Downtown Minneapolis is not safe - WHY? (St. Paul, Plymouth: unemployed, dangerous)

[JasonStarCommand]

Originally Posted by Lodestar

Liberal policies.
Light rail has also contributed to the problem by giving crime-minded people mobility.

Yeah, light rail should be dismantled or place an income restriction (i.e. meet a certain minimum threshold) to be able to ride the light rail or allow only luxury car owners access to the downtown area ..... face palm

[Toronto416]

The downtown population has increased but it's all rich people who either don't have to work or are in such demand that they want to be within minutes of the office. Nobody else can afford to live downtown anymore unless you're homeless or a recently paroled sex offender or violent offender living at the Salvation Army. So there are two very stark contrasts within downtown - one has so much money they can 'buy' their way out of ever having to look/see/smell what they don't wan to while the other is doing whatever they want to whoever they want on the streets. There are no normal, working class adults living downtown who would likely call it a community because it's where their home is. These super rich or super poor are very transient - I doubt most will still be there in ten years. It's your middle class blue collar folks who are going to stick around for the next 50 years. Downtown doesn't want that because it doesn't make them any money - RIGHT NOW - and that's all they care about.

The cops in Minneapolis are either trained in Hibbing, where the only thing that ever happens is a little rowdiness at the bingo hall, or MCTC's school which isn't that great. All it takes is 18-24 months to become a cop. That means that if someone takes post-secondary options in high school, they could be a cop - who makes very major decisions on what will potentially happen to you legally, financially and otherwise for the rest of your life - at 19 years of age. Sorry, but I don't trust a 19-30 year old's judgment when it comes to my freedom or my peace of mind. These guys at that age are too aggressive, too Robo-cop, too full of testosterone and too rude. I've seen many who are staring at the Timberwolves cheerleaders leaving the Target Center for more than ten minutes while a drug deal is happening no more than 100 feet away from them in plain sight. Cops need to have a bachelor's degree at the very least. These silly little classes they offer in Hibbing don't prepare them for anything other than paperwork.

Speaking of that, because most of these cops have never been anywhere, they're very afraid of the criminals downtown because they've never encountered them before. Often they just keep driving past it because what are they going to do? As pessimistic as this is to say, locking up these kids downtown costs money that the county/state will never see. They make more money off of drunk drivers and non-minorities with money who can pay to bail themselves out and pay their tickets. These other folks have no money, never intend to spend any money, won't pay their tickets, and guess who ends up paying these things for them? The cops know this and that's why they often don't bother.

[Minntoaz]

YES!!! I did the whole Ramp C park, ride and fly a few weeks ago because it's super cheap ($28 for 7 days) and let me tell you.. I don't know if I ever will again. I was planning on taking the light rail from the airport to downtown but it unexpectedly was shut down at the airport (What the heck is the point of having a light rail if it shuts down unexpectedly at midnight on labor day and you're left scrambling...) so thankfully a nice couple offered to split an uber with me. THANK GOD because as my uber driver is pulling up to ramp C there are ambulances and polices cars all around that area... He stopped his meter and drove around until I was literally at my car. Nicest man ever! Anyways I can't promise I'd be here to talk if I would of taken the light rail.

I seriously love Minnesota but don't even enjoy going to downtown Minneapolis due to the lackadaisical criminal justice system. In New Jersey if you carry a gun you're locked up for 10. Here you can kill a guy and maybe be locked up for 10. Seriously I understand we all want the best for the people but THIS IS A SAFETY PROBLEM and it's time to do something. This people do their crime get shot up and come to hospitals and just go home all bandanaged up with no repercussions. REALLY? Until people stop living in their little fairy tale suburban, happy-land they are going to continue voting their same ways and we will continue to have these problems. Whether you like Minneapolis or not is irrelevant because it provides thousands of jobs for people everyday and brings in a lot of money for our local and state economy. It's a problem and sitting back is not going to solve it.

[PullMyFinger]

Three more shot dead last night. Welcome to the Baltimore of the North.

[Minntoaz]

This year so far the city of Minneapolis is tracking at 208 homicides for a population of 400,070 (1/2 of which occur in North Minneapolis) while Chicago is tracking at 399 for a population of 2,719,000. Congratulations Minneapolis you are significantly more unsafe than Chicago.

It looks like the Black lives matter protesters need to shift their efforts to the people of the streets who are causing these shootings which statistically is black on black crime. I just don't understand how these homicides continue to happen? Minneapolis is a city with significant government involvement yet our cops either are being told not to or do not have the training to stop these shootings. There are thousands of people who want to become cops- if the ones that are in their jobs now can't handle it- it's time to let them go. We are talking about saving human lives here.

[Thedosius]

Originally Posted by Minntoaz

This year so far the city of Minneapolis is tracking at 208 homicides for a population of 400,070 (1/2 of which occur in North Minneapolis) while Chicago is tracking at 399 for a population of 2,719,000. Congratulations Minneapolis you are significantly more unsafe than Chicago.

Your numbers are close- only about 174 off the mark.

Homicides January-September 2015: 34

This can be found on page three.
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/gro...s1p-149986.pdf

Perhaps you're right- maybe there were 174 more homicides in the first half of October that have not yet been reported.

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by Thedosius

Your numbers are close- only about 174 off the mark.

Homicides January-September 2015: 34

This can be found on page three.
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/gro...s1p-149986.pdf

Perhaps you're right- maybe there were 174 more homicides in the first half of October that have not yet been reported.

technicality! musn't let any stupid facts get in the way of our agenda!

[MidwestRedux]

Originally Posted by Minntoaz

This year so far the city of Minneapolis is tracking at 208 homicides for a population of 400,070 (1/2 of which occur in North Minneapolis) while Chicago is tracking at 399 for a population of 2,719,000. Congratulations Minneapolis you are significantly more unsafe than Chicago.

It looks like the Black lives matter protesters need to shift their efforts to the people of the streets who are causing these shootings which statistically is black on black crime. I just don't understand how these homicides continue to happen? Minneapolis is a city with significant government involvement yet our cops either are being told not to or do not have the training to stop these shootings. There are thousands of people who want to become cops- if the ones that are in their jobs now can't handle it- it's time to let them go. We are talking about saving human lives here.

I believe that is the number for shootings, not homicides.

[Minnesota Spring]

Originally Posted by Minntoaz

This year so far the city of Minneapolis is tracking at 208 homicides for a population of 400,070 (1/2 of which occur in North Minneapolis) while Chicago is tracking at 399 for a population of 2,719,000. Congratulations Minneapolis you are significantly more unsafe than Chicago.

It looks like the Black lives matter protesters need to shift their efforts to the people of the streets who are causing these shootings which statistically is black on black crime. I just don't understand how these homicides continue to happen? Minneapolis is a city with significant government involvement yet our cops either are being told not to or do not have the training to stop these shootings. There are thousands of people who want to become cops- if the ones that are in their jobs now can't handle it- it's time to let them go. We are talking about saving human lives here.

Chicago numbers are homicide, the Minneapolis numbers you give are shootings. Not the same thing FYI.
Yes, something is definitely up in this country and not in a good way. Minneapolis seems to be following a trend with increasing crime rates, although not to the extent as some other cities.
Just google 2015 homicides for Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Omaha.
I don't believe that negates the fact that something needs to be done locally. However, the latest homicides in Mpls. seem to be over domestic disputes and overheated arguments, I'm not sure how you crack down on those.

[PullMyFinger]

I saw the Green Line headed towards Minneapolis this morning at what should be the height of ridership for them. 4 cars and I counted 5 people total. None of them looked like they've had a job in this millennia. But the buses running on I94 are packed front to back with business commuters.

Look for Minneapolis and Minnesota hand in hand to waste billions of you dollars on ridiculous, half arsed solutions to real problems.