or in Dinkytown to ensure that everyone is safe. It’s been enjoyable.

Davis: It’s a good partnership. One of the things I’ll just say about the law enforcement community here in Minnesota: They’re extremely cohesive.

I’ve worked all over the country — East Coast, West Coast, and other parts of the country where there’s a lot of parochialism, or territorialism. Not here. We’ve gotten help from the City of Minneapolis, from Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, from the State Patrol. The community here is really interdependent. We can rely on one another in a way that is unique. It’s good to know that if something were to happen, we have the partnerships to be able to scale up quickly. I have confidence in that — it’s a lot of good teamwork.

Is there anything else specific that we didn’t answer with that, Emilie, that you wanted to know?

Quast: I would like the assurance that University Cooperative Student Housing in SE Como, the new Archives Storage Building, ReUse and other properties here are all being watched by UMPD with the MPD.

Davis: Absolutely. Anything that’s ours is top priority.

STATE OF THE PRECINCT:

NIBRS   Crime Metrics
Crime                                                       2026               2025         3 yr. Ave. 
Assault                                                       79                    61                73      
       Incl. Domestic  Ag.Aslt               12                     7                   6
Burglary, B&E                                           20                   12                 19
Destruction/Prop.Vandalism              80                   50                71
Homicide, non-neg                                  0                      0       
Homicide, negligent                                 0                      0                       
Larceny/theft                                           164                  124                39
MV Theft                                                137                     62                79
Robbery                                                      5                       6                 11   
      Incl. Car Jacking                                1                       1                  2
Sex Offenses                                              5                       1                  9
Stolen Property                                          2                       1                  1
Weapons Law Violation                        5                        2                  4 
Shots Fired                                              29                       14                22
Gun Wound Vics.                                    1                         0                 1                                                                                         
  Fischer:   For Assault and burglary offenses, we are pretty much the same numbers, at this time of year that we would have for the last three years.   We’re seeing numbers increase in larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft, and damage to property.   All of that ties to the incidents we’ve had where cars go from Precinct to Precinct.   

People are stealing cars,  damaging cars and breaking into other cars.  That is where we are seeing significant crime increase, not only within the 2nd Pct, but for the entire city!

To answer people’s questions about what we’re doing about that:  Hennepin County and the MN State Patrol have been working closely with us.    They have different policies for chasing people, so they can actually apprehend them in different ways than the MPD can do.   Some of that has been very effective in catching these Rings.

“Rings” is a fair way to describe them:  it tends to be groups of juveniles who get together to do this.  It’s the same group of people, over and over again, conducting all of this crime.   We made numerous arrests of these people in the last four weeks, which led to last week’s dip in those offenses.

There’s also a Metro-wide task force that is up and running because Minneapolis isn’t the only city that has seen these crimes.   This task force is working together, and the MPD has added some of our members to that task force.   We’re hoping to see significant changes in the next month or two.   In other areas, like robbery, we’ve seen a decrease also.   That’s a trend going in the right direction. 

Then, sex offenses, weapons offenses, and domestics are all stable for that three year period.   The only homicide that in the 2nd Pct this year was the vehicle that hit a young girl.   We haven’t seen any gun violence/homicide in the Precinct yet this year.

Comment by attender: Described  about an event  across the street and visible from the Monroe Village building.  Neither Inspector Fischer nor CPS Zoller  recognized it.   The Inspector suggested that it may have been a warrant that was executed by officers from a different Unit. 

 CPS Zoller suggested that if people document an event, they can present the document to their building manger.  If they see an event that is actually going on, they should call 911 immediately, report that event, and request information.  

She added that she can follow up anything sent to her.  If people are doing business in an empty building, Business Licensing can be involved, and Fire Inspections definitely would be involved.   She invites people to submit those questions to her.

Question from ZOOM attender:  About the problems with cars:   What is the situation with these young people?   You arrest them and then they’re out the doors?

Inspector: Unfortunately, that is part of the problem.  Many times, they get Diversion and they’re not actually seeing jail.   Sometimes, we make those arrests and the next day, or even the same day, that person is back on the street again.   We’re trying to come up with ways to aggregate charges and send [the case] forward for higher charges.   I wish I could give you a better answer.   

Question from Zoom attender: Do you have plans for handling Spring Jam this year?   And when is it?

Chief Davis: Spring Jam is April 24-26.  We have a planning process for any event related to the University, and this is not different.  

Question and Comment for the Inspector:   The question is, how is staffing looking in the 2nd Pct and city-wide?  

The Comment is:  Congratulations on being named the Irish American Peace Officer of the Year!

[Applause!] Fischer:   I worked very hard at that one.   I really appreciate that!

As for the staffing: it’s still a challenge.   I feel reasonably confident about the staff in the Precinct.    We are able post overtime for shifts when we’re short and those tend to get filled, which helps us get to calls quicker. 

Then definitely the partnership with the UMPD is help for late nigh work specifically I the Dinkytown area.    It takes more effort to keep that area safer for everyone there.   Having large police presence assists with that, so UMPD, MPD, and Hennepin County are assisting what we do every Friday and Saturday.   That tends to calm things going on in that area.   We’ll use that plan as we head into summer.   Also, the UMPD partnership frees up my dog watch [night shift] staff to continue to take 911 calls as we focus in Dinkytown.   We’re trying to be efficient with the resources we have, but if someone offered me 20 more officers in the 2nd, I definitely wouldn’t turn them down.  

Question: I’m a Northeast resident.  I spent 25 years working for the City of Mpls.  I started in the 911 center in 1998, and moved to the Fire Dept. in 1999.  For the last few years, I’ve been at the UofM in Emergency Management.  

My question for the Inspector and Chief is about sharing information .   You talked about how public safety agencies I Minnesota work well together and are cohesive,.  I have questions about how information about addresses might be in the notes field of the 911 system.  

Let’s say there might be an Alert or Notes on the address that you pass along to the First Responders who are on their way, but those notes aren’t necessarily already shared with other public safety agencies that service the same address.  For example, you might have an address within the Clery Boundary to which MPD and HCSO also respond because that address is in all three boundaries, but only one agency has tagged that address with an alert.   I’m wondering if that info is shared,   This is more of a telecommunications question than it is a U of M responder question. 

Inspector:    That is a very good question.   You are pointing out an Intel problem that we DO have, because we don’t all use the same systems. 

[Explaining] If we have a 2nd Pct address that we go to often, and a person there has threatened officers, we CAN put a note on that address for the next officer who gets called there.   It is possible that an officer from another agency wouldn’t see that note.  Officers know this and when they hear a call to “that” address, they DO  send out that info.

But since different agencies use different communication systems, we may have times when safety  info isn’t completely shared. 

Comment: I had a neighbor who was deaf. We were able to put a note about that in the 911 system.   We can do the same for folks who are deaf, blind or have mobility issues.

Inspector: For Minneapolis residents those notes would be in the CAD system.

[Google: Minneapolis CAD system for emergency. If a link doesn’t come up, enter  “Tri Tec Computer Aided Dispatch ]

Question: Chief Davis, we’ve been very aware of short staffing in the MPD.   How is UMPD staffing?

Chief Davis: Technically, we’re full.  

Part of my charge here is to assess the current staff.   We have never had as many cops as we have right now.  25 years ago, UMPD had half as many cops.   If Chief Hestness was sitting here, he’d be talking about 35-40 officers.   We are close to 70. 

  But the calculation for a university includes:  What is the overtime draw? What is the jurisdictional draw? What patterns and trends do we have to respond to?  How many “should” we have?

We look at what we’ve done. Then we project what we want to do in the future.   We’re here to do what we can because we share the same interest, which is the safety of everyone here.  

Quast: We have time for one more general question: 

Attender:   Minneapolis is so good about sharing info and crime stats.   How about the State?

Inspector: I’m going to guess there isn’t a system share.  There may be crime stats somewhere, but definitely not like what you get from us.  Our stats are updated weekly.  

Comment: I asked because I was thinking about trends.   Holidays – how do they affect crime?   When the economy is changing, we see different crimes.

Inspector: When we look at our weekly stats and we see something change, we ask our crime analysts why this is happening.   Within hours they can give us a response.   This kind of analysis helps us direct where we put squad cars, directed patrol and other resources.  

Quast: message from Dan Miller appeared in the Chat pointing to an upcoming Traffic Calming meeting in SE Como. 

CPS Zoller announced the 2ne Precinct Open house  May 11 and offered to share a printable flyer.   

Emilie Quast, Member
MPD 2nd Precinct Advisory Council (2-PAC)
1911 Central Ave NE Minneapolis, MN 55418              

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March report: Introducing Inspector Fischer. State of the Precinct

Posted on March 29, 2026 | Leave a comment

The meeting was called together on March 9, shortly after 6:30.   We had attenders in person and by Zoom

Quast:  I am happy to report that both the 2nd Precinct and the U of M PD have new people leading.  

MPD Inspector Nick Torborg retired at the end of December.  Inspector Molly Fischer began working on Jan 18.

If you ‘ll recall, UMPD Chief Matt Clark retired May, 2025.  He has now been replaced by Chief Matt Davis whose first day was Jan. 12, 2026 [MN Daily story, see  “1”   at the end of this report]

I hope we will have a joint presentation to share their coordinated plans for keeping  Dinkytown and East Marcy Holmes safe and safely peaceful as we head into the party season.  Spring Jam is in  April but dates haven’t been announced yet. 

In 2024, Inspector Torborg and  Nick Juarez,  (then MPD-CPS, now U of MN Director of Community Engagement and DEI)  presented a new coordination agreement between the MPD and the UMPD. [see 2, below]

City Council Member Michael Rainville: I just came tonight to tell you how lucky we are that we have Inspector Molly Fischer.  I’ve known her for quite a while.   She’s a top-notch professional.   She’s going to serve the 2nd Pct. very, very well.  I will turn the floor over to our newest Inspector.

Inspector Fischer:   Thank you, Sir. 

My name is Molly Fischer. I am the new Inspector of the Second Precinct.  Inspector  Torborg retired  at the end of December, and I took over running the precinct on the 18th of January.  I heard from Emilie that people want to get to know me.  I’ll just give you a little bio of my history with the MPD here, and then I can look at the Crime Stats, and the public MSTAT meeting.  If you have any questions before I have to head out, we can cover that.

I started with the MPD in 2001, as a Community Service Officer. I had already had my four-year degree from the University of Minnesota. I spent my first year as a CSO, while going back to school and getting my law enforcement  degree, and then attended the Police Academy in 2002.

I spent a year answering 911 calls in the 5th Pct.   Next, I moved to the 4th Pct. and  handled 911 calls in North Minneapolis for another 10 years.  I absolutely loved working in that Precinct.  I truly believe that responding to 911 calls is the foundation of doing police work.  The 11 years I spent doing that were 11 fantastic years. 

In 2013, I was promoted to Sergeant and spent about seven months at the 3rd Precinct before they asked me to lead the Mounted Patrol unit. I ran the Mounted Patrol for just under five years. 

I was trying to say before that I’ve actually been in this room for a 2-PAC meeting.   When I was Sgt. of the Mounted Patrol, Inspector Kathy Waite asked me to come over here and introduce myself.   At that time, the Mounted Patrol unit was going through some struggles.  I spent some very long hours building up that particular unit.  We were invited to a national conference for Mounted Patrol units across the country to give a presentation on how we rebuilt.  

It was  fantastic to be able to be a police officer and a cowgirl all at the same time. I knew nothing about riding horses before I started on the unit. Before I was done, I was galloping in Ireland on vacation, going from house to house for a five  day trip on horseback. I absolutely appreciate everything I learned while I was on that unit.

I then transitioned to working in homicides, and did that for about a year and a half —  very challenging work.   

I was next promoted to Lieutenant and spent five years in the training division, where I ran the Police Academy and the FTO process.  That is the Field Training Officer Program, where officers go after they finish the academy.   In FTO, officers actually train in the field  [under supervision] before working on their own,  as solo officers.  

I then spent  a year and a half in 3rd Precinct as a Lieutenant,  working for Inspector Gomez.

Seven weeks ago, I transitioned to be the Inspector of the 2nd Precinct.  

1)  MN Daily introducing Chief Davis:    https://mndaily.com/campus/umn-announces-michael-a-davis-as-next-umpd-chief/12/09/2025/eicmndaily-com/      get tiny URL

2)   https://courtwatch2pac.com/2024/04/14/april-24-report-part-1-mpd-and-umpd-have-a-new-coordination-agreement/]

3)   https://courtwatch2pac.com/2016/03/23/march-2-pac-minutes/  Includes a fine example of Inspector Fisher keeping kids out of trouble.  EQ: The following May, she returned with the horses for the 2nd Precinct Open House.

—————————————

Question (recording unclear)  …homicide:

Inspector Fischer: One of my biggest concerns has been the uptick of homicides in the African American community. 

We need to have a much more comprehensive approach to homicides, beginning with how we engage folks and  children wherever we meet them:  schools,  parks, rec. centers, clinics, hospitals, wherever.   

 My concern is that we use homicide  as a “stand alone investigation”.     Homicide is a part of the continuum of violence, including violence in the homes. 

I did research on homicides and violence from1990 to 96, when I worked for the State Council on Black Minnesotans [https://mn.gov/cmah/resources/].    Before that, I did a comprehensive research  for MN Rep. ichard Jefferson [https://www.lrl.mn.gov/legdb/fulldetail?id=10277  see, 75th and 76th sessions]  We won a $200,000 grant for the first year, and $300,000 playing on  up until 2000 to do a comprehensive approach.

One of the problems I’m having is [recording unclear Homicide?] is not a continuum. The program was called the Martin McCain Nonviolent Institution Child Development Program.

Question:  About youth (ages 9 and up) unsupervised at night in Mpls., being murdered. The attender cited the story of a 9-year old alone,  who was murdered  about midnight.  There are other cases. Have the homicide units found areas where very young kids are out there, unsupervised? Do the Officers have an approach to parents of these kids? [EQ: similar questions deleted.] 

Inspector:  Those are all really good questions, sir.  I’m not sure what numbers you were seeing.   Our homicide rates are actually down.They have been going down steadily for the last couple of years.  We were down in 2024. We were down in 2025. Our numbers this year, compared to this time last year, are also down.  That is a positive thing.

Our Juvenile Division is very much involved in following up with youth who tend to get into dangerous situations.

If they have some sort of record, our Juvenile Unit is  following up with those youth, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.   They go to these people’s homes, talk with their families, check on the children, at the times when the children tend to get themselves into trouble.  Lieutenant O’Rourke from our juvenile division  started that program about a year and a half  ago.  We’ve seen some really good results, lowering the crime rate with juveniles

Comment:  Lieutenant O’Rourke just won a national award for his Juvenile program.  On Friday nights, about 9 PM  the Lt.’s team goes to the child’s house, and asks “Hi, where’s Michael?”   It’s been very, very effective.  He won a national award for his innovation and results. [See O’Rourke’s 2-PAC Presentation here  https://courtwatch2pac.com/2025/07/05/march-meeting-part-1-mpd-outreach-to-youth/]

Inspector Fischer:  Moving into crime statistics,  I did do the public MSTAT  meeting just two weeks ago. We did a comparison of  2024 to 2025. From   2024 to 2025,assault offenses went up slightly, by 1%. That’s not a significant amount.   And, we’re finding that most of that is actually reported domestic assaults.  This is actually a good thing if that means it’s no longer going unreported.  That’s where we’re actually seeing that uptick. 

We saw almost no change in burglary. Those numbers pretty much stayed the same at roughly about 300  in the 2nd Precinct.

Vandalism and Property Damage is where we really see our jump.   A lot of that is juveniles who  go on sprees.  They damage and steal vehicles.  In  the last couple of  weeks, that skyrocketed [unclear: which led to arrest]  last Friday. Those  tend to be groups of juveniles.  We’ve learned that juvenile groups have competitions, seeing who can steal the most cars.   That’s causing some of the uptick.

Also, some of the damage to motor vehicles is done by people actually trying to break into a car.  That crime is increasing the “damage to property” numbers.  We also have sprees where people (largely juveniles) are driving stolen cars up and down the street, with baseball bats and just breaking windows.   Starting last year,that definitely increased the “damage to motor vehicle” numbers. 

Homicides:  the 2nd Pct only had three homicides in 2024 and again 2025.   The numbers were down in Robbery , sex offenses, and carjackings.

Weapons law violations were up, which means we are  catching people in weapons  violations.  That is actually making arrests, so it’s  good to have that number going up.

Question:  The kids doing the damage to the cars, are they kids from the  second precinct? 

Inspector:  It’s kids from all over and they tend to go in between precincts. They might start in the 5th Precinct, and then make their way over here to the 2nd.  We  have implemented  a department-wide plan:  when we see two or three of these offenses happen in a short time, we do a rapid response, calling in any free car in the city.  The response “saturates the area” so we can try to catch the individuals in the act.   That has helped, but, like most things with crime, when criminals figure out what we are doing, they figure out what they can do to try to counteract us. 

When they have done 2 or 3 things in one precinct, they move to a different precinct.   Then we have to catch that something’s going on somewhere else, and move our resources to that area.   

The kids do come from all the precincts.   

I can’t talk about what our crime analysts are doing, but they are trying to break down the trends so we can see patterns of the cars being taken  from one spot and dumped in another.   

Question:  Do we get crime prints  back on that? And do they match with a particular group of  people?

Fischer:  We’re really trying to actually home in on this.  He then follows up with some of those juveniles. We are trying to make some of those connections. 

But, when you’re talking about vehicle thefts, cars are everywhere and on every street.  It’s hard to know where the next vehicle is going to be hit.  So we’re working it on the backside, that is when and where vehicles are recovered to see if we can tie them back to particular individuals from that area. 

Question:  What is our situation in regards to  suicides?

Fischer:  Suicide is not reported  with crime statistics. I can look into that and get back to you. 

 Question:  What about homelessness in winter?  What is the police response for that? 

Fischer: In Northeast, we don’t have too much of that problem. I just came from the 3rd Pct, where many people struggle with that.   Homelessness requires a coordinated response.  You can’t  police your way out of that one. 

There are many groups that go  to where homeless people hang out, offering services.  The actual number of people who actually accept assistance tends to be about 8% of the people contacted.  That’s a harder  problem to solve: that person needs to accept that help.

For example,  Metro Transit has its own team, the HAT [EQ: Metro Transit Mario Roberto describing Metro Transit’s Homeless Action Team  https://courtwatch2pac.com/2019/07/28/july-2-pac-transit-police/ ]

  THe MPD also has a team  to reach out to  the homeless. [EQ:

 https://mn.gov/cmah/resources/ ]

Comment:  This building [Monroe Village]  has been hit with a number of people [standing in the foyers, waiting to slip with a tenant. People  called 911, but officers replied they were busy doing other things.

Fischer:  You definitely need to call 911 if that’s what you’re if that’s what you’re seeing.  If you give me times or, or dates of things, I could definitely look things up for you and see why that was the response.  But call 911 if you see this happening, and obviously close the door behind you and don’t let people in.  

Comment:   Inspector, there are statistics up on the screen now. These are the ones that come from Emilie. Can you tell us what larceny theft is?

Fischer:  Larceny is taking something from someone intending to keep it.   

QUESTION: Can we get back to  the question of response time.  How is staffing working out in the 2nd Precinct?   Do you expect to have new people come on board? And I know, Inspector Torborg retired;  there was an entire  generation that stayed on a couple of years to help out the city. Now, a lot of them  are starting to retire. Can you speak to those issues? 

Inspector:  Yes: Staffing.  We lost roughly 40% of our department after 2020. For about two years, we just kept losing  people. Now,  we are losing people  at retirement age. Our hiring numbers are up however; the numbers are starting to level off again.

I did just get  seven new officers who passed their field training.  They are coming to the precinct.

There are more people who are going to be retiring, and a few new units are opening up across the MPD. Some officers are going to get pulled for that.  I would say that my numbers in  the precinct  for the next three  months are going to be what the numbers were at the end of last 2025: around 50 officers.

Question: Do we have  Reserve officers?  And how many and what are you using them for? 

Fischer: Reserve Officers get used for parades and  to  block  traffic for events.  We’ve had a reserve unit for as long as I have been in MPD.  It’s not a very large group, probably 20 people.  Some have been there for years, and some have actually been hired and become police officers. Some move on   to do other things because it’s a voluntary position, when they’re doing police reserve.  

Question: How do you coordinate with other systems and their police, or training of officers in other departments? (question for clarification)  Metro Transit. How do you coordinate?  Do you guys communicate well about what’s happening between all those buses?  Crimes that happen on buses or on rail platforms  that are Metro Transit property.  

Fischer:    When a bus is moving through the city, and something is happening on that bus,  if that’s something that needs to be immediately responded to, and they’re not close.MPD doesn’t wait for Metro Transit to respond to that.  MPD will respond to that. We can talk on the same audio channel and communicate with each other.  When Metro Transit gets there, they may take the case and do the report and follow through.  But it’s not as if those Police Depts.  are completely separate. If something happens in the City of Minneapolis, we will respond. 

The Inspector had to leave at this point.   She repeated that UMPD Chief Davis intends to attend the April meeting to discuss UMPD and MPD coordinate plans for Dinkytown-East Marcy Holmes area .

 Emilie Quast, Member

MPD 2d Precinct Advisory Council  (2-PAC)

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Feb Meeting report:  State of the Precinct, and attenders’ questions

Posted on February 20, 2026 | Leave a comment

This the Second Precinct Advisory Council Monthly meeting on  Feb. 9th, 2026.   Again we have had technical issues with Zoom, and the MPD Forensics team could not join the meeting.   I’ll be asking them to present at a future meeting.   

Fortunately, 2nd Precinct Lt. Hudok is here to talk to us about the State of the Precinct report, and about navigating the city streets if we see a confrontation or other unusual event.

STATE OF THE PRECINCT

NIBRS Crime Metrics  for MPD 2nd Precinct.  Reporting 28-days ending on Feb. 9 only

Crime                                                       2026               2025          3 yr. Ave.  
Assault                                                        98                    89                    73 
            Incl. Domestic                                   9                      7                      9
B&E                                                           151                    18                    25
Destruction/Property Vandalism               92                    58                    65
Homicide, non negligent                               0                       0                     
Homicide, negligent                                      0                       0                        
Larceny                                                     152                   151                149
MV Theft                                                   129                     44                  68
Robbery                                                        4                      10                 10
        Incl. Car Jacking                                   2                       3                    2
Sex Offenses                                              11                       7                    7
Stolen Property                                             0                       1                    1
Weapons Law Violation                                2                        7                   4  
Shots Fired                                                 13                      17                  16
Gun Wound Vics.                                          0                      17                   1     

I’ve  BOLDED the categories that seem out of line: Break and Entry, Destruction/Property Vandalism, Damage, Motor Vehicle Theft.

Lt.  Hudok: We’re finding a fair amount of damaged motor vehicles.   These may be attempted auto thefts:  somebody breaks the handle off  a vehicle but doesn’t  quite complete the theft.    That gets written up as damage to property or damage to auto, or attempted auto theft.  That’s part of the rise in numbers. I haven’t really seen much else in the way of other  damage to property incidents.  Not a theme  or anything  like that. I think the most common is attempted auto theft that doesn’t quite get accomplished, but there’s still some damage to the vehicle.

Also, within the last few days, we had a  rash of auto thefts throughout the day.  There was no real pattern to the locations, but they were happening throughout the entire precinct.  

Also, the same kind of suspects were  dumping stolen vehicles from other parts of the city in the 2nd Precinct  and taking vehicles. 

Quast: Could you backtrack on that one, please, and explain a little bit more?

Hudok:  Sure. Mostly Kias, Hyundais, things like that that were being taken.   They were arriving in a vehicle they’d already stolen, dumping that, then grabbing another one, leaving the first other stolen vehicle behind. 

We had a lot of that on Saturday from the early part of the day through the early part of the evening. 

Quast:  You mean they made it home for curfew? 

Hudok:  They must have.  But  that was an unusual uptick on that one particular day.   It still remains one of the higher offenses [in the 2nd Precinct].  It’s good that our higher incident offenses aren’t violent crimes.  But it’s unfortunate that
it’s still definitely a problem with the auto thefts, attempted auto thefts, car break-ins, things like that. 

Quast: Is this still the Kia boys? 

Hudok:  I’m not 100% certain.  I wouldn’t doubt it, but I don’t know if it’s a rash of juveniles that are engaging in it or if it’s some of the same juveniles.  The problem seems to move around the city. 

Quast: I’d like to know how to move around town safely.  I have friends in South Minneapolis, Little Earth.  We need to plan an activity over there with a Pre-K school and need to meet “somewhere”.  

So, what do I do if I’m driving over and  see a lot of activity going on? I don’t want to drive into it or draw attention to myself.  

Hudok:  I’m assuming you’re talking about the federal activity that’s going on in the city.

Quast:  Is  that what we call it now? Okay. 

Hudok: Well, it’s not us doing it; it’s the Federal Government.  When they have these operations, they tend to not stay long.   They do what they do, then they leave, and go to another location. They’re not really fixed in one spot for terribly long, at least as far as I’ve  noticed looking at the watch commander’s logs and things like that.  So, odds are,  they’re going to do what they do, and then they’re going to move on to some other location, or whatever they do afterwards. It depends on if they take somebody into custody or not.  If they don’t,  they’ll probably move on to another location to conduct some activity. 

It seems like they go in, do something, and then they’re pretty much gone within a few minutes —  you know, 10, 20, 30, 40 minutes, whatever, an hour.  So, wait them out. 

If you see something that’s going on and you’re not really sure what it is, and you don’t want get wrapped up in that.   You can just wait a safe distance away, and within a few minutes, it is probably going to be moving on to some other location.

Certainly people have the right to observe and express their opinions, but if you would rather just simply not be any part of it, then within a matter of a few minutes, it’ll probably move on to a different location, and the area would open up.

Question:  I’m part of Monicar, the group that is trained to do advocacy.   We stand in different groups and then we text each other.   We do see ICE, but rumor has it, is now ICE is hiding out, posing as electricians and whatever  inside of vehicles, and a lot of people just publicly are afraid to be out someplace like at their gym or bringing their kids someplace, where ICE is in a car pretending that they’re electricians or construction workers. Have you heard about this sort of activity? 

Hudok:  I haven’t seen that from any source within the Department.  I’ve seen online  that people believe that’s going on.   I haven’t  seen anything official on it. 

Question:   Were you aware that ICE was sitting in your [Precinct] parking lot last Saturday?

Hudok:  They popped up at a few different parking lots or park buildings, different parks and other city-owned spaces.  Again, they don’t seem to stay there terribly  long.  

They come in and then when people notice them, they go on to some other location. I know there have been reports of them using a lot of MPRB park space lately.

As I mentioned before, if you’re going somewhere and you see a bunch of activity, and you’re not  sure what it is,  generally, like I said, it’s not very long lasting.  If it’s not  something you want to involve yourself in, you can just wait it out.   They move on to another location quickly.  If it is something you want to observe and voice your opinion on that, that’s well within your prerogative. If you want to avoid it, it shouldn’t last terribly long based on what I’ve been seeing in our watch commander logs documentations.

Quast:   Thanks again to those of you who stayed for this part of the meeting.  We have got to get a Zoom maven in here, which will be my job for the coming weeks

Stay safe, everyone,

Emilie Quast,  Member

MPD Second Precinct Advisory Council (2-PAC)

1911 Central Ave NE

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