Southwest (Minneapolis) Journal reports Minneapolis crime spike

The Red Star does report crime, but in many cases does so in an oblique way. Some of the favored techniques used by the Red Star when reporting crime include: suppressing characteristics of the criminals, most often by omitting the race descriptive; minimizing or excusing criminal behavior through word choice, narrative techniques, and omission of pertinent facts or background information; and the use or non-use of photos, depending on the criminal involved. A photo of a black suspect is typically supressed unless the article is about a high-profile crime, in which case the photo may be smaller than expected, and so on.

Rambix has discovered that reporting of crimes that may affect a substantial part of the local community can be found in alternate publications, such as the Southwest Journal of Minneapolis. A July 15, 2005 web story in the Southwest Journal is titled "Southwest's crime spike: Real or Not?", by Robin Repya. Ms. Repya reports on the robbery of a local market:

"Dean Alnizami, owner of the Bryant Avenue Market, 3200 Bryant Ave. S., has owned the building for more than 15 years but said his recent crime experience was out of the ordinary.

In early May a masked man entered the market at approximately 8:20 p.m. and demanded money from Alnizami, who was talking with a friend in the store. "First he said, 'Give me the money.' We thought he was joking," he said.

It was then, Alnizami said, that he caught a glimpse of the robber's shotgun and handed over between $400 and $500 from the store register."

More:

"Some serious crimes are unquestionably up. For example, aggravated assaults have risen 25 percent from 2004, and are up 8 percent versus 2002-2004 averages. This year, there have been 114 such reports through June 28."

How well does the Red Star report the crime spike? This gentlemen from southwest Minneapolis apparently only reads the Red Star, and not Rambix, who has been reporting the crime spike since early spring 2005:

"Keith Luckritz, a CARAG resident, said he's was upset by the Bryant Market robbery, and it's made him and other residents more vigilant about attending neighborhood Crime and Safety Committee meetings. "That kind of juiced me up a bit," he said. "I'm concerned people don't know about it.""

"Livability crimes" are important to focus on, because these affect the masses of people that descend on Uptown, the lakes, and downtown Minneapolis from other areas:

"Stevens Square Community Organization Safety Coordinator Dave Delvoye said he had seen more "livability" crimes such as drugs, prostitution and narcotics activity in his area since December."

Why are they getting out of prison? Does the following make any sense?

"Niziolek (City Counccil member), a former civilian Crime-Prevention Specialist for the Minneapolis police, sees other reasons for rising crimes. He claims that there's been a spike in the population ages 14 to 24, the group most likely to commit crime. Also, he said, offenders are being released from prison in "record numbers," and there's been a reduction of officers on the street.

According to state Department of Corrections records, inmate releases have been on the rise. In 2002, there were 3,930 inmates arrested, but in 2003 and 2004, the annual release numbers topped 6,000."

Would it be too much to ask to keep the criminals in prison longer, reduce or eliminate incentives for imported criminals from Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan to stay out of our state, and to keep the cops off the short leash so they can do their jobs? This is what happens when liberals run the city. Does anyone remember the incredible success of Giuliani's "broken windows" approach to crime in NYC? Why can't we duplicate that here in Minneapolis?