We received this email today:
University Police are re-issuing to campus the following crime alert from the Minneapolis Police Department. Over the weekend there were four robberies of person in southeast Minneapolis. In three of those cases, University of Minnesota students were victims. These are Minneapolis investigations, however University Police in cooperation with Minneapolis are directing patrol resources into those neighborhoods.
*Minneapolis Police Department Crime Alert:*
*Facts:*
Over the weekend, the 2nd Precinct had six armed robberies. The
victims have been females who have had their purse or possessions
taken. They occurred at:
. 14th Ave NE and 3rd St NE — 11/15/2008 7:55 p.m.
. 20th Ave NE and 4th St NE — 11/16/2008 1:15 a.m.
. 2500 block of University Ave SE — 11/16/2008 2:53 a.m.
. 12 Ave SE and 7th St SE — 11/16/2008 3:07 a.m.
. 10 Ave SE and 7th St SE — 11/16/2008 9:25 p.m.
. 12 Ave SE and 4th St SE — 11/17/2008 12:52 a.m.
And no, the University of Minnesota isn’t some decrepit, dangerous place. The main campus is less than a mile from downtown. The list essentially includes all the muggings that happened in downtown Minneapolis and surrounding neighborhoods this weekend. It’s a city. People get mugged. It’s like a rule.
The University of Minnesota also has over 50,000 students. So if a 20-something gets robbed in Minneapolis there’s a fair chance she goes to the U…especially if she’s skipping around the streets from 1-3am on a weekend in 30 degree weather. Um…yeah. I’ll leave that one alone…
I spend a lot of time studying in the business school and the surrounding cafes. That part of campus is overshadowed by multicolored project towers that we affectionately call the Crack Stacks.
I live in a different neighborhood, on other side of the river from the Crack Stacks.
Law students make jokes about the Crack Stacks and the supposedly seedy neighborhood that surrounds them…but the irony is that the last location on crime email’s mugging list is literally one street from the Gamma house.
The mugging didn’t happen by the Crack Stacks, but in cutesy-little “oh so collegiate” Dinkytown, where all the Fraternities, Sororities, dorms and student orgs are.
Dinkytown is a pretty high crime area because it’s essentially a student-town (read: easy targets). Our fraternity house was already broken into this semester, and a housemate’s car has been robbed twice.
And yet we make fun of the Crack Stacks.
“Hi pot, this is kettle calling.”
I haven’t convinced the housemates to let me get a pitbull yet, but one more robbery might do the trick…
But we are broke!! Why rob students? Pepper spray would be an awesome xmas gift and cheap!
Hee. I knew someone who lived in the Crack Stacks for a year. It was many years ago now (early 90s), but most of the people there were international students without cars. I won’t say it was a lovely and gracious place, but it wasn’t quite as bad as it looked. (Again, by now, who knows?)
First off, thank you kindly for the add. Your site looks terrific – very well designed.
Those crime stats struck me as being alarmingly high, so just out of curiosity I looked up some numbers. Couldn’t find mugging stats specifically, but the 2006 reported instances of robbery in Toronto came in at 116 per 100,000 people, whereas Minneapolis 806 per 100,000 (Cleveland beat both of them though.)
[...] the exam, Stella and I went to a Chinese restaurant near the Stacks. We noticed police lights outside of the restaurant as we paid. We went outside and saw what the [...]
[...] is near the law school. The whole crackstack neighborhood is filled with street [...]
[...] is near the law school. The whole crackstack neighborhood is filled with street [...]
[...] main UMN campus is and less than a mile from downtown Minneapolis and surrounded by low income and student housing, whereas UMiami is tucked away in an affluent suburb 8 miles from downtown [...]
[...] The University of Minnesota has a total enrollment of about 51,140. It’s near downtown. Lower income housing abuts campus. [...]