[content warning/trigger warning: gun violence, police violence, murder, anti-Black and anti-Native abuse, r*pe, assault] 1821 The Metropolitan Police Department, the first municipal police force in the world, is created in London. The first American police force forms in Boston 17 years later. 1867 Minneapolis incorporates and the City Council establishes the Minneapolis Police Department, which […]
Check out the statistics used in this article: You can research Minneapolis crime statistics on the city website and check out the collected data behind this article’s charts on Google Sheets. Crime in Minneapolis has been a hot-button issue recently, flaring up tensions over perceptions of violent crime and a policing strategy to address it. […]
The ongoing conversation over the role of enforcement in creating safe streets and cities has raised a number of important points, both on streets.mn and elsewhere. I believe camera enforcement is a key component in creating safe streets and can be done without sacrificing our commitments to equity, privacy, and safety through better design. To […]
When controversy happens… when tempers flare… we read the comments, so you don’t have to. Let’s start with the picture of the kitten because this is a mess. The Star Tribune released another article that is sure to raise the blood pressure of many streets.mn readers. It’s a story about Saint Paul Police seeking money […]
Metro Transit has stepped up a previously ill-defined “anti-harassment” initiative to promote “respect, kindness and inclusion among our riders.” This has manifested in station announcements, signage, and scrolling messages on buses that a lot of people probably find innocuous, or even welcome. However, the way it has chosen to go about this campaign is […]
As local and national conversations occur about policing, racial disparities in the justice system, and the rights of felons to vote, today’s chart focuses on the number of incarcerated Minnesotans. Via the Prison Policy Initiative, the following chart represents the 21,000 people in Minnesota’s jail and prison facilities in 2018: Minnesota’s incarceration rate exceeds that […]
I hate cigarette smoke, and I know I’m not alone. My dad used to smoke all the time. I vividly remember him smoking while we were waiting for the bus. It was smelly and disgusting. But my dad doesn’t smoke anymore. He has been cigarette-free for close to 20 years. Others seem to have trouble […]
You might have read about the recent repeal of the “lurking” and “spitting” ordinances by the Minneapolis City Council last week. Well, about a month ago, the ACLU released Picking Up The Pieces, a polished and hard-hitting report on Minneapolis’ racial disparities in low-level crimes, of which lurking and spitting are only two. Here’s one of […]
Well, there was an interesting discussion on fivethirtyeight.com this week about resiency requirements for police officers. Minneapolis used to have a residency requirement until 1999. Today, they’re one of the lowest cities in the country in terms of percentage of police officers who live in the city. (at least, this is true for white officers.) Here […]