crime rates Archives - The Minnesota Sun

Former Sheriff Slams Walz for ‘Apathetic’ Response to Record Homicides

January 11, 2022January 10, 2022 Minnesota Sun Staff

Former Sheriff Richard Stanek and Gov. Tom Wolf

In 1995, Minneapolis saw a record-setting 97 homicides. Operating by the strict definition of a homicide as an event where one person intentionally kills another, there were 97 homicides in the city last year.

The final homicide of 2021 occurred just hours before the new year as a 15-year-old boy was gunned down in north Minneapolis. No arrests have been made. The shooters are believed to have fired from a vehicle.

Some homicides, like the killing of Winston Smith in June, were justified and non-criminal. Technicalities aside, most share a concern about the high number of murders in 2021.

University of Minnesota Sees 38 Percent Drop in Crime After Increased Police Presence

September 27, 2021September 26, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

Police officer on University of Minnesota campus handing out donuts

The Minneapolis neighborhood where the University of Minnesota is located has seen a notable crime drop after increasing its police presence.

According to The Minnesota Daily, the total number of “property and violent crimes” in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood has fallen from a peak of 129 in May to 80 in August — a 38 percent decrease.

As previously reported by both The Daily and The College Fix, Marcy-Holmes residents became particularly concerned about the level of crime following a June 19 shooting that injured three U of M students.

Gov. Walz, Angie Craig Oppose Minneapolis Effort to Defund Police

August 31, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

Minneapolis City Council Pledges to Dismantle Police Department

Two prominent Democrats have come out against the ballot effort to defund the Minneapolis Police Department, saying police reform, not defunding, is needed.

Gov. Tim Walz revealed in an interview at the Minnesota State Fair last week that he thinks the ballot question does not provide enough detail and will leave residents “confused” on what they’re voting for or against, Fox 9 reported.

“It’s been distilled down to this: defund police or fund police? I know it’s more complex than that, but I think that poses problems,” Walz said.

Gov. Walz, Angie Craig Oppose Minneapolis Effort to Defund Police

August 31, 2021August 30, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

Two prominent Democrats have come out against the ballot effort to defund the Minneapolis Police Department, saying police reform, not defunding, is needed.

“It’s been distilled down to this: defund police or fund police? I know it’s more complex than that, but I think that poses problems,” Walz said.

Migrants Coming to America Illegally Say They’re Coming to the U.S. for a Variety of Reasons

August 16, 2021August 15, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

MCALLEN, Texas — Some migrants who spoke to the DCNF said they were motivated to come to the U.S. by the Biden administration, while others cited death threats from “narcos” and disaster in their home countries.

“Suddenly, the situations during the previous years weren’t like this one. This year was much more difficult,” a Honduran migrant named Javier told the DCNF after illegally crossing into the U.S. near the Hidalgo Point of Entry early Tuesday morning.

Javier said increasing “crime and a lot of insecurity” including “extortions and death threats from the cartels” motivated him to leave Honduras. He said it took him a little over a month to reach the U.S.

Commentary: The Elites’ Abuse of Average Americans

August 2, 2021August 1, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

When I went to pick up my laundry last week, one of the employees, who had just finished folding my clothes, began weeping. “This is the last load I’ll ever do here,” she said in a choked voice. “They’re letting us all go.”

That one little stifled sob described more than just one woman bemoaning the loss of her job. In it was the relentless cry of the average American who is increasingly crushed by the ignorance of our elites.

Minneapolis Has Experienced One of the Largest Homicide Increases in the Nation, Study Finds

July 19, 2021July 18, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

A new study found that Minneapolis experienced the fifth-highest increase in homicides in the nation between 2019 to 2021.

The overall rankings were based on both a city’s current homicide rate and the change in its number of homicides across the last two years. Minneapolis landed in the 11th position overall, behind cities like New Orleans, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Detroit, according to the WalletHub survey.

From the second quarter of 2019 to the second quarter of 2021, the city of lakes saw the fifth-highest increase in per capita homicides in the nation. In this time, Minneapolis endured the death of George Floyd, unprecedented levels of rioting, mass unemployment caused by COVID-19 lockdowns, and a political assault on its police department.

Commentary: Researchers Urge Americans to Focus on Loneliness Epidemic

July 6, 2021July 5, 2021 RealClearWire

Woman sitting in a chair, looking out the window, alone

As the pandemic recedes and Americans re-enter public life, the surgeon general and other public health experts are urging the country to focus on another national crisis, one that has lingered for decades and worsened in recent years: loneliness.

For many, pandemic-related lockdowns, social distancing, and physical isolation resulted in their most severe experiences of loneliness. Studies have shown that an uptick in loneliness and other mental health issues coincided with the pandemic, and that lockdown requirements almost certainly exacerbated pre-existing mental conditions. But for researchers who have studied loneliness, the recent increase is only one notable event in an extensive history.

Loneliness is not just a crisis in America, but also in Europe, Canada, Japan, China, Australia and, increasingly, South America and Africa. Loneliness also occurs regardless of race, class, culture, and religion. Even before the lockdowns, tens of millions of people throughout the world felt isolated.

Data Shows Increased Homicides in Six Major Cities Across the Country

June 25, 2021June 24, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

The number of homicides in six major cities across the country has increased compared to last year, disproportionately affecting black people, according to crime data.

Black people have represented a massive share of murder victims in six major cities through the first six months of 2021 compared to last year, which itself saw a large crime surge, according to data analyzed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The DCNF analyzed both police department data and homicide reports compiled by local news outlets to determine how black people have been victimized in the wake of the 2020 crime spike.

“We are seeing an uptick in violent crime across the country, specifically gun violence,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told The New York Times earlier this month.

Portland Police Department Says It Doesn’t Track Gang Activity as Gang Violence Rises

June 21, 2021June 20, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

A spokesperson for the Portland Police Bureau told the Daily Caller News Foundation Thursday that the department doesn’t track gang activity despite reports detailing an increase in gang violence in the city.

Police officials estimate half of the 470 shootings that have injured more than 140 people in Portland, Oregon, this year were gang-related, the Associated Press reported June 10. Law enforcement officials have been investigating multiple shooting incidents a week where between 50 and 70 shots were fired as gang attacks increase.

“In Portland, ‘gang violence’ is not a category of crime,” a department spokesperson told the DCNF Wednesday.

Commentary: The Inevitable Fruits of Critical Race Theory

June 21, 2021June 20, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

Captured in a metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia primary school, seated amongst his classmates, this photograph depicts a young Asian-American school boy, who was in the process of creating a drawing, and was choosing from a box of crayons, the colors he’d use in order to bring his ideas to life. It is important to know that these objects are known as fomites, and can act as transmitters of illnesses.

A black man went on a multistate shooting spree recently. The suspected gunman, Justin Tyran Williams, said he specifically targeted white men in his rampage that left five wounded. “Basically, [Williams] explained throughout his life, specifically white males had taken from him, and also what he described as military-looking white males had taken from him,” Columbus (Georgia) Police detective Brandon Lockhart testified Monday.

A racially motivated mass shooting would be the number one news story on CNN . . . were the races reversed. But a black man intentionally shooting white men is just not that interesting to those outside of conservative media.

FBI Makes Messaging App for Assassins and Drug Dealers, Arrests 800 Users in Global Sting

June 9, 2021June 8, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

An international drug sting operation resulted in more than 800 arrests and 32 tons of drugs seized, the FBI and other top law enforcement agencies announced Tuesday.

The sting, titled Operation Trojan Shield, dates back to 2019 when the FBI and Australian Federal Police covertly developed the encrypted device company ANOM to replace two platforms that had been taken down by police, according to European Union law enforcement agency Europol. In search of a new encrypted software to use for communications, criminal gangs flocked to ANOM, which grew rapidly servicing more than 12,000 devices and 300 criminal syndicates across 100 countries.

“Encrypted criminal communications platforms have traditionally been a tool to evade law enforcement and facilitate transnational organized crime,” FBI Criminal Investigative Division Assistant Director Calvin Shivers said in a statement. “The FBI and our international partners continue to push the envelope and develop innovative ways to overcome these challenges and bring criminals to justice.”

105 Percent Increase in Shootings, 70 Percent Increase in Homicides in Minneapolis Last Year

January 27, 2021January 26, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

Minneapolis experienced a 105% increase in shootings between 2019 and 2020, according to an end-of-year report presented to the City Council last week.

The city recorded 82 homicides in 2020, a 70% increase over 2019’s 48 homicides. Between 2016 and 2019, Minneapolis had an average homicide rate of 41, the report from the Minneapolis Police Department states.

Homicides Skyrocket in Dozens of Nation’s Largest Cities, Analysis Finds

August 5, 2020August 4, 2020 Minnesota Sun Staff

Homicides in 50 of America’s largest cities rose by 24%, a new analysis found.

In total, 36 of 50 of America’s largest cities examined saw a double-digit rise in homicide rates, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. Austin and Chicago’s homicide rates have increased more than 50% in comparison to last year’s rates, according to the Journal.