Hennepin County sees 15 percent drop in violent crime

Sheriff Rich Stanek gives credit to the Violent Offender Task Force for taking guns and repeat offenders off the streets of Minneapolis.

By David Chanen, Star Tribune

Last update: November 21, 2007 - 7:34 PM

Violent crime is down 15 percent in Hennepin County so far this year, reversing double-digit increases in the two previous years.

A chunk of this success can be attributed to Minneapolis, where violent crime has dropped 12 percent through early November. Minneapolis accounts for more than 60 percent of these crimes, which include homicide, aggravated assault and rape.

Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek gave much of the credit to his office's new Violent Offender Task Force, which targets the worst repeat criminals in the area. It arrested 60 people and took 54 guns off the streets.

In addition, the Sheriff's Office narcotics unit and five drug task forces have seized 71 guns and nearly $3 million from busts. The drugs confiscated from all cases had an eye-popping street value of more than $43 million, Stanek said.

The high cash and property seizures are a direct result of the increase in marijuana growing operations. They are big money makers with little risk, Stanek said. His office is aggressively going after these "farmers" and has broken up several rings, he said.

"It's like home-brewed beer. Why buy it someplace else when you can grow it yourself and control the quality of the product?" Stanek said.

As crime goes down, he has started to hear concerns from some of the neighboring counties that Hennepin's bad guys will land in their areas. When he was a captain with the Minneapolis Police Department, he heard the same complaints from the suburbs.

"Now my work is really cut out for me," he joked.

Before he became sheriff in January, Stanek met with local suburban chiefs. They agreed guns, kids, gangs and drugs continued to be a lethal combination throughout the county, he said. The logical initiative to combat these problems was the Violent Offender Task Force.

Eight investigators are assigned to the Task Force, including representatives from Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center. Often times the task force will grow in numbers and work with other agencies, which it did with Minneapolis and ended up taking down nearly two dozen members of the Tre Tre Crips gang.

If it is a gang case, the Task Force uses past criminal histories to help build new cases against several gang members instead of trying to nab individuals hanging around on street corners for an offense that carries little jail time. But the Task Force doesn't focus only on gang crime. It is investigating the recent carjacking of Hennepin County commissioner Mike Opat.

As Stanek learned in Minneapolis, the only way the Task Force can work effectively is cooperation from other agencies. Nearly every case crosses jurisdictional lines.

"The task force in Minneapolis was cutting edge," he said. "Federal agencies assigned people to the task force. Usually it was the other way around."

Stanek also took another Minneapolis Police Department concept and copied it for the Sheriff's Office. The office now has a criminal information analysis system that can quickly disperse data throughout the county. This can include detailed descriptions of suspects with possible addresses, criminal history, known addresses and warnings if the suspect is considered dangerous.

Besides these new crime-fighting tools, Stanek said that the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in August contributed to this year's crime drop.

The growth of hydroponic marijuana producing operations will continue to be a priority for the Sheriff's Office.

Last year's total street value for confiscated drugs -- nearly $26 million -- was far lower than this year's. Cash and property seized was also down significantly last year.

Part of the increase in the drug-growing operations may be the lack of attention given to the high number of foreclosed properties, Stanek said.

Next year, he would like to see a comprehensive, countywide effort to reduce juvenile crime. The county's crime lab, one of three that does DNA testing, will expand to keep up with demand from other agencies.

David Chanen • 612-673-4465

David Chanen • dchanen@startribune.com

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