Cries for help grow following ongoing crime in Minneapolis
Click here for updates on this story
Minneapolis, MN (WCCO) — Concerns over an uptick in violence and a decrease in the number of police officers on the street to combat it has residents calling for action from city leaders.
Business owners in the third precinct are looking for help to stop the robberies and break-ins that are impacting their livelihoods.
Third precinct inspector Sean McGinty told them in an email he’s lost 30% of street officers since the end of May.
“We’re just running the police we do have ragged at this point they need their rest we need some kind of help from somewhere,” said Steve Taylor.
Business owners in the Fifth Precinct are also asking for additional protection from the uptick in violence.
Two weeks ago they learned eight officers protect the 20 neighborhoods that make up the precinct.
Cries for help continue to come out from residents in the Fourth Precinct.
“Help us, come and see what’s going on and we’re really not getting any responses from the mayor or city council we feel kind of alone right now,” Liz Cruz said.
“This is something we have to treat urgently before more people die,” Taylor said.
All the cries for help have one thing in common – all say they have not heard directly from city leaders about a plan to attack the uptick in violence.
“People are empowered right now because they are thinking ‘oh yea less police force we can go and have whatever kind of fun we want to have shooting up everybody, killing people, killing teenagers in the middle of the day,’” Cruz said.
During Friday’s city council meeting there was not one mention of the violence or a plan to confront it.
Most people we have talked to for the past four weeks say city leaders need to step up and help residents and business owners, both who feel helpless against the violence.
We’ve reached out to city council president Lisa Bender and vice president Andrea Jenkins for comment, but haven’t heard back.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
