NIBRS Crime Metrics-28 days 2024 2023 Prev.3 yrs
Assault offenses 71 93 86
Incl. Domestic.Ag.Asslt. 8 8 9
Burglary, B&E 22 26 29
Vandalism 71 80 68
Homicide, non-neg. 0 1 1
Homicide, negligent 0 0
Larceny theft 158 173 204
MV Theft 95 98 74
Robbery* 11 6 10
Incl. car-jacking* 3 1 3
Sex Offenses* 12 8 7
Stolen Prop. Offences 1 1 2
Weapons law violations 1 7 7
Shots fired calls 22 31 29
Gun wound victims 2 2 2
* = increase from previous
Quast: That is the last 28 days from 9/9. You’ll notice, robbery, car jacking, and sex offenses are the only areas where we had an increase. Everything else is down. I think this is one place the double coverage is showing up.
Torborg: Earlier in the year we had a few robbery and carjacking sprees. The suspects would start in South Minneapolis, the 5th Pct, do two, three, four robberies down there. Then they’d come to the 2nd Pct, do several robberies or steal a few cars, then move on to No. Mpls. That happened a couple of times. We noticed the pattern, and caught them as they’re trying to flee to the Northside.
Since then we’ve had a couple of incidents: kids get a stolen car and head to 2nd Pct. They work the area between Broadway and a couple of blocks north of Lowry, from Central to the river. They stop a person or small group and rob them, usually at gunpoint. Sometimes they use force and assault the victims too. The incidents happened two or three times at night and then a couple of times a week. Those have come to an end.
The other thing, we average about 20 cars a week stolen in NE and SE Minneapolis. We’re below last year’s pace, so at least we’re moving in the right direction. One week we’ll have a bunch of auto thefts in the north end of the 2nd Pct so we divert some resources there. The next week they pop up in Marcy Holmes and when we put resources there, we push them over the line. Our numbers will go down, but they go up on the other side of the river. It’s kind of a whack-a-mole game.
QQ: Do people leave their keys in the car?
Torborg: No. About half of the [stolen cars] are Kias and Hyundais. There’s been a lot of hype about how easy it is to steal them. They installed a safety upgrade on a lot of the vehicles, but I think it took about two weeks before somebody found a workaround and posted it on social media.
The fact of the matter is the Kias and Hyundais are not any harder to steal than your average car was in the early eighties to nineties, but people on social media are showing how easy it is.
Unfortunately, a lot of our auto thieves have been kids. That’s kids 10-14 years and up.
It’s been a catch and release situation. There are very few consequences for them. Typically, when we take the younger kids, we identify them and they’re transported home, or their parents are required to pick them up at our juvenile supervision center. That’s the extent of their punishment.
It’s frustrating for police officers. It’s dangerous for the kids who are risking their lives with crazy driving.
Q: What was the story about those four kids who were killed after they had stolen a car in North about two weeks ago.
Torborg: They were in a stolen car when they were shot. It’s public info. that the shooters were also in a stolen car. It’s an open case. One of the victims was 12 years old.
[Exchange about the Colt Grey school shooting in Georgia]
Question: Inspector, now that the new pay package is falling into line and, of course, lateral transfers, how’s staffing?
Torborg: The CSO program is going well. We have 50 or 60 new CSOs and we’ll find places for them. You do know that CSOs typically are two to four years out from being police officers. They must have a minimum of two years of college and then the police academy after that. It’s not something you can just turn on.
Laterals: There’s a class of five laterals who are finishing up their training. Also, a couple of officers who had left the department for other agencies are coming back. Unfortunately, we’re still losing some to other agencies and to normal attrition. The number I saw this morning was 515 able-bodied officers — that’s officers who aren’t injured, full duty officers who are in uniform. We hit a low a couple of months ago — 499.
QQ: How long does it take to get a lateral transfer onto the street?
Torborg: They have an accelerated training program; it’s three months. Then, every Police Dept. has its own rules and regulations, record keeping system and so on, and there’s learning the geography.
The Eastside of Minneapolis is a huge area. It’s concerning when we have only eight cops working total. Now with the U of M coordination, if an MPD cop is alone in SE , a U of M Officer will back up our officer if they need it.
EQ: Since we have City Attorney Nnamdi Okoronkwo here, I’d love to hear if he has any updates to share:
Okoronkwo: I’m here, but we don’t do specialized lists of any individuals any longer. We had special prosecutions teams until about two years ago.
Obrestad: I work at the University Lutheran Church of Hope. We have one particular frequent flyer. It’s been getting worse. He’s showing up daily. He’s spending nights there. Where do we go from there?
Okoronkwo: I’m assuming he’s been trespassed.
Obrestad: He’s been trespassed for the second year. I chase him off when I see him and say, “Hey, we’ve called the police.” There are a couple of others.
Torborg: Keep calling. We’ll arrest them when we catch them and take them to jail. They’ll be held for a little while, at least.
Obrestad: Normally it’s not too big an issue, but last week he tried to come into the building. We have P.E.A.S.E. Academy there. [https://mtcs.org/pease/ ] It’s a recovery high school.
QQ: Shot spotter. I understand the City Council met today, Did they make a decision after postponing the meeting five times?
Torborg: I haven’t heard. All I can tell you is the command staff, — the chiefs, the inspectors, the commanders from the different units — have a meeting every Monday morning. And most are at the city council, too. We’re asking to renew the contract and add more sensors the south side.
From my perspective, it’s 21st century technology. It’s worked great in Minneapolis. I can’t understand why anybody wouldn’t want a system that alerts the police when there’s shots fired.
We’ve had it for a while and now the system is refined so you get a good location where the shots were fired. It can identify automatic weapon fire, count the rounds. Some cops have an app on their phones and will get a notice of a shot alert. They can literally play the shots to hear the cadence. The technology is amazing.
QQ: What the big issue?
Torborg: There was an allegation that it leads to over-policing of some neighborhoods. That’s the term they use. But guess what? The residents of those neighborhoods mind shots fired more than anybody else.
QQ: I don’t know a lot about shot spotter. Does it also triangulate?
Torborg: You pretty much get the exact location. Just walking around on the street, you’d often hear shots, but with echoes off buildings and how many windows you have open in your squad, it can be really tricky to nail down where the shots are coming from.
The shot spotter will overlay the location on a map and you’ll hear dispatch say, “We had six shots fired in the backyard of such and such an address. Cops can start looking for spent shell casings, on the west side of the street, from this block to that block.
At one of the meetings we heard that where there’s shot spotter, the cops can do their work in a less time. It takes us 44 minutes in the 2nd Pct (no spotters), but 20 minutes where they do have spotters. It’s cost effective.
Plus, it’s almost like a smoke detector for fire. We start responding when we get the shot spotter notification. We don’t wait for somebody to call the police.
In some parts of Minneapolis, people are used to the sound [of shots]. If somebody was hit, unless somebody sees them on the ground, [the incident] might not get called in for a long time. [The shot spotter would send officers looking for the person on the ground.]
QQ: Isn’t there a database record of these shots.
Torborg: Yes. It’s one of the things we talk about in our meetings. How many shots were fired and where? How many of those were automatic weapons? How many were different guns? A lot of good data can be gleaned from those records.
It’s shocking at times, how many shots are fired in the city, but it is what it is.
Thank you everyone.
Emilie Quast, Member
MPD 2nd Precinct Advisory Council (2-PAC)
1900 Central Ave NE
Minneapolis MN 55418
2nd Precinct Advisory Council 