Jul 21, 2008 11:00 pm US/Central
In The Know: Where Did The Mpls. Criminals Go?
(WCCO)
The crime news in Minneapolis is good. A near 30 percent drop in violent crime in the past two years. Good police, and more of them, get the lion's share of the credit. Don Shelby asks, where did the criminals go?
I've been around long enough to know that criminals don't suddenly catch a conscience. If the heat is on in one jurisdiction, they will likely move to another.
That's good news for folks in the city limits of Minneapolis, but what may be Minneapolis' loss, may mean a gain in the first ring suburbs, even our rural communities.
I said criminals don't usually get an attack of conscience, but what the Minneapolis PD has done with juvenile offenders may prove that notion wrong. Early intervention among juveniles, who once represented nearly 50 percent of all crime committed in the city, is working.
It has instituted the Juvenile Supervision Center that pulls kids off the criminal track and puts them on a higher road. They go after truants and curfew violators. And, it is apparently working -- in Minneapolis.
But, I talked to a fella today who said he'll wait for the broader statistics of the entire area before concluding criminals have changed their ways. "Maybe," he said, "they just moved into my suburb."
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