Crime stats and summaries
Seward businesses burglarized
In the early morning hours of Sunday, Aug. 3, Cindy Kangas, owner of Second Moon coffee shop, got a call from her alarm company. At the café, she found the front door had been smashed with a brick paver from an adjacent parking lot. Thieves had stolen change from the register.
It was the second break-in in a month at the café at 2225 E. Franklin Ave.; over the 4th of July weekend, Burglars used one of the same pavers to break a window. In each case, less than $10 was stolen. Kangas has kept next to no money in the store overnight ever since burglars took the safe from the backroom a couple of years ago.
The first of the summer Second Moon break-ins was one of at least three the night of July 5; the Birchwood Café had its glass door smashed with a tire iron, and police reports show a break-in at an architecture firm. The Cliquot Club, down the street from the Birchwood, was reportedly broken into earlier in the summer.
Like Kangas, Tracy Singleton, owner of the Birchwood, said the burglars gained little but left a headache for her and her business. “They got nothing and made a big mess,” she said in mid-July. The incidents leave both businesses owners facing expensive repairs — in the case of the Birchwood, a new $3,000 door.
Though the targeting of cafes may seem like a pattern, there have actually been few burglaries of business this summer, according to
Although Shun Tillman, crime prevention specialist with the Minneapolis Police Department’s (MPD) 3rd Precinct, counted only three burglaries of businesses on MPD crime maps between June 1 and mid-July — fewer than the number of home break-ins — crime maps show five in Seward in the last two weeks.
Those crime maps show only those that are reported to police. Tillman urged business owners to report such crimes, even well after the fact. He said police cannot recognize trends or respond to crimes if they are not reported.
He offered some tips to business owners to prevent break-ins and minimize loss:
- Leave no more than $5 in change in the register
- Mark valuables such as tools and computers with an “operation identification”:http://www.ci.mpls.mn.us/police/outreach/operation-id.asp number and display the related sticker. “Operation ID,” as it’s known, allows police — and pawnshops, for example, to identify stolen goods.
- Some safes can be bolted to the ground and/or fireproof.
- Install “good locks” and “steady doors” that make the effort of breaking in too time-consuming — and loud, so that neighbors might hear and call 911.
- Motion lights or an alarm may also draw attention. “Anything you can’t due to draw attention to the business during the course of a break-in is a positive,” said Tillman.
Tillman said the MPD will conduct a free business security survey upon a business owner’s request.
Still, in some cases — like the recent smash-and-grabs, which police have seen before, said Tillman — no prevention strategies will keep burglars out. “You can do all the right things, but if someone is determined to get in, it doesn’t matter if you’re double-bolted and do all those things.”
Obviously, the pair of recent break-ins have left Kangas frustrated. “It’s a drag to think about having to put metal on the windows and doors,” she said. “It looks foreboding, it makes people uneasy,”
Kangas focused on the method of entry — the brick pavers recently installed in the Milwaukee Avenue Homeowners Association (MHNA) parking lot, which abuts her building. She plans to approach the MHNA about possibly replacing them with something that is not so easy to use to smash a window.
Kangas said she doesn’t feel singled out. Unfortunately, cars, homes and other businesses are getting hit, too.
“It’s a sign of times,” she said. “Gas prices are high, the economy’s bad. People feel kind of desperate right now.”
— Jeremy Stratton
Platinum and palladium prices driving thefts of Catalytic converter thefts in Bridgeland
Did you hear the one about the guy who woke up to find his catalytic converter was missing?
Well, it’s no joke. Catalytic converter theft is a national phenomenon, according to the July 6 edition of USA Today. Thieves use Sawzalls or a reciprocating saw to remove the converters, which then can be sold for scrap. As of July 18, a “troy” ounce of platinum —slightly more than a common ounce — was selling for $1865, according to the Johnson Matthey Platinum Group Metals price bulletin.
Last fall, Seward resident Peter Munene experienced such a theft in the middle of the night; Seward e-democracy bloggers shared stories of similar experiences last October. On July 1, Prospect Park resident Bill Kahn complained on the Prospect park e-list of a similar theft from his Toyota 4Runner.
The cost of replacing a catalytic converter depends on the make and model of your car but can reach into the one-thousand-dollar range. The tip-off that your car has been hit is a big, loud, horrible noise when you start it up.
Minneapolis Police Second District Crime Prevention Specialist Carol Oosterhuis does not believe there is a catalytic converter theft trend afoot in the second district, but she does believe residents need to exercise safety tips, such as parking in well-lit areas and using their garages.
“It’s a problem, but it’s not horribly frequent,” Oosterhuis said, adding that when it comes to car break-ins, “the weather makes a big difference.”
Prospect Park e-listkeeper Lois Willand also made recommends:
- Keep your cars locked.
- Keep valuables out of plain sight.
- Call the police to report any and all crimes.
The Minneapolis Police Department crime prevention tip page, including links to tips on preventing auto theft and theft from autos, is online.
— Roxanne Bergeron
Neighborhood crime summary, June 17–July 21, 2008
Violent crimes are defined as homicide, rape, robbery of business, robbery of person, aggravated assault and domestic aggravated assault.
Nonviolent crimes are defined as burglary of business, burglary of residence, auto theft, theft from motor vehicle, larceny (theft), arson, recovered vehicles, narcotics arrests, weapons arrests and loitering arrests.
MPD crime maps and statistics are available here
Cedar-Riverside
Summary: The murders of Abdullahi Abdi and Joseph Sodd remain unsolved. A rape, 3 aggravated assaults, 3 robberies of person and 10 car thefts have occurred in this five-week period.
Total violent crimes: 7
Rape: 1
Robbery of person: 3
Aggravated assault: 3
Total nonviolent crimes: 37
Burglary of business: 2
Burglary of residence: 1
Auto theft: 10
Theft from motor vehicle: 7
Larceny (theft): 9
Recovered vehicles: 4
Narcotics arrests: 3
Weapons arrests: 1
Cooper
Summary: Cooper neighborhood has had a quiet five-week period crime-wise. No violent crimes took place; four resident and four car break-ins occurred.
Total violent crimes: None.
Total nonviolent crimes: 11
Burglary of residence: 4
Theft from motor vehicle: 4
Larceny (theft): 1
Recovered vehicles: 1
Narcotics arrests: 1
Downtown East
Summary: A single violent crime occurred during this time period. Three car thefts and 3 car break-ins were reported.
Total violent crimes: 1
Aggravated assault: 1
Total nonviolent crimes: 9
Burglary of business: 1
Auto theft: 3
Theft from motor vehicle: 3
Larceny (theft): 1
Weapons arrests: 1
Longfellow
Summary: One rape, one domestic assault and two robberies of person took place in Longfellow over this time period. Theft shows high numbers for business, residential and car break-ins, car theft and larceny.
Total violent crimes: 4
Rape: 1
Robbery of person: 2
Domestic aggravated assault: 1
Total nonviolent crimes: 34
Burglary of business: 2
Burglary of residence: 7
Auto theft: 4
Theft from motor vehicle: 8
Larceny (theft): 10
Narcotics arrests: 1
Weapons arrests: 1
Marcy-Holmes
Summary: Six violent crimes took place in the last five weeks, along with 49 nonviolent crimes with 14 crimes of larceny topping the list.
Total violent crimes: 6
Robbery of person: 3
Aggravated assault: 2
Domestic aggravated assault: 1
Total nonviolent crimes: 49
Burglary of business: 1
Burglary of residence: 13
Auto theft: 3
Theft from motor vehicle: 17
Larceny (theft): 14
Recovered vehicles: 1
Nicollet Island/East Bank
Summary: A single violent crime and seven cases of larceny were reported in the neighborhood over the last five weeks.
Total violent crimes: 1
Aggravated assault: 1
Total nonviolent crimes: 14
Burglary of business: 1
Burglary of residence: 2
Theft from motor vehicle: 3
Larceny (theft): 7
Arson: 1
Prospect Park
Summary: Ten car break-ins took place over this five-week period in Prospect Park.
Total violent crimes: 1
Robbery of business: 2
Total nonviolent crimes: 20
Burglary of residence: 2
Auto theft: 1
Theft from motor vehicle: 10
Larceny (theft): 5
Arson: 1
Recovered vehicles: 1
Seward
Summary: Over the 4th of July holiday weekend, both the Birchwood Cafe and the Second Moon Cafe experienced burglaries. Twelve car break-ins and 11 incidents of larceny took place during this five-week period.
Total violent crimes: 5
Rape: 2
Robbery of person: 2
Aggravated assault: 1
Total nonviolent crimes: 38
Burglary of business: 2
Burglary of residence: 3
Auto theft: 8
Theft from motor vehicle: 12
Larceny (theft): 11
Recovered vehicles: 2
Southeast Como
Summary: Three violent crimes, seven burglaries of business and seven cases of larceny top the list during this five-week period.
Total violent crimes:
Rape: 1
Robbery of business: 1
Aggravated assault: 1
Total nonviolent crimes: 25
Burglary of residence: 7
Auto theft: 5
Theft from motor vehicle: 3
Larceny (theft): 7
Arson: 1
Recovered vehicles: 2
UMPD (statistics are from June 24 – July 14)
Summary: Eleven violent crimes and over 150 nonviolent crimes were report by the UMPD over this three-week period. Larceny and car break-ins top the list.
Total violent crimes: 11
Rape: 2
Robbery of person: 6
Aggravated assault: 3
Total nonviolent crimes: 155
Burglary of business: 12
Burglary of residence: 15
Auto theft: 33
Theft from motor vehicle: 39
Larceny (theft): 45
Recovered vehicles: 9
Narcotics arrests: 3
— Roxanne Bergeron
last revised: August 11, 2008