MINNEAPOLIS — With University of Minnesota students returning to campus as early as next week, school leadership outlined additional safety plans at a public forum on Wednesday night to address concerns about rising violent crime near campus.
President Joan Gabel said Minneapolis Police have agreed to add more patrols in neighborhoods like Dinkytown and Marcy-Holmes, with a particular focus on weekend evenings. The school is also exploring an agreement with the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office to provide extra coverage from two deputies every night of the week, lasting from 4 p.m. to midnight.
"I think what all of our community wants is to feel safe, and that means different things to different people," Gabel said in an interview after the meeting. "Certainly, we want to feel as if we have an adequate response to emergencies and to this uptick in crime, and I think people want to know how we're going about that."
According to the university, more surveillance cameras have been added in Dinkytown near Kollege Klub and Frank & Andrea, two popular hangout spots just a few blocks from campus. The school has also expanded "Gopher Chauffeur" service to students who need rides.
Perhaps most notably on Wednesday, the university also announced it will resume a special-event partnership with Minneapolis Police, including the addition of off-duty officers at Gopher football games this fall. The university previously reduced ties with MPD for special events two years ago, after the murder of George Floyd, although the department has never stopped working alongside University of Minnesota Police on patrols and investigations.
"I would call it more of progress than reversal. We had an incredibly tragic time in our community in May of 2020, and we had feelings about that, that we took action on," Gabel said. "Time has passed since then. MPD has done a lot of work -- we heard that described in detail tonight -- in many ways, including the arrival of Commissioner [Cedric] Alexander, who knows the university well. So, we feel really good about being able to turn the page and resume that portion of our partnership."
Gabel is referring to Dr. Cedric Alexander, the city's new community safety commissioner who now oversees Minneapolis Police. He previously provided outside consulting services to the University of Minnesota with a focus on the university's police force, resulting in a 59-page document published in 2021.
Alexander addressed students and parents at the forum Wednesday night, acknowledging that staffing shortages have created challenges for Minneapolis Police.
"In spite of our shortages, we still have to devise strategies in order to confront challenges around public safety," Alexander said. "We're going to beat this."
The University of Minnesota Police Department has also reported a shortage in officers, although Chief Matt Clark said they're actively recruiting for positions.
"I have pretty much maxed out the amount of time I can have these folks work all through the summer," Clark said. "We have less officers now than we did a few years ago. We're trying our best to hire more."
UMPD officers can respond to calls outside their jurisdiction, if emergencies happen in neighborhoods near campus. Until now, these crimes in off-campus neighborhoods have not typically been included in the university's "Safe-U" alert system that reaches students and parents, but Clark said he's exploring ways to expand the alerts. A pilot program will begin next month, he said.
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