National Night Out events set for Tuesday

Hundreds of communities across the state will hold National Night Out events Tuesday, with many promoting positive police-community relations.

The annual event comes at a time when the city of Minneapolis has seen a rise in gun violence, with 111 people wounded by gunfire and 26 homicides so far this year, more than the city saw at this time last year.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman and members of his staff plan to visit cities and neighborhoods Tuesday.

"We've got to reduce the number of guns in the street," he said. "We encourage neighbors to report to the police, let us know who's hanging out on what street corner with what gun and we're going to do something about it."

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Freeman is set to visit National Night Out gatherings in Cedar-Riverside, Brooklyn Center, Crystal, Golden Valley and Robbinsdale, among others.

Minneapolis and St. Paul have been holding National Night Out festivities for more three decades. Hundreds of neighborhoods in both cities have registered to hold gatherings. National Night Out events give residents a chance to meet police officers in a less intimidating setting.

Minneapolis police spokesman John Elder said staff members plan to encourage frequent communication between neighbors and the city's police department.

"We enjoy being able to engage with the community in times where it's happy [and] it's not a not a time of crisis," he said. "Of course conversations always include not using firearms to settle personal differences, if you know something, if you see something, say something. All of those very important messages for the community."

Minneapolis is also focusing on promoting cybersecurity this year as more people use a variety of phones, tablets and computers. The city's 2014 community technology survey shows that only 42 percent of residents overall are "very comfortable" with protecting their computers and avoiding scams.

Chief information officer Otto Doll said it's crucial to ignore requests for private information and beware of links or attachments.

"Unfortunately our devices don't always warn us," he said. "People need to be prudent with what they click on and have to be very careful."