Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Be on the lookout for "three young men"

According to the Minneapolis newspaper of record (aka Strib, Red Star, Star & Sickle, or the corporate name Star Tribune), "three young men" are suspected of robbing more than a dozen people in the Uptown, Minneapolis area in the past three weeks. As locals know, the Uptown area is a major urban entertainment destination for all sorts of people from the city and the suburbs. Should be a page one story, above the fold? Not for the Red Star! Try "B" section, near the back. Here's the web link, which will likely expire soon:

http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5364898.html

When your mission is to push a leftist agenda, small matters such as robbers-gone-wild in Uptown are barely on the radar. What ends up on the front page instead? An above the fold article on how Minnesota is now #1 in prison growth. While many celebrate this fact (more prisoners = less bad guys), we have a sneaking suspicion the Strib editors do not see this as a positive thing.

Back to the robbers. A responsible newspaper would publish helpful details, including descriptions of the crooks, right? Not the Red Star. "Three young males" is about the best you'll get. That eliminates about 10% of the Uptown crowd as suspects. Well, we said we'd give you the truth, so here it is, direct from the Minneapolis PD:

CRIME ALERT 4/26/05

Facts:
There have been 12+ robbery of person reports in and around the Calhoun Square area in the 5th Precinct (24th to 36th Streets, Lyndale to Humboldt Avenue S.). The suspect and vehicle descriptions are similar in these reports. All of the robberies are occurring after 11:00 p.m. Suspects usually approach the victims from behind or surprise them by running up or jumping out at them. In all robberies, the suspects displayed one or more handguns.

Suspect information:
· Suspect #1: Black male, 19-25 years, 6' 3", medium dark complexion.
· Suspect #2: Black male, 21-23 years, 5' 7", dark complexion with razor bumps on his face and neck area, muscular to stocky build.
· Suspect #3: Black male, 24-25 years, 5' 10", medium dark complexion, thin build, clean shaven.

Clothing: dark blue hoodie, red/maroon zip-up hoodie, dark knit caps, sports jerseys, light blue zip-up hoodie with dark blue patches, black and yellow zip-up hoodie.
Vehicles seen: compact white vehicle, blue Chevy Impala or Caprice, dark minivan. Weapons: silver semi-automatic handgun, black 6” revolver.


So tell us which information is more helpful. Did our newspaper do this story justice? Did they inform the public in a responsible manner? Did they investigate further? Is political correctness going to get us all hurt?