During the summer of 2020, as Minneapolis was going through some combination of protests during the day and riots at night (and it genuinely was a “night and day” phenomenon), one of the most significant events that took place was the assault on and burning of the 3rd Police Precinct, home to the police officers involved in the death of George Floyd.
The burning of the 3rd Precinct is one of the stories of the 2020 riots documented in the new movie The Fall of Minneapolis, which was released in November. This movie explores the events of that summer in-depth, and details many facts and events that have been unreported until now. I highly recommend watching it to understand both what happened in Minneapolis that summer, and the effects that George Floyd’s death and the subsequent protests and riots have had on the rest of the country. You can watch it here, here, or here.
The same day the movie was released, I attended a community meeting in the neighborhood where the building was located, for a public forum on the city’s plans to rebuild the police station, as well as some type of “community services” to be located in the building as well. As the article notes, I am fairly confident that I am the only person in that meeting who wanted the police to exist at all, and I am sure that I was the only one comfortable with the very notion of a building that houses police in general.
You may think I’m exaggerating, but unfortunately I am not. The exact reason I went was to see for myself what the community response is to having a rebuilt police station in their neighborhood, and to use the word “hostile” would just be a laughable understatement, and do a gross injustice to the hatred of police permeating this room. Some things have to be seen to be believed. And I saw it.
I knew going in that the overall sentiment would probably be anti-police, but it was so much more intense than even I thought it would be, as cynical and jaded as I am. This is why I reported on the story, which was not my original intent. My only thought going in was just to see for myself, to help understand public perception of this issue, and to hear what people had to say. As the tone of the forum got crazier and crazier, I began to think “Oh my god. People need to hear this.” And that feeling only increased as the meeting went on.
As a result, I published my first piece for local news outlet Alpha News. Below is my piece, as well as some background information. I hope you find it interesting and informative, and if you do, please share it with your friends as well.
Here is my article for Alpha News
Post of the article on Twitter
Here is my Twitter post explaining the background of my reporting on this story
Here is the Facebook post of the story on Alpha News
Here are some statistics about violent crime in Minneapolis since 2020, with 2019 setting the tone as a baseline year. These are some of the worst crimes, but all manners of assaults and property crimes have similarly spiked, not to mention homelessness and vagrancy. You can be sure that St. Paul (the other “Twin City”) and the surrounding suburbs are experiencing the same trend. And as anyone who has lived or spent time in a high-crime area with lax policing and prosecuting can tell you, you can definitely “feel” it in both the cities and suburbs – both the increase of crime, and the increased boldness of criminals.
Comment from an acquaintance who lives in the neighborhood:
Thanks for your article, Shane. I live in the third precinct, not far from what was the police station. While I understand the PTSD that many have from the riots in a very personal way, the people who show up at these meetings are not representative of the community. Residents like me - and there are many - don't go because the dysfunction is infuriating and the participating city council members aren't there to listen. Sad truth. There are many of us who value having the police in our community.
Symposium 