Minneapolis police face shortage as rate of theft increases



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More than 6,000 "priority one" 911 calls, including sexual assault, gunfire, and theft, were made during a year for which the police had not "heard". Officer able to respond, said Minneapolis police spokesman John Elder in an e-mail. at CNN.

"These calls were not immediately sent by police resources because we did not have the staff available to respond," said Elder.

Robberies increased nearly 54 percent in downtown Minneapolis compared to last year, police said.

Police have several videos of the recent wave of perverse attacks. In one of them obtained by CNN, a group of suspects is seen on surveillance videos repeatedly striking and striking a man during a day attack outside of Target Field. At different points in the video, they run and jump on him, ride him on a bicycle, take off his shoes and pants, beat him with a belt and throw him what appears to be potted plants.

In another surveillance video, the suspects begin to grab a man, hit him repeatedly and kick him while he tries to defend himself. The group leaves him, apparently unconscious, on the ground.

One person has been charged with both crimes so far, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office announced Monday.

After 23 robberies in a single week of August, police conducted a three-day sweep in downtown, which led to 16 arrests, Elder said Monday.

The city's population has grown by nearly 50,000 since 2010, while the number of officers has "remained stagnant," said Mayor Jacob Frey in his Budget 2020 speech, offering to recruit 14 officers.

"In the last ten years they have been charged with doing more with less," said the mayor in his speech.

Police chief, Medaria Arradondo, had called for the addition of 400 police officers by 2025, CNN affiliate WCCO said, but the mayor was reported to have said that this was not the case. was not feasible because of the budget.

The group of candidates is also smaller than it was before, said Bob Kroll, president of the Union of Police Officers of Minnesota, who estimates that about one-fifth of the candidates were 30 years old.

"We will become smaller before we grow up," said Kroll.

There are still a lot of people who "want to be Minneapolis policemen", but the "certainly" decrease is playing in recent flights, Elder told CNN.

The 16 suspects were arrested in connection with several robberies that occurred in blocks over four weeks, according to Elder.

According to Elder, the number of robberies was "reduced to three" the week after the police sweep.

The suspects were looking for an easy target, such as someone who was intoxicated and alone, sometimes looking at his cell phone, police said.

The arrested suspects are between 13 and 25 years old and are mainly men, although "sometimes a woman is part of the group," according to the prosecution documents.

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