The meeting was called to order at 6:36, 17 people attending, 10 in person and 7 by Zoom.
Officer Todd Harder, our speaker, isn’t here yet, so we’ll begin with
State of the Precinct
The last 28 days reports from the MPD Crime dashboard
| NIBRS Crime Metrics Crime 2025 2024 3 yr. Ave. Assault 104 89 82 Incl Domestic 15 5 9 B&E 25 21 20 Vandalism 42 120 76 Homicide 0 0 1 Homicide, Neg. 0 0 0 Larceny 138 177 158 MV Theft 34 71 77 Robbery 8 14 11 Incl Carjacking 1 4 4 Sex Offenses 4 10 6 Stolen Prop. 1 0 1 Weapons Law Vio. 5 4 6 Shots fired 17 23 20 Gun Wound Vics 1 1 2 | |
| Comment: [about ICE in Minneapolis] Inspector Torborg: [responded to the observation and then moved on to reactions] I think some people are also hoping to provoke a confrontation between the police department and the ICE workers, which would never happen. It’s getting frustrating; I hope that will quiet down. Some people in the city aren’t fans of ICE. That’s fine. But it’s bogging us down when we get one report after another. A few ICE members were trying to serve a warrant this morning and someone outside was blowing a whistle to alert other people there was an ICE raid, which wasn’t the case at all.We’ll do more messaging and we’ll see. | |
| Comment: Another question is: how do you handle the notion of under-reporting, particularly things like robberies, getting a warrant for guns? Torborg: You mean in the immigrant community? I read every robbery case; an investigator reads every robbery case. | |
| Comment: Well, We have a large Ecuadorian population in northeast Minneapolis, and I have a feeling they’re getting targeted because of communication difficulties and maybe their immigration status. They’re afraid to go to the police. Torborg: I like to think that most of the time when somebody gets robbed, it will be reported. I know with windows being broken out of cars, we’ve had so many crime sprees of 30, 40 car windows getting broken out. People start to wonder what’s the point of even reporting this. We try to keep an accurate number because that’s how police resources are divided up. If people stop calling in these things, they won’t get the police service they deserve. Question: Do you know who is committing these thefts? Torborg: Yes. We’ve arrested most of them, several times. They’re juveniles, so they get taken to the Juvenile Division. They get interviewed.They get processed. They get transferred to the Juvenile Detention Center, sometimes. And then they’re usually released almost immediately and they come back the next day. Question: When they’re released, are they released to their parents? Torborg: Yeah, their parents are responsible. Question: Is there any recourse to hold the parents responsible? Torborg: Not criminally. Technically there could be civil liability. I think it’s safe to say that many of the suspects come from a single parent home. The parent has no financial means to pay back any of the victims. Some of them are very cooperative. Two weeks ago a mother of one of our frequent suspects, called Lt. O’Rourke [who leads the MPD Outreach to Youth program] and said, “I think my son is going around in a stolen car in Northeast somewhere.” Just as the Lt. was letting me know, we started getting reports of a reckless driver. Comment recalling Lt. O’Rourke’s presentation at 2-PAC. (EQ: See https://courtwatch2pac.com/2025/07/05/march-meeting-part-1-mpd-outreach-to-youth/ ) | |
| [Conversation about the 10 Hour Buffet, here deleted] | |
| Officer Harder on the MPD Drone Program | |
| I’m Officer Todd Harder. I’ve been in the Second Precinct for about four years, now. I’ve been a police officer for almost 29 years. | |
| I got into the Drone Unit about a year and a half ago. We use drones for searching for anybody missing. They’re a very useful tool for looking over the river for people who fell or jumped into the river. We use an exterior drone for that work. [holding it up] It has a thermal on it, too, so you can fly it in the dark to see a person hiding or if there’s a kid missing from somewhere. We have 7 or 8 of these. That is a mid-size drone. We have one that’s three times as big. In a bigger city like Minneapolis, we need authorization to fly in some areas, like the airport. The drones won’t even take off in certain airspace zones. | |
| Question: Is that DJI? [a Chinese mfg] Harder: All of ours are DJI so far, but we’re going to get other brands. This is an interior drone [holding it up] We use them for search warrants. The SWAT team will surround the house, breach the door, and before anyone goes in, we fly this through the house so we can tell the SWAT team where people are or just share the layout of the house. It’s very beneficial to send in a tool, because if someone knocks the tool down, it’s no big deal — we can get another one. | |
| Comment: SWAT teams used to throw in a “flashbangs” before entering (a device that would surprise or stun nearby people) Officer: We still use flashbangs too, but when we fly this one in, you can get a live feed so everyone can see what we’re seeing. Question: How soon can you be ready to go when something is happening. Officer: If I had to launch this right now, 3 or maybe 4 minutes, because it’s interior. I’d need authorization to launch the bigger one, but it’s still only a couple of minutes. | |
| Question: Does each precinct have its own drone teams? Officer: I think there are 13 of us on the team, and we’re spread throughout the city. I think the 2nd Precinct has the most pilots. We put in for it. It’s a competitive selection process, based on application, interview, and experience. Question: Over the last year, how many interior observations have you done? Officer: I’ve probably done 10, but every search warrant gets a drone; we’re going to a house with a SWAT team. It’s standard procedure. | |
This morning, I was involved in a search warrant and we flew this unit inside the residence. When we’re flying this one, we put goggles right over our face and use a controller. This interior drone has the VR system and the exterior drone still has the screen, right on the controller. So the exterior one, the screen is right on the controller still. [talk about drill mark and DJI, unclear recording]
There’s state law saying when we can and can’t fly them over your house. That’s illegal unless there’s a search warrant.***
Question: How long do they go for?
Officer: It depends on how much the batteries get used. That interior one, probably 10 minutes flight time before you have to swap the battery. This one, probably 30 minutes. If you’re in an active search, you always have another up before the first one lands. Then you swap the battery and keep rotating.
Question So does that require more than one officer?
Officer: Whenever there’s a drone in there, you have to have two officers, to keep an eye on the drone and to protect the person who’s flying it. We’re supposed to always be able to see them with our naked eye. Whenever we fly them, we have to have a visual observer. We can only fly them as far as you can see.
When that big building burned in on Central, they called for us to come out there because it was so smoky, they couldn’t even get close enough to tell where the flames were coming from. The drone flew up, and with the thermal sensor, pinpointed the hot spots. Then the fire department went in and sprayed water. The next day, I went back after the flames were mostly knocked out, to tell them where there were still hot spots.
Quast: That was excellent, thank you.
** https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/22/fcc-drone-ban-dji-00703742 – https://pilotinstitute.com/drones/states/minnesota/
*** https://drone-laws.com/drone-laws-in-minnesota/
[More discussion about the 2-PAC 12/24 10-Hour buffet deleted]
Emilie Quast, Member
MPD Second Precinct Advisory Council (2-PAC)
2nd Precinct Advisory Council 