Law and Government of Minneapolis - Crime

Crime

The early years of the city were noted for crime. 150 brothels operated in hotels and candy stores earning the city $50,000 annually in 1900 dollars. Two historical figures are remembered in particular. Four-term mayor "Doc" Ames turned the Minneapolis Police Department into organized criminals who directed swindlers, pickpockets and burglaries. Ames earned income from prostitution, 45% of the profit from a stacked game of poker, and $15,000 a year from slot machines. During Prohibition, Kid Cann processed what some estimates say was 600 gallons of liquor per day and by 1933 had made himself a nationally known bookmaker. Shortly after this time, depleted forests and a drop in the price of iron ore in northern Minnesota, loss of the seat as milling capital of the country to Buffalo, New York, and cheap water transport combined into an economic downturn and drop in crime. Since 1950 the city lost 150,000 people and lost much of downtown to urban renewal and highway construction, resulting in a "moribund and peaceful" environment during the second half of the 20th century.

During the 1990s the murder rate climbed. After 97 people died in 1995, people called the city "Murderapolis," a T-shirt slogan mentioned by The New York Times when reporting that Minneapolis had nearly 70% more murders per capita and had surpassed the annual number of homicides in New York City. Under police chief Robert Olson, Minneapolis imported a computerized New York City system known as CODEFOR or Computer Optimized Deployment Focused On Results that sent officers to high crime areas despite accusations of racial profiling. By 1998 the overall rate of major crime dropped by 16 percent, the department's largest one year improvement in two decades, and continued to drop for seven more years until 2005. The number of homicides increased three times during that period and rose to its highest in recent history in 2006. Politicians debate the causes and solutions, from improving on the lack of police officers caused by balancing the city's budget, to providing youths with alternatives to gangs and drugs, to helping families in poverty. For 2007, the city invested in public safety infrastructure, hired over forty new officers, and has a new police chief, Tim Dolan.

Minneapolis mayor R. T. Rybak is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston mayor Thomas Menino.