On Tuesday it seemed like the Wild West had come to Minneapolis, with police numbers showing an unnerving 40 percent rise in gun incidents between 2012 and 2013. By Wednesday afternoon, it looked like it might have been a case of bad numbers, not bad people.
MPD crime analysts took a closer look at the numbers and found a flaw in the calculations, department spokesman Scott Seroka said Wednesday afternoon. A couple of hours later, Seroka issued new numbers that showed a smaller increase of 8 percent in gun incidents citywide last year.
Seroka said he didn't know how the numbers were miscalculated the first time. The erroneous numbers were published Wednesday in a "Results Minneapolis" report. The "Results" reports are supposed to be goal-setting tools awash in data that allow city officials to review past performance.
Gun incidents, in this case, include everything from people being shot or shot at, to reports of gunshot wounds, to the discharge of a weapon or a gun used, according to a definition listed in the report.
The new numbers: 2,292 gun incidents in 2006; 1,981 in 2007; 1,742 in 2008; 1,425 in 2009; 1,385 in 2010; 1,287 in 2011; 1,330 in 2012 and 1,442 in 2013.
Matt McKinney
