Minneapolis police plan for more summer foot patrols

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - Minneapolis police are ready to bring down crime this summer the old-fashioned way. The department announced they're adding more foot patrols across all parts of the city.

“Every precinct inspector has a summer crime strategy, but we strategize every week,” said Chief Janee Harteau.

Harteau gave an inside look to the police department’s weekly meetings, where they go over crime trends in each precinct down to pinpoint locations to react to patterns, while also preparing for seasons.

“So though we step it up, we change a few things for the summer because we know warm weather does inherently bring more crime, so we have to have strategies for that,” said Harteau. “But this is something we do every week, not just every summer.”

But summer does bring more crime. A lot of it can be anticipated.

The downtown inspector expects bar closing crowds, but this year, they'll be more lit up – literally.

“For example, one of our prevention pieces, is all of the lighting on 1st Avenue North was upgraded to LED,” said Mike Sullivan, the 1st Precinct Inspector.

The northeast inspector, Todd Loining, knows there will be street racing.

“One of the areas in particular is Spring Street NE between Industrial and Hoover,” said Loining. “That's one of the areas that historically has been a problem with street racing.”

The south inspector, Kathy Waite, expects car break-ins to migrate.

“In the winter months, we were seeing more of it closer to the Uptown area and now it's spreading out into the neighborhoods,” said Waite.

But an added strategy across all precincts is increased foot patrols - the old fashioned beat cop.

Several inspectors are adding a dozen or more new cops and starting this year, all rookies are required to walk a beat for their first six months.

“And so for the summer, what you're going to see is a very large presence of uniform officers walking,” said Mike Kjos, the 4th Precinct Inspector.