After a violent summer in Minneapolis, a plea for transparency

Minneapolis has had a violent summer. The day leading up to the shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School, the city had three fatal shootings within 12 hours — and several more in the weeks after.

Some of these shootings still remain unsolved. Is that an anomaly, or the norm in Minneapolis? If you look at the city’s crime dashboard, you won’t be able to tell.

Council member Katie Cashman is asking for that data to be added to the city’s public website, and for the police department to release the data as soon as the end of October.

Producer Gretchen Brown spoke with her about it.

Press play above to listen to their conversation, or read a transcript below, edited for time and clarity.

Why were you interested in this legislative directive?

I’ve been really working to track down the investigators and the attorneys who are working on some of the cases in my ward related to gun violence, and really haven't been able to find clear answers.

I believe that solving crimes is how we prevent crimes, so if we are doing our due diligence and ensuring that we’re following through on these criminal actions, and ensuring that there are consequences for those who are committing this violence, we will be less likely to see that violence come back around a week, two weeks, three weeks later.

Our recruitment efforts at [the Minneapolis Police Department] in the last couple of years have been so strong. For example, we’ve hired already 150, roughly, new officers just this year. As a city, we need to be communicating expectations around what these new staffing numbers are expected to provide in terms of public safety.

When we look at national crime and clearance rates in 2020, the national clearance rate had dipped pretty low to about 50 percent, and reports from local media had Minneapolis’s rate even lower than that. But St. Paul’s has never been that low. They have a clearance rate right now at about 90 percent for homicides. Why do you think there’s this disparity between the two cities?

I don’t know the answer to that. I think we are a bigger city. We’re a bigger downtown. Downtown does attract people of all walks of life. I also think that the city of Minneapolis has just struggled more with its police reputation since 2020 because of the murder of George Floyd. I think people are still wary to even call 911, and to interact with police in Minneapolis, because the trust hasn’t been rebuilt.

What have you heard from constituents about the recent crime and their concerns?

I think communities are asking for answers. The encampment shooting is a very unique situation, a combination of many, many social problems going on, including people preying on vulnerable individuals who are either suffering addiction or experiencing homelessness and do not have what they need to keep themselves safe. That’s an extra-vulnerable population that I think we’re failing in a lot of ways.

But then this also brings up the question of gun reform, so we’re working really hard as a city to push the governor to hold a special session, and for the Democrats and Republicans to come together on some gun control measures.

Many cities across the country are facing targeting from President Trump, who recently said he wants to send the National Guard into Memphis to clean up crime there. Do you think Minneapolis has the resources it needs to resist this kind of targeting?

I think we’re working on it. And I'm actually very proud of what Minneapolis is doing to prepare, because we have seen such a litany of crises happen this summer, and so we're learning a lot about how to prepare with our emergency communications department and setting up protocols for the city to be in better coordination with one another, and then with our other partner jurisdictions.

I’m very proud of the fact that we have a strong Office of Immigrant Refugee Affairs at the city. We also have a really strong trans equity coordinator. We also beefed up our civil rights protections ordinance as a city council.

So, I really do think that Minneapolis is stepping up in a lot of ways, and I’m proud of that. I want Minneapolis to be like the beacon of hope, the place that people can come to have their rights protected and to know that they're safe.

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