Northeast Minneapolis citizen patrol looks back on first year

By the end of the 2006 walking season, they had helped form more than 15 new walking groups with a total of 100 members from seven Northeast neighborhoods. The NECP’s weekly newsletter reaches more than 2,000 people; it includes neighborhood crime statistics and the names of people who have been arrested and charged with a crime.

The group also, thanks to NECP Director John Schulte, helped get a Guardian Angels chapter started in Minneapolis. NECP recently filed for its own non-profit status from the state; the Audubon Neighborhood Association, another non-profit, has been its fiscal agent for the last year.

Schulte, who lives in Northeast’s Audubon neighborhood, and NECP Co-Director and Waite Park resident Shelley Leeson are volunteers who organized the patrol last fall. They regularly put in 15 to 20 hours a week on recruiting, public speaking, training and writing reports. Both said they’ve learned a lot in the last year, and some of what they learned surprised them.

“I thought that a citizens’ patrol would appeal to a man,” Leeson said, “but the majority of people contacting us were women. The majority of people we have out meeting and walking from 6:30 to 9 p.m. are women, although the late-night patrols are mostly men. I think we’re the first ones to feel unsafe. Women feel like they can’t go out at night. We feel vulnerable.”

Another thing that she hadn’t expected was the sheer number of problem properties in the neighborhoods. “You might glimpse some of them when you drive by, but until I was on foot, I didn’t realize how many houses were run down and in complete disrepair with their doors hanging open. I didn’t get it; it wasn’t on my radar at all. Now I finally understand how problem properties can contribute to the crime problem.”

Schulte was surprised by numbers, too, but in his case it was finding out how many drug dealers and prostitutes there are in Northeast. “We’re starting to get to know them; we have nicknames for them. They know each other, too. Often they work together.”

Although many people think they come from other parts of the city, Leeson said that’s not true. “They live here. We publish their addresses in the arrest reports. We’ve been told by police there is so much pressure in North Minneapolis on livability crimes, and they are tearing down so many houses, that people are coming to Northeast, Columbia Heights, Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center.”

Schulte said, “People are moving here. It’s part of the slumlord property problem; it enables people to move here who are not productive citizens.” He has his own stories of people who live in the neighborhoods committing crimes. “There was a knife fight on my block. When the police came, the kids [involved] ran into their house. Their mother was yelling at them to hide in the basement. I heard her say, ‘Get my knife back here. That’s my best knife!’”

Leeson and other NECP volunteers research arrestees’ criminal records and also check the history of properties where they live. Often, they find that they already have police records. The Nov. 10 report, for instance, lists 12 people arrested, 9 men and three women. All but two had been previously convicted of crimes that included such things as assault, robbery, theft, damage to property, drugs, forgery and other fraud, DWIs, domestic [assault], stolen property and burglary. Such findings, she said, makes them question whether or not some landlords do any screening or background checks on prospective tenants.

Leeson said they’ve been frustrated with the courts’ so-called revolving door. “You look at the arrest records and the same people keep getting arrested over and over.” Schulte added, “I can see where the frustration is for the police.”

Both said that they have been impressed with the 2nd Precinct police officers and Hennepin County’s probation officers, who now have an office on Central Avenue. As the NECP volunteers have come to recognize the prostitutes, for instance, their perspective has changed.

“We’re mad about it because we live here, but we see the other side, too,” Leeson said. “And we’ve also seen the compassion and caring that the cops and probation officers have for them. These people live in horrible circumstances.”

Schulte said the problem doesn’t lie solely with newcomers and renters. “There’s one family in Northeast that has been terrorizing their neighbors for 30 years.”

Schulte and Leeson said they have learned things from the Guardian Angels and their own common sense, about how to be more sophisticated about patrolling their neighborhoods. “We’ve revised our procedures,” Leeson said. “We got a lot of very specific information from the Guardian Angels. Women don’t go in the back of a patrol, for instance, they stay in the middle.” When the group turns corners, she added, they move so people are “eyes out,” looking in all directions.

According to NECP walker and biker procedures, walking groups should include at least two people but generally not more than four. Each group needs a cell phone and, if they want to document problems with property or “undesirable activities” they can carry a camera or movie camera. However, the guidelines note: “But take caution if you decide to photograph people, this could trigger a safety problem.”

Schulte said that a few months ago, he videotaped problems he saw going on at a local bar near Lowry and Central Avenues. That helped get the police and the city’s licensing department staff involved, and a city inspector came out and saw the problems for himself.

Although licensing cracked down on them, Schulte said he’s still worried about the place. “They have a venue that attracts gang bangers and violent people who fight and have guns. I’m concerned about what can happen in the future there.”

Schulte said he’s learned some self-defense strategies. “If you’re up against a plate glass window, you always go to [stand with your back against] the seam. That way if you get pushed, you won’t go through it.” The late night patrols have encountered more “situations” than the walking groups, he said, although “thugs in general don’t want to get caught. For us there’s safety in numbers. Sometimes the guys on the street will call us pussies, faggots and snitches. Some of the dealers get about 100 feet away from us and then start swearing. One group in a car threw a full can of booze and soda at us. The cops caught them and arrested the driver on a DUI.”

Leeson said the early evening walking groups haven’t had any problems so far. “We’re not out there endangering ourselves. We’re out meeting neighbors and finding out what’s going on. Often people will say to us, ‘Go look at this house.’ They know where the trouble spots are. We can be a good conduit to the police, if people are afraid of retribution from their neighbors. And we’ve built up enough credibility with the cops so they know we’re not crackpots. The cops and probation officers thank us for being out here.”

They have received many supportive calls and emails from neighbors. Although some people have criticized them, saying that disseminating crime statistics scares people, others are supportive. Northeast resident Barry Hickethier, who recently ran unsuccessfully for State Representative, wrote, “Ignorance serves no one. Burying our heads in the sand, hoping Northeast’s crime problem will go away by ignoring it, will only cause it to become further entrenched. If we have knowledge, then we can at least be prepared, make informed choices and/or take meaningful action.”

Hickethier said that when he attended the Celebrate Northeast parade last summer, the NECP got a standing ovation. “People appreciate what they’re doing. This group isn’t sitting around waiting for somebody to do something for them. They’re taking responsibility. I think they’re great.”

A woman who moved to Northeast from South Minneapolis 10 years ago wrote, “Please tell those in the neighborhoods NE that do not like the [crime] reporting that my experience says the NECP is doing the right thing. Fear will only make things worse, people will not talk and believe me the criminals then will move in fast. The worst thing anyone can do is not pay attention. Also livability crimes are the best beginning to getting back our neighborhoods. I say hats off to all NECP members and supporters.”

Leeson and Schulte say they sometimes get frustrated with people who complain about crime but aren’t willing to walk or help with some of NECP’s volunteer jobs. “Everybody is busy. I guarantee there’s enough time,” Schulte said. “A lot of people don’t want to do it until somebody else does it. But if the residents in a neighborhood put up with crime and don’t do anything about it, they end up enabling the criminals. Some people don’t even call 911.”

So far they have eight of 13 Northeast neighborhoods actively involved in NECP, all but Marshall Terrace, Northeast Park, and Bottineau; St. Anthony East and St. Anthony West are getting started. “We’ve gotten 100 walkers out of eight neighborhoods. But each neighborhood has about 2,500 households; that’s more than 20,000 people. If you had just 10 percent of the people donating one hour a week, we could have 24-hour coverage of the neighborhood. We’d be able to cut crime in Northeast. There would always be somebody watching,” Schulte added.

In the future, they hope to help other areas, such as Southeast Minneapolis—including the University of Minnesota area —start citizen patrols. “We have a model and everything is in place,” Schulte said. “You basically use a lot of common sense.

“Citizen patrols are not a new idea. They’re all over the country and have proven very successful. The police work with them. In some areas citizen patrols use police cars when the police aren’t using them. They have magnetic signs that say Citizen Patrol.” (The NECP, by the way, is looking for somebody to donate a reliable car to the patrol.)

Leeson said she, Schulte and the other volunteers are working hard. Sometimes they wonder how much longer they can keep up their pace. “But we’ve made an amazing amount of progress. I would not have believed it.”

Check out the "Web site for NECP":http://www.NEpatrol.org. Email is info@NEpatrol.org. Phone message line is 612-788-8790 or direct, 612-708-2781.