The meeting was called to order at 6:35pm, 12 people attending.
Four new attenders are here to introduce themselves: 2nd Precinct Inspector Nick Torborg, Crime Prevention Specialist Teila Zoller who will be handling the 2nd Precinct south of Broadway, a new embedded 2nd Precinct Social Worker, April Smith, and Mpls. Parks and Recreation Board PD Lt. Andrew Klein.
Inspector Torborg is a born Northeaster. He attended Holy Cross Grade School, De La Salle High School, and received a degree in biology from St. Thomas. After several years in the private sector, he was admitted to the Mpls. Police Cadet program. He worked in North Minneapolis with various partners for 13 years and loved it there. He became a Sergeant and spent time working in Special Operations and Swat. He was promoted to Lieutenant about eight years working in various units including the Sex Crimes unit*. He next was transferred to the First Precinct, working the Dog Watch there until a week ago. Last Sunday, 8/6, he received a call telling him he had a transfer and began working as our new Inspector the next Tuesday.
CPS Zoller was introduced by CPS Rashid Ali. CPS Zoller will be taking care of the Second Sector of the 2nd Pct, the area extending south from Broadway. CPS Ali is working to get her 1) into the [computer] system and 2) getting her familiar with the SE Mpls and University of MN area. [It turns out that she and Inspector Torborg have both been issued the “new” City of Minneapolis laptop, which is apparently giving many people trouble.]
April Smith is our new Social Worker. Emilie asked her to present at a future program, how the new embedded Social Worker program is structured. In 2020, 2-PAC heard from the very first social worker in the 2nd, who got pulled out of the precinct soon after. We haven’t have any information about how the new program works and need to know. [check the 2020 report on the https://courtwatch2pac.com/2020/01/22/january-report-the-co-responders-program/ ]
Lt. Andrew Klein started with the MPRB as a Park Agent in 2013. The next year he was promoted to Police Cadet and attended the MPD Police Academy. He worked as a street officer for several years and recently was promoted to Lieutenant. He pointed out that the MPRB now has about 30 officers on patrol.
Calming down the Second Precinct Lessons from 2022:
A few days before Inspector Nelson left us for the 5th Precinct, she sent me a summary of the strategies that were put in place after the debacle that was the “party season” in the Second Precinct in 2022. She wrote:
“In response to criminal activity from 2022 around Stone Arch Bridge, Inspector McGinty used some out-of-the-box thinking. He put down steel plates around the entrance to the Stone Arch to deter the speed racing/hot rodding. Along with that, we did not want Main Street to turn into the Autobahn. He requested dragon teeth, those cement pyramid things, to dissuade people from recklessly driving on Main.
“We scaled back a little in 2023 because [that response] was quite robust and was an inconvenience to the people working at the Steam Plant at 204 Main Street. We decided that if [there was a big uptick in speed racing], we would request more dragon teeth.
“Enforcement around Stone Arch. We consulted with the apartments [nearby] about adjusting their scheduled tow times from their lot. This seemed to help. During June, Dogwatch did a lot of towing around Main Street to help keep the criminal activity down.”
[EQ: I had misread a story about a 2022 event on Boom Island, and thought it happened this year. The tape records three informed people telling me I had the date wrong. I am delighted to be corrected — the Boom Island event happened in 2022. It felt wonderful to be wrong about that event!]
STATE OF THE PRECINCT
Statistics from the MPD Crime Dashboard:
The July statistics weren’t shared that month. Taking July and August together:
NIBRS Crime Metrics July ’23 Aug ’23
Assault 105 88
Incl. Domestic Ag. Aslt. 9 6
Burglary B&E 22 25
Property Damage 56 56
Homicide (non-neg.) 0 0
Homicide (negligent) 0 0
Larceny theft 169 117 (down by 100 from the 3-year August average!)
MV theft 50 99
Robbery 16 9
(incl Car Jacking) 1 0
Sex offenses 6 3
Stolen Property offenses 1 5
Weapon Law Violations 7 1
Shots fired calls 24 19
Gunshot wound vics. 2 1
QQ Stolen Property Offenses and Weapon Law Violations are going down a bit. Might that drop have something to do with Officers being asked to dial back some traffic stops, like broken tail lights or other equipment violations.
Inspector Torborg: I don’t have any hard numbers, but it’s a safe assumption to make.
QQ Would someone speculate about the implications of that?
The Inspector: It’s a balancing act. We may be recovering more weapons from the stops, but some people believe there’s a segment of the population that was being unfairly affected by those traffic stops.
We received announcements of Community Engagement Sessions. [As of this posting 8/25, there is one more topic to cover]
MPD Community Engagement Sessions
Reports from the Attorneys’ Offices
Mpls Attorney Okoronkwo: The City and the County are still working on their backlogs. The City has just hired 9 new attorneys who are being brought up to speed.
HCAO Sarah Hagland reported the HCAO is in the same situation with new hires and training.
*Inspector Torborg’s report on the Sex Crimes Investigations Unit, presented in Sept. 2019 https://courtwatch2pac.com/2019/01/13/sept-2-pac-report-part-1-mpd-sex-crimes-investigations-unit/
For the YouTube video of this meeting, see: https://youtu.be/iN6igbEGHxM
Emilie Quast, Member
MPD Second Precinct Advisory Council (2-PAC)
Minneapolis MN 55418
e-quas@umn.edu
2nd Precinct Advisory Council 