By Emily LePain
Murphy News Service
The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) aims to have 90 percent of the blocks around the city organized into apartment or block clubs by the end of 2015.
“Although we’re only at around 75 percent, that’s three times as many as we had in 2009 when [Police Chief Janeé Harteau’s] goal was originally set,” said Luther Krueger, the Minneapolis crime analyst in charge of the block leader database. Minneapolis now has 2,000 more organized blocks, promoting community as neighbors get to know each other as well as get to know the MPD officers and the resources they offer.
Apartment or block clubs consist of neighbors living in the same apartment building, or those who live on the same block as one another. Block and apartment clubs work together to remain alert and watch out for their neighbors, contact police if they witness criminal or suspicious activity, and solve problems in order to deter crime and better their communities.
Block and apartment club leaders receive “Action Alert” alert emails that summarize recent and significant crimes that occurred in the vicinity of their block.
“Block leaders are our first, trusted contact on the block where they live,” Krueger said. “They are the first people we contact when we get reports of suspicious activity or crime patterns and need their help connecting with the rest of the residents on the block.”
Being a block club leader can be relatively simple. Responsibilities range from setting up a block email list and forwarding crime alerts to neighbors on the block to organizing block meetings to solve chronic problems for the block.
There is no specific time requirement to be a block leader.
“We recommend giving us at least a year as our eyes and ears, and if the block hasn’t had a meeting before or in a long time, to consider hosting a National Night Out event so neighbors get to know each other,” Krueger said.
The workload is also shared with other neighbors and police, said Brooks Mahoney, a long-time block leader.
“You get out what you put in,” Mahoney said.
An increase in organized blocks can also potentially lead to a decline in crime. Assessing crime declines in anywhere can be difficult, but Lyndale, Krueger’s neighborhood, experienced a significant drop in crime rate after most of their blocks were organized into block clubs, Krueger said.
“From the beginning of 1992 when we only had seven blocks [out of 50] organized, to the end of 1994 when we had over 40 blocks with leaders, we saw crime drop by almost half, and it continued to decline through the rest of the 1990s,” Krueger said. According to Krueger, the first neighborhood to get 100 percent organized [King Field in the early 1990s] has not seen the chronic crime patterns common in the less organized Minneapolis neighborhoods.
“I signed up 25 years ago because the drug and prostitution problems were becoming so dangerous that it wasn’t safe to leave the house by yourself,” Mahoney said. “I worked directly with the police, and saw a noticeable change.”
If people were more willing to step up and organize meetings, a neighborhood becomes more like a community, Mahoney said.
“People that know each other can’t help but look out for each other,” Mahoney said. “The more people that feel secure in and around their neighborhood, the safer it becomes.”
Krueger said he’s committed to increasing participation in block clubs.
“For our city, we aren’t settling for ‘we have enough’ organized blocks. We won’t stop door knocking to find leaders when we hit 90 percent, but we feel that 90 percent is a great ‘tipping point’ for any neighborhood,” Krueger said. “All the leaders I know… are problem-solvers at heart so they know they might have obstacles, but they welcome the challenge and rise to them.”
Emily LePain is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.
Get involved
For more information about block club leaders or how to become one, go to minneapolis.mn.us/police/outreach/blockclubs