editorials

Recent headlines from stories on the Minneapolis Police Department suggest troubling trends: "$495,000 settlement in cop's punch of bystander,'' on a raid gone bad; "Tale of the tape in arrest,'' on recently released video of the violent arrest of Derryl Jenkins; and "12 Gang Force cops face probe,'' on the investigation into the disbanded Metro Gang Strike Force, which included seven Minneapolis officers.

But another less prominent headline -- ''Minneapolis police effort to cut juvenile crime gets national nod'' -- highlighted a story on some of the extraordinary progress the police have made in making Minneapolis a more livable city by reducing crime.

The broader statistics tell the story: Through August, all crime is down 10.4 percent from last year and 16.7 percent from two years ago. And it's down in 2009 in all categories except rape, which is up one case over last year. Over two years, rapes are down 13.3 percent and homicide -- which was once such a problem that the New York Times dubbed the city "Murderapolis" -- has been reduced 59.2 percent this year and 67.6 percent over two years.

The juvenile crime effort is part of a comprehensive plan involving social-service agencies as well as police. "We're going after kids that are out in the weeds, who are continually reoffending and the system failed," explained Schafer. "And we're bringing them back in to get some of the same services and attention." But, he hastened to add, it's not all about social services. "And we're quickly holding kids accountable for the actions that they're committing now."

The second IACP honor is the Community Policing Award in recognition of the department's Downtown Courtwatch program, which connects the department with several stakeholders, including residents, businesses, security officers, community activists, mental-health workers, shelter representatives and homeless outreach workers, as well as county and city prosecutors and probation workers. Working together, they strategize on how to respond to chronic criminal offenders.

"We can't arrest our way out of it," says Deputy Chief Janeé Harteau, one of the program's leaders. "How do we really attack this from a broader perspective? How do we give a voice to the folks who are impacted by it?"

That broader perspective, which is reflected in both awards, is the result of the kind of professional policing the force should hold as a best practices standard for all of its efforts. That might not only accelerate the gains made in making Minneapolis safer, but also help the department avoid the problems that too often result in negative headlines.