Minneapolis is having a horrible year when it comes to violent crimes, with shootings and homicides skyrocketing to 64% higher than the last four years:
DC EXAMINER – Minneapolis homicides have increased to rates not seen in the city since the 1990s.
Shootings and homicides have risen by 64% in the city this year when compared to data from the last four years, the Star Tribune reported.
By August, 49 homicides had occurred in 2020, surpassing the number of homicides in all of 2019. By mid-November, the number of homicides was up to 74, which is the third-highest total in the city’s history. Additionally, nearly 500 people have been shot in Minneapolis this year.
“This is one of the most painful years I’ve ever experienced, and I’ve been in Minneapolis all of my life,” said Cam Gordon, City Council member for Ward 2, in August. “I think the number of guns, the number of shootings, it’s very concerning. It’s sad.”
“I think the number of guns…” This is the first things leftists always say when it comes to gun violence. It’s not about the number of guns, it’s about the criminals shooting them. I know people with lots of guns in their homes and there is never any violence, any shooting or killing.
It’s also about an attack on law enforcement that has pushed this city over the edge:
In June, the Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to dismantle the Police Department in favor of a “Department of Community Safety.” More than 100 police officers have left the city’s force amid the anti-police sentiment this summer sparked by protests against perceived police brutality.
Last week, the City Council voted to approve a plan to bring in outside police officers to cope with the increase in violence.
The plan opens up $500,000 to contract with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and Metro Transit Police to work with additional officers. Metro Transit Police, however, said the department does “not have capacity to provide additional resources to the Minneapolis Police Department.”
Hennepin County Sheriff David Hutchinson said logistics will need to be worked out for his team to assist the city but that he’s open to the plan.
“We have to have some sort of agreement. There’s so much stuff to happen before we can commit,” he said. “But again, I’m open to helping anybody within the county, any agency that needs help.”
I’m sure that agreement will have to be protection for his officers from the rabid city council members and prosecutors should something bad happen. After all, there are some on the city council that still don’t want to use traditional law enforcement to contend with this crisis because they say it’s broken or something:
During a heated meeting last week, city leaders debated using outside law enforcement to help fight crime. Chief Medaria Arradondo said the extra manpower is needed to stop the bloodshed. But some council members argued that the department continues to rely on traditional crime-fighting methods that time and again have failed to keep residents safe.
“There is absolutely no doubt we are in the midst of a public safety crisis in our city. As Northsiders living in the middle of a hot spot, my family and I are in the thick of this crisis ourselves,” tweeted Council Member Phillipe Cunningham, one of those who opposed the proposal. “Mpls won’t be safer by relying on a broken criminal justice system that got us in this crisis in the 1st place by breaking up families & destroying futures.”
Mayor Jacob Frey’s 2021 budget plan calls for $2.5 million to the fledgling MinneapolUS program, whose “violence interrupters” try to defuse conflicts before they turn deadly in the city’s most vulnerable neighborhoods. At the same time, others continue to push to divert even more funding from the $185 million police budget to jobs programs, health initiatives and other services supporting communities of color.
This is the same old liberal claptrap we heard from the Obama administration, that terrorists wouldn’t be terrorists if they all had jobs. Criminals will stop shooting people if they all have jobs!
It’s the left’s tearing down of law enforcement, along with the outlandish ‘hand-cuffing’ and prosecution of police officers in this city and around the country that is causing violence to skyrocket. Good police officers are walking away from their jobs before they end up in jail for simply defending themselves during a traffic stop. Until democrat cities begin respecting their police officers and allowing them to do their jobs without unfair prosecution, violence in these cities and around the country is simply going to get worse and worse.