Fraters Libertas

There’s a Place for Aggravated Assault in Your Life

Continuing their editorial theme of Suburbs Bad, City Good, the Star Tribune ran an article Sunday entitled (in the print edition) “Crime: perception vs. reality.” It focuses on the “City Good ” angle by challenging the popular perception that crime is a problem in downtown Minneapolis. This theory is summarized by a downtown civic booster Lee Lynch:

Those concerns are a distant memory, he said Friday, with serious crime declining in downtown Minneapolis and the Police Department implementing a new plan to involve businesses in curbing even nuisance crimes. "I think we've seen a steady decline since 1997," he said. As a member of the Downtown Historic Theatre group and a downtown business owner, Lynch admits a small bias, but recent statistics back him up.

Lynch goes on to say that not only are concerns about crime a distant memory, the crime may never have existed in the first place:

Even a group of people hanging around on a street corner wearing clothes that other people aren't used to can be intimidating, Lynch said. "The perception is so out of line with reality," he said. "That perception can be so deeply ingrained that the fear is of imaginary things."

So Lynch is claiming that people are concerned about crime downtown because they see other people wearing clothes they’re not used to? Has there been a recent recent influx of 18th century fops, carnival folk, and Star Trek enthusiasts hanging out downtown? (No jokes about Lileks please.). Or am I being too charitable in assuming Lee Lynch isn’t resorting to naive, accusatory racial code speak?

You be the judge on that one, but here’s a listing of some things nobody had to imagine, because they actually happened. 2003 Serious Crime Reports in the downtown area (from the print edition of this article):

Homicide (3)
Rape (39)
Robbery (299)
Aggravated assault (198)
Burglary (229)
Theft (2,338)
Auto theft (363)
Arson (15)
Total offenses (3,484)

Mind you, these stats were framed by the Star Tribune as good news, since the total is a 13% drop compared to last year. (I assume this article was strategically timed to help downtown retail during the upcoming holiday shopping season).

But reduction or not, is it possible that people’s fear of crime downtown has something to do with the fact that 9.5 serious crimes are committed, on average, every day in this (roughly) 10 square block area. And that’s not even counting the 5,312 “less severe” crimes cited in this article which were committed downtown this year. Or some of the other charming experiences one can enjoy downtown, like:

.... panhandling, public intoxication and public urination can be a business district's "spirit killers," according to Sam Grabarski, head of the Downtown Council.

I understand that compared to other metropolitan areas, the incidence of the above mentioned crimes and antisocial behavior is small. But this is Minnesota, and despite the above statistics, we don’t assume crime and public urination has to be a part of what it means to go shopping or out to a restaurant (except maybe if you’re going to Chi Chi’s). As long as we can vote with our feet and go to other shopping / entertainment areas and not have to confront any of this nonsense, then that’s what we’ll do.