[Mpls] (Fwd) SAFE 5.2: Suspicious Person Calls to 911

[Steven Clift]

Good information!

Steven Clift
Ericsson

------- Forwarded message follows -------
To:             	"SAFE Precinct 5, Sector 2" <SAFE5.2 at pandh.com>
Date sent:      	Wed, 23 Nov 2005 09:37:19 -0600
From:           	"Thompson, Thomas" <Thomas.Thompson at ci.minneapolis.mn.us>
Subject:        	SAFE 5.2: Suspicious Person Calls to 911

Suspicious Person Calls to 911 

We are often asked what can be done about suspicious persons,
loiterers, interlopers, etc., in the area of apartment buildings,
businesses, and street corners.  In almost every call I've fielded,
the behavior described would arouse suspicion in a reasonable person. 

In these cases, we advise people to call 911 so a squad can be
dispatched to investigate.

Frequently the response to this advice is, "I don't want to waste the
officers' time," or, "But when I've called in these people in the
past, the squad doesn't get there until after the parties have left." 

The last time I spoke with an owner with both of the above 
objections,
I was able to dig up some statistics which we feel justifies our
urging people to call 911: 

This summer, nearly 10,000 suspicious person and vehicle calls were
logged with the MPD.  Nearly 70% of these were self-initiated action
on the part of police officers.  Of the remaining 30%+:

Over 10% of the calls were cleared "AOK."  As in, the officers
determined that the person or vehicle called on was not engaged in
criminal behavior.

8% of people called on were "sent," i.e., advised to leave the area;
another 6% were "advised" regarding their behavior.  Although there
was not enough for officers to take enforcement action, there was
enough information in the call to send the message to a potential
criminal that they would be seen committing crimes by watchful
neighbors.

In 4% the people called on were booked into jail.  Another 2% were
tagged for an offense and released. 

More information was gathered and a report filed in about 8% of these
calls. 

Less than 2% of these calls were determined by arriving officers to 
be
unfounded. About 3% were cancelled by the caller before the squad
arrived and in 1% the demand for squads on higher priority incidents
meant the squad could not be dispatched.

In about 40% of all calls, the suspects were, indeed, GOA or "gone on
arrival."  While this can be discouraging, consider that this means 
in
over half of all calls, officers are able to take proactive steps. 
Even when suspects are GOA, often a later call for the same 
individual
returning to the scene results in an arrest or other enforcement.
Officer-initiated calls result in a higher proportion of arrests,
bookings, and tags (nearly 50%) exactly because they direct their
patrol in areas with a high number of suspicious person/activity
calls.

We hope this will assure those who are worried about wasting our time
or that the squad might not arrive that calling 911 on suspicious
activity makes a difference





CPS Tom Thompson

Crime Prevention Specialist

Minneapolis Police Department, 5th Precinct

3101 Nicollet Ave S,

Minneapolis, MN  55408

thomas.thompson at ci.minneapolis.mn.us

(612) 673-2823



Serving the neighborhoods of;

CARAG, East Harriet, ECCO, Kingfield, Linden Hills, Lyndale, West
Calhoun



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