A response to three of Mr. Peterson's points:
----- Original Message -----
From: Russell Wayne Peterson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2001 2:12 PM
Subject: RE: [Mpls] CODEFOR, C4 & Graffiti Presentations in all Precincts
> Having watched this discussion today, I am fascinated, and I have a few
> questions and comments:
>
> What I don't understand is why it is o.k. for the Chief and the Mayor to
> point to CODEFOR when crime goes down, but then it isn't o.k. for us to
> point to it when crime goes up? I understand we might not have a 3 year
> trend here, but even a trend of a few months over the previous years
months
> should tell us something.
I haven't heard anyone talking about CODEFOR as the only reason that crime
has gone down, only as one of the contributing factors in the reduction in
crimes. In the Mayor's State of the City, she cites not only the police
activities but also block clubs, public-private partnerships,
increased/improved prosecution of property crimes, sentenced to serve
programs, streamlined court processes, community restorative justice
programs, job training programs, truency prevention, and longer sentances
for repeat offenders.
> Why is it o.k for us to spend millions of dollars to reign in a few
> protestors at essentially a "non-event" downtown, but when we need the
help
> in the neighborhoods like Phillips with drug dealing, the police point to
> the landlords and property owners as those with the responsibility? If we
> follow their logic, then the hotels and convention center are responsible
> for any criminal protestors downtown. I don't see how the police can have
> it both ways. I understand it is important to be proactive, but it kind
of
> feels like we are going overboard with this argument and not doing our
> basics in monitoring and arresting. And this disconnect feels like it
leads
> us to the possibility that reducing crime around the businesses downtown
is
> more important than reducing crime in the places where our citizens live.
There are simply not enough cops to be everywhere at the same time.
Community oriented policing means that everyone, including landlords and
businesses have a responsibility to address crime. Landlords and businesses
have a responsibilty for how their properties are used. Again, they are not
the only ones responsible (obviously you have to hold the persons doing bad
things accountable) but they do have a role to play.
> I understand the "business" of CODEFOR. I understand that we had an old
> system of "time dis-connected" management in place instead of "established
> time/geography" management. And that we are doing trend analysis is good.
> And I'm glad we've changed those things, but it should be completely
> unacceptable for our police not to crack down on legitimate crimes like
this
> drug dealing in the parking lot in Phillips. There would be outrage if
this
> was happening in Edina or Eden Prairie. This is not acceptable and this
is
> exactly why we have a police department. It goes to the argument that a
> certain level of criminal activity in this city seems to be acceptable by
> the current administration. I know we aren't going to stamp out
everything,
> but this seems pretty serious to me.
The police have been cracking down on drug dealing. Drug arrests are up 35%
from 1995 to 1999 (don't have the 2000 statistics - I am taking these from
the State of the City book which only goes through 1999 and is an essential
read for all Minneapolis policy geeks). I don't know of anyone who condones
drug dealing or any other criminal behavior. It is just a question of how
much our citizens can afford to pay for additional police. Over the last
eight years, the City added 100 more cops, which I believe have had a
positive effect in reducing crime. This was very difficult to do given the
City's overall financial situation but now serious crime is as low as it has
been since 1966. But that doesn't stop crime, as you note. Unfortunately
nothing stops crime.
Carol Becker
Longfellow
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