January 05, 2007

What the?

In the past few months, I've had four friends get their car stolen - 3 Honda Civics stolen from Minneapolis, and one Honda Accord stolen just today in St. Paul. And a few weeks ago, a co-worker was car-jacked (at gunpoint) in Uptown. And a friend of a friend was also car-jacked recently in Hopkins (the guy opened his jacket to show that he had a gun). What the hell? And then there's all the bike theft...including one of mine a while back. And every night the news stations report that there was another murder. I've heard that crime in Minneapolis is significantly up, although I'm not finding any really good valid statistics through Google. Smithers must know. Maybe Tuffy? Someone please provide me with the statistics that I'll regret having asked for. Is it really getting as bad as it seems or am I just being paranoid (I've been known to do that)? I realize crime in Mpls isn't half as bad as some other large cities, so don't give me that whole lecture on growing up too sheltered. I'm just saying that it seems to have gotten noticeably worse in the past year, and I'm just wondering how much worse.

8 comments:

Sascha said...

It's worse this year. I read the statistic in the paper recently although I can't remember what it is. But in the area near my neighborhood things are worse and there has been actual violent death in and near my neighborhood which is unusual.

Anonymous said...

Looking for something like the Minneapolis crime statistics web page?

Donimator said...

It hit close to home for me yesterday as I attended the funeral for Danny Holiday (murder #1 in Minneapolis) He worked at the place that does all the customization on my Hummer. He was a good kid.

Anonymous said...

Check out this website that compares crime in large cities

http://www.areaconnect.com/crime/compare.htm

Angie said...

I think crime seems MUCH worse than it was when I left Mpls. in 2004. I don't know the stats, but I do know that I felt much safer in NYC than I do here. Granted there are are a few more people walking around NYC, but I was more comfortable walking home on the quieter streets at Brooklyn at 4am than I am walking around Mpls. at 10pm.

Eclectchick said...

I thought your paranoia mostly centered around bears. Sadly, there are more and more wild animals to be worried about right here in urbania.

Anonymous said...

There was a good article about rising crime rates in Minneapolis in the Economist a couple months ago. Here's the link but you need a subscription to actually read it. Or a library card. In any case, worth a look to see the Britist perspective on a problem that's affecting Minneapolis and other cities of our size.

http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_SSJGVPR&CFID=107324066&CFTOKEN=35d0b58-34819674-6bea-4f41-982d-8b8eba43812c

Tom said...

I am wondering if the warmer weather has anything to do with it. Criminals are basically lazy, and if they have to battle the cold, maybe the next week of below normal temps will slow them down a bit.