Regular readers of this column know that historically I’ve reviewed crime numbers for each neighborhood when the Minneapolis Police Department releases them each month. It’s been a while since I’ve done such a review because for most of the summer, the police department didn’t release the monthly CODEFOR crime statistics on their web site. They’ve done some catching up now, though, and crime numbers are now available through August ’07. So here’s a summary of what those numbers seem to show, when compared against the previous months and against the same time period in 2006.

Cedar-Riverside The crime numbers for Cedar-Riverside for the summer months of 2007 show a slight decrease compared to summer 2006. For example, in July and August 2006, Cedar-Riverside had 64 and 70 CODEFOR crimes, respectively, but in the same months for 2007 the numbers were 50 and 53. For each month you look at, about half of the CODEFOR crimes committed are thefts, which are often thefts from vehicles, but Cedar-Riverside also typically has a significant number of cars that are stolen each month. For July and August 2007, for example, there were 16 and 13 cars stolen, respectively. Other crimes, such as robbert, assault, and burglary, were in the single digits for each of the summer months.

Como For the summer months, crime numbers in Como were up from what they were in summer 2006. In July and August 2006, for example, the totals for CODEFOR crimes were 17 and 21, respectively, while for July and August 2007 they were 38 and 29. Most of the increase came in thefts, as there were 19 and 13 in July and August 2007, compared to 6 and 9 in the same months for 2006. Burglaries were also up some from last year; in July and August 2006 there were 3 and 4, compared to 8 and 12 for the same months this year.

Cooper Crime numbers for the Cooper neighborhood in summer 2007 were very similar to those for summer 2006, with CODEFOR totals for each month generally falling in a range of between 11 and 16 incidents, and most of those being thefts. In August 2007, however, there was a slight jump in crime, going from 15 crimes in July to 23 in August. Of those 23, 15 were thefts (compared to 7 in July), and there were 5 burglaries, 2 motor vehicle thefts and 1 assault.

Downtown East Crime numbers for the Downtown East neighborhood were very similar from summer 2006 to summer 2007; for most months, there were around 20 CODEFOR crimes committed in the neighborhood, and most of those were thefts. Incidents of other crimes were in the very low single digits for each month, though there were 5 burglaries committed in July 2007, bringing the total number of crimes commited that month in Downtown East to 31 (there were also 24 thefts, 1 assault and 1 robbery). By August 2007, however, the total number of crimes committed had fallen back to 21.

Marcy-Holmes After a crime-ridden April, when 34 homes were broken into in Marcy-Holmes, the rest of the summer saw crime numbers that were more normal for the neighborhood. After the April crime spree led to a crime alert and a heightened police presence in the area, the number of CODEFOR crimes committed dropped from 92 in April to 58 in May and then 65, 63 and 61 in June, July and August. Each month approximately a third of the crimes committed were thefts, which usually means the theft of an item from a motor vehicle, but burglary numbers were also comparatively high, especially compared to one year ago. In 2006, there were 13, 17 and 9 burglaries committed in the months of June, July and August, respectively. In 2007, by comparison, there were 27, 28, and 27 burglaries committed in June, July and August.

Nicollet Island On Nicollet Island, crime numbers for the summer of 2007 were small, but they were noticeably larger than they had been in 2006. In June, July and August 2006, for example, the island saw 9, 6 and 16 CODEFOR crimes committed, mostly thefts. In the same months in 2007, however, the crime totals were 12, 14 and 22. While most of those were thefts, there were also a few burglaries—4 in July and 3 in August.

Prospect Park The crime numbers for Prospect Park show a similar pattern when you look at the summer months of 2006 compared to the same months in 2007: they are higher in May and August, but dip in June and July. In 2006, for example, the CODEFOR totals for May, June, July and August were 47, 36, 41 and 52, respectively. In 2007, we see the same pattern, with 44, 32, 31 and 49 crimes for the same months. Most of those crimes were thefts (13, 23 and 34 thefts for June, July and August 2007), but a significant percentage were also burglaries (11, 5 and 11 for the same months). Those burglary numbers represent an increase from the same months in 2006, when the numbers of burglaries were 7, 4 and 4.

Seward Crime numbers in Seward were generally up for summer 2007, as compared to summer 2006. In June, July and August 2006, for example, the neighborhood saw 32, 44 and 52 crimes for each month, compared to June, July and August 2007, when there were 52, 63 and 64 crimes, respectively. As with most Bridgeland neighborhoods, most of those crimes were thefts, but Seward also saw a significant jump in burglaries at the end of the summer: there were 15 in June and 16 in July, but 28 in August. Motor vehicle thefts went down, however, going from 14 each in June and July to 8 in August.

last revised: October 11, 2007

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