Not sure how I missed this when it aired, but I thought this was interest.
It would appear that the STOP program is the very kind of proactive/preventive policing that folks have been crying out for? Mark Snyder Windom Park -------------------- http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=104768 Minneapolis police take a whole new approach to fighting crime by going after the bad guys before they commit serious crimes. It's all part of efforts underway by the department's STOP unit. Chief Bill McManus formed STOP this spring while looking for creative ways to prevent street crime, rather than just respond to it - after the fact. At the corner of an intersection in North Minneapolis, a man in a dark shirt, who police call C.I., is being watched. He is also being approached by people interested in buying drugs. The police radio squawks as a man speaks to the C.I., "Ok, the C.I. is saying the parties in the Suzuki wanted to buy crack." In police speak, C.I. means 'confidential informant' and the man in the Suzuki has no idea his conversation with the C.I. is about to get him arrested. The man didn't buy drugs. He didn't sell drugs, but on this night, that doesn't matter says Minneapolis Police Sergeant Mike Young. "They got him on tape asking for crack cocaine, this guy. (other officer) So that's good enough? We got a loiter on him, if nothing else." Police are working with the C.I. on a sting. The Suzuki driver will spend the night in jail for a petty misdemeanor called loitering with the intent to buy narcotics. Sergeant Young plans to arrest several people like the Suzuki driver to send a message about drugs on the Northside. "The people that come here to buy, we're gonna relocate that. Because they realize that, if they buy there, they're gonna run the risk of going to jail," explains Young. Most of the people arrested during this sting won't do anything worse than have a conversation with or buy marijuana from the C.I. Marijuana is the only drug he's carrying. "At $10 a baggie, I mean, you chop up a pound of marijuana, and you're looking at $15,000," says Young. Though marijuana isn't typically considered a serious drug, Young says $15,000 is serious money, and for that kind of money, drug dealers fight turf wars. This summer, the turf wars have been escalating. Just last month a 12-year-old was grazed by a bullet after she was caught in the crosshairs of what was believed to be a drug related shooting. The sting Sergeant Young is supervising is in the same area where that girl was shot. Young is part of the Minneapolis STOP unit. It was created this year to fight street crime by being proactive in areas where police usually just re-act to someone calling 911. Part of the effort includes sending a message to children. One of the drug suspects police chased down was a boy just a year older than the girl who was shot. Surveillance video shows the 13-year-old stopping to talk to the C.I. He showed the C.I. some marijuana bindles. He says maybe the sting will get the child thinking about the road he's riding down. At the end of the sting, nobody arrested and booked was going to spend more than one night in jail. The biggest fine most will face is a couple of hundred dollars and that's to recover their cars, which police towed. In a little more than two hours, 13 people were arrested, and they all were booked on misdemeanor charges. Police say this wasn't about taking serious criminals off the street, it was about letting people know they're concentrating efforts on an area where serious crimes happen. This operation is called a reversal and was the first one this summer in which police have gone after drug buyers. Normally they target the sellers. But they say they're planning a couple more of these reversals before the summer is over. By Scott Goldberg, KARE 11 News (Copyright 2005 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.) Last Updated: 8/11/2005 8:45:06 PM REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
