Brooklyn Park's crime rate continues to fall

Brooklyn Park is still celebrating 2011, a year that saw the lowest crime rate in the city since 1992.

The statistics, released last week, show a decrease of almost 27 percent in the overall crime rate per 1,000 residents; during the same time period, population grew more than 34 percent.

In addition:

• Violent crime in 2011 was down 14 percent from a peak in 2006, and 11 percent lower than the 20-year average.

• Burglary was down 26 percent since a peak in 1997, and down 17 percent from a spike in 2010.

"It doesn't happen serendipitously," said Police Chief Michael Davis. "This is very intentional."

He and other city officials say the improvements stem from a change in approach, something Davis calls "community policing 2.0." Over the past several years, city staff have worked to engage residents, business owners, nonprofits and civic organizations to create prevention strategies; for example, to give kids alternatives to making trouble after school, or to better prevent and respond to cases of domestic violence.

The work has paid off in dividends for residents, including a group that spoke on behalf of the city at a news conference held when the figures were released.

Dar Stong and Amy Hanson live in different parts of the city of nearly 76,000. But they shared the experience of feeling that their neighborhoods were being held hostage by one house on the block.

Hanson, from the southern part of the city, said the turning point for her came when she was hiding inside with her infant daughter while a SWAT team raided a neighbor's house. Her call to police for information and help turned into a years-long partnership with the Police Department. For Dar Stong, a 40-year resident of central Brooklyn Park, it was her own and her neighbors' realization that they all could see the drug dealing and other illegal activity at their neighbors' house.

"When you come together, something positive happens. You're unified together for a cause, and you feel so much more powerful," she said.

Still, it wasn't until the house changed hands and the neighborhood quieted down that she realized the toll that the stress had taken.