[Mpls] Exaggerating Crime Statistics

[gemgram]

Drug dealing is down on Franklin Avenue due to about four factors:

1. the efforts of Dan Wells hunting drug dealers with the eagerness that the 
word is defined as,

2. Jan Graham, Shirley Stone and County Attorney Gail Baez setting up "Court 
Watch" to insure the worst got the time they deserve when caught.

3. Shirley Stone, Jan Graham, and then LT. Chris Arneson tirelessly working 
to set up the Franklin Avenue "Safety Center".

4.  The working relationship and cooperative effort of  police officers and 
the community.

Those things are still running smoothly and carry on with others even though 
the ladies responsible have turned their efforts to other things.

As anyone can see this list does not include either RT Rybak or Chief 
McManus.  Chief McManus came after the fact, and RT while expressing concern 
and promising "cameras" just did not come through.  The strong relationship 
between the community and the police is to be credited for much of the 
success of Ventura Village combating the drug dealing along Franklin Avenue. 
That community support and involvement is to be credited to Deputy Chief 
Sharon Lubinski and Captain Mike Martin and the strong community- police 
relationship their work helped to build a foundation for.

All of that being said, we have had an increase in both observable and 
perceived crime over the last year or two.  Assaults, murders, robberies and 
rapes are NOT down, they are up.  Property crimes are UP. I also have had 
property crimes this summer that are even higher than the days of all the 
drug dealers.    Why?  Because there are not enough police and those that 
are there have been demoralized by too heavy a work load and the perceived 
attack upon them by the Chief and the Mayor. As I have said morale of the 
street officers is reported to be the lowest in any ones memory.

Neither the communities nor the street officers who serve them feel that the 
Mayor or his Chief have any interest in the plight of inner-city 
neighborhoods.  A sad situation given the positive reception that McManus 
had and enjoyed in this community. But perhaps it is not McManus fault, he 
after all is a political appointee and serves at the "Political Discretion" 
of a Mayor who though he has no interest in that department is willing to 
use public safety as a political pawn.

The political nature of that can be seen in RT's budget that started out 
cutting an additional 100 officers and now with the election approaching RT 
has SUDDENLY found that it is "his" highest priority.  While that priority 
is high for him now to get elected I fear after election RT would return to 
his previous priority of serving only well off communities and cutting 
police service to Minneapolis.  Though I laughingly speculate that his idea 
of combining the Third and Fifth precincts will meet with howls from his 
base in wealthier neighborhoods when they realize "their" officers will now 
be sent where the real crime is and not confined to hassling rowdy beer 
drinking partiers around the lakes.

Of course our rape incidence fell from TEN last month to only five this 
month.   What do you think would happen if there were even five rapes in one 
month in Linden Hills?  There would be calls for the National Guard and 
marches on City Hall.  Even the TEN rapes in a month in Phillips did not 
receive on inch in the paper or a comment on the news.  The media and RT 
expect it in poor neighborhoods where they warehouse the State's social 
problems. Perhaps the media eager RT will call a press conference to 
announce his efforts have dropped the rape rate in Phillips?

Affordable housing units costing $10,000 to fifteen thousand more because of 
needless red tape created by RT's "appointees", and ten rapes in one month 
including two juveniles in my community.  And people wonder why I switched 
support from Rybak to Peter McLaughlin?

Hassling homeless people and panhandlers with police rather than having an 
interest in housing them?  This going on when there are REAL crime problems 
in Minneapolis.  This also contributes to poor police morale for officers 
who do care about their work. The Mayor seems to be more interested in 
election years, so perhaps we should elect a Mayor every two years.  The 
present system does not work to get RT interested in our real needs.

(Of course the same can be said about that present Park Board. But that is 
another too long post)

Jim Graham,
Ventura Village,

Advise for RT: "It's never too late to be what you might have been."