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Concerns for Minneapolis

Early voting began Friday in Minneapolis for the city’s charter amendments. Among them is the question of whether to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a Department of Public Safety.

Whether this question passes or not, Minneapolis needs to do something about its crime problem.

Minnesota’s largest city is suffering through a year where violent crime is on the rise, where each weekend brings news of more shootings. Many of the victims are children caught in the crossfires of randoms shootings.

This weekend, for example, 11 people were injured in seven separate shootings during a 26-hour span.

You may ask, what does Minneapolis’ crime rate have to do with New Ulm? How many New Ulmites have children or relatives living in the Twin Cities? How many travel to the Twin Cities for business or for entertainment, to see a Twins’ or Vikings’ game? How many worry about crime trafficking coming our way?

We hope Minneapolis figures out its police situation. If the department remains as it it, it still needs reform and an influx of new officers with better training and new attitudes about serving the community. If a new Department of Public Safety is created, we hope it will have the necessary police presence to deal with the current wave of violence.

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