City, County and Transit Police Stand Up a Coordinated Uptown Response

A Fifth Precinct patrol unit deployed in December to address nuisance behavior in Uptown and Stevens Square had issued 120 misdemeanor trespassing citations and made 60 arrests as of late April, many of the arrests involving people with outstanding warrants, the city said in an April 21 update. Two additional officers run roughly five-hour daily directed patrols across Uptown, Stevens Square and the Nicollet Avenue corridor.

The effort brings together the Minneapolis Police Department, Park Police, Metro Transit Police, Hennepin County's opioid-response team and the Minneapolis Health Department, with local businesses and residents providing physical space for officers to use as operational bases. Among those spaces is a law-enforcement post in the Rainbow Building, intended to give Uptown a fixed, visible point of presence.

Ward 7 Council Member Elizabeth Shaffer, who took office in January, has made the Uptown response a centerpiece of her first months on the council, working alongside Mayor Jacob Frey, Police Chief Brian O'Hara and Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette. Frey told the Star Tribune the district was showing "buds of success".

The county's opioid-response work runs alongside the policing. Walker Library on Hennepin Avenue is one of four Hennepin County libraries hosting harm-reduction services; contacts from people seeking those services rose from about 30 in November and December to roughly 300 in January and February, the city said.

The city also plans to expand its community safety-ambassador program into Uptown, with up to eight ambassadors starting in November who provide safety escorts, wellness checks, help filing police reports, and basic first aid, CPR and Narcan. A survey from the pilot program on East Lake Street and Franklin Avenue found 72% of respondents satisfied with the ambassadors and 59% feeling safer.

The agencies involved answer to separate chains of command, and the early claims of safer streets cover weeks, not months. For residents, the practical change is a more visible mix of officers and outreach workers, a fixed contact point in the Rainbow Building, and a structure meant to outlast a single news cycle. Non-emergency concerns route through 311; immediate threats through 911.