6 months in, and only 6 homicides in Minneapolis

By the end of June, Minneapolis' homicide tally sat at only six, one-third of last year at this time and the lowest number veteran officers can recall.

Minneapolis police and a researcher with the Center for Homicide Research attribute the unparalleled drop in homicides to the department's crackdown on gang activity the past two years, resulting in mass arrests and indictments, among other factors. The lull has allowed officers to spend more time on cold cases.

"Never, I've never seen it at six," said Lt. Richard Zimmerman, head of the Minneapolis police homicide unit. "It is amazing."

In the past decade, the number of homicides by midyear never has been nearly as low. The highest for that time period was 32 deaths midyear in 2006, and the lowest was 18 deaths in 2008 and 2001.

The drop is no small feat for a city that was dubbed "Murderapolis" in the New York Times in 1996, after the city had a whopping 97 homicides in 1995.

"What we're seeing in Minneapolis is a disproportionate drop," said Dallas Drake, principal researcher for the Center for Homicide Research in Minneapolis. "I don't think it's a fluke. I think we are causing the drop."

Drake believes the department's Violent Offender Task Force and the PEACE Foundation, a community engagement and empowerment group, played key roles. Another possible factor is the migration of foreclosed-upon homeowners out of high-crime neighborhoods, he said.

"Nobody really knows why this is happening," Drake said. "That's the bottom line. It's not clear which of these correlates is causing this. It could be that all of them working together causes this."

St. Paul has had seven homicides this year, a number comparable to 2008's at this point.

Going after gangs

Minneapolis police say their centralized juvenile unit's crackdown on youth crime and the Violent Offender Task Force's new, big-picture assault on gang activity are prime reasons for the drop. Starting in 2006, the task force began more strategic, undercover stings aimed at compiling enough evidence to indict several gang members on hefty federal charges, instead of picking off one or two at a time for smaller charges and sending them through the justice system's revolving door.

"I worked [the same] neighborhood for 10 years," said Sgt. Kelly O'Rourke, a member of the task force, "and the same guys kept getting arrested. I just arrested that guy for dope, and he's back out here? How about I go in there and prove that they're doing this in large quantities?"

Between 2006 and 2008, the task force -- often in conjunction with federal agencies -- was responsible for the indictment of dozens of gang members from the Black P. Stone Rangers, the Gangster Disciples, the Tre Tre Crips and the Rolling 30s Bloods. At times officials arrested up to 32 members of the same gang.

Bloods were typically responsible for seven to 12 murders a year in Minneapolis, said Lt. Andy Smith, Task Force commander. But since a 2007 Bloods bust headed by O'Rourke, no murders have been traced to the south Minneapolis gang.

"To some extent, the [homicide] numbers this year don't reflect just what happened this year, but the years leading into it," Smith said.

Drake said: "They really did focus on getting some people off the streets. In any consideration, we certainly have to look at that."

Community organizing by the PEACE Foundation and other community members also played important roles, Smith and Drake said. PEACE Foundation representatives did not return messages seeking comment.

The drop in homicides coincides with a decrease in overall violent crime this year. Compared with 2008, the city saw a 14 percent decrease in crimes such as rape, robbery and aggravated assault through the end of May, according to the latest statistics available.

A side benefit of the lull is that officers have had more time for cold cases. Since January, charges have been filed in four such cases, the oldest of which was opened in 1995.

"I've been here since '95, and in the previous years, every time you were up, you got a new [homicide] case assigned to you," Zimmerman said. "And sometimes, even if you weren't up, you had a new case assigned to you, so you didn't have time to look into old cases."

Officials acknowledge that with half the year left, numbers can go only up, and as pleased as they are with their single-digit death toll, they're keeping quiet about it among themselves.

"Sometimes, you know, it's like superstition," Zimmerman said. "You knock on wood. It's going good -- you don't want to rock the boat."

Chao Xiong • 612-673-4391