'Operation Safe Summer' police initiative underway in Minneapolis

Operation Safe Summer kick off in Minneapolis

A law enforcement detail involving city, county, state, and federal authorities is now underway in the City of Minneapolis for the summer.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A law enforcement detail involving city, county, state and federal authorities is underway in the City of Minneapolis this week to take on summer crime.

Operation Safe Summer

Who's involved?:

The initiative, branded as "Operation Safe Summer," involves a joint coalition of the Minneapolis Police Department, U.S. Attorney’s Office, ATF, FBI, Homeland Security, the Minnesota BCA, Minnesota State Patrol, Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, Hennepin County Probation, and Metro Transit Police.

What is their goal?:

The operation uses data and partnerships with multiple law enforcement bodies to take on crime in the city during the summer months.

The annual operation targets "the people and the places that are disproportionately responsible for the violence" in the city, explained Chief O'Hara. The chief referred to it as "precision policing."

What we know:

Media members were invited to attend roll call for day three of this year's operation on Wednesday morning. Leaders, including Mayor Jacob Frey, police chief Brian O'Hara, and Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt, spoke to officers at the start of Wednesday's operation.

Chief O'Hara says the operation hs been effective in past years. "Last year, when we conducted the same operation," O'Hara explained, "law enforcement agencies participating confiscated 45 firearms, 45 illegal guns taken off the street. Made 98 arrests, recovered 2,300 grams of narcotics, recovered 1,200 fentanyl pills, and $10,000 in currency was seized."

Already this week, O'Hara says officers have seized nine guns and arrested 29 people. "For each illegal gun taken off the street, who knows how many lives have been saved," added O'Hara.

Crime trending in the right direction in early 2025

The backstory:

This year's operation comes as crime is down nearly across the board in Minneapolis versus last year, according to the city's crime dashboard.

Year-to-date, as of June 4, the city has seen fewer assaults, homicides, shooting victims, burglaries, robberies, sex offenses, vehicle thefts, carjackings, shots-fired calls, and weapons violations.

However, just this past weekend, there was a mass shooting in the city at Boom Island that left one woman dead and five others hurt. In that shooting, police say there appeared to be multiple gunmen and said the scene looked like a "war zone."

Back in April, there was also a spate of shootings that police say were connected to the Native Mob.