Violent crime increased nearly 17 percent in Minnesota in 2020, according to BCA report

Jul. 28—Violent crime in Minnesota rose sharply in 2020 across the board, with murders topping the previous record set in 1995, according to a state report.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's 2020 Uniform Crime Report, released Tuesday, is a collection of crime data from local law enforcement agencies. It is compiled into an annual report for the FBI.

Highlights from the report's analysis of 2020 include:

— Violent crime increased nearly 17 percent over 2019.

— There were 185 murders in Minnesota, an increase of more than 58 percent when compared with 117 in 2019.

— The number of murders was more than the 183 total from 1995, which had been the previous highest number.

— Of the murders committed, 75 percent involved firearms, an increase of 69 percent from the previous year.

— Arson, which had been trending downward, rose 54 percent above 2019 numbers with 710 arsons reported in 2020 compared with 462 the year before.

— Motor vehicle theft rose nearly 20 percent with 13,662 vehicles stolen as compared to 11,410 in 2019.

— Crimes motivated by bias against race rose with 223 incidents reported — the highest number in 15 years.

The report also found there were 31 officer-involved shooting incidents in 2020, an increase of six over 2019, and almost evenly split between the Twin Cities metro and Greater Minnesota.

There were 667 incidents in 2020 where an officer or officers were assaulted in the line of duty. That's a 62 percent increase over 2019, and more than any other year on record.

'WE NEED TO LOOK AT THIS REALLY HARD'

The sharp increases in crime after improvements in recent years were disturbing to Bill Hutton, executive director of the Minnesota Sheriffs' Association and a former Washington County sheriff.

"As a society we need to look at this really hard," Hutton said in an interview. "We obviously need to work together, meaning the community and policy-makers, and we have to come up with some solid plans to curtail this and do better."

The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, which represents the state's 10,000 plus police officers, correctional officers, dispatchers and firefighters, called the numbers alarming and criticized calls for less funding for law enforcement.

"Right now we're seeing the consequences of less law enforcement officers on our streets in the Twin Cities," said Brian Peters, MPPOA executive director. "So, defund the police? Minneapolis and St. Paul have already been defunding by failing to support a police force able to keep up with the size of its population. We see departments with decreasing morale, with city leaders demonizing the very people that seek to serve and protect its citizens."

GOP BLAMES DFL POLICIES FOR INCREASE

Minnesota Senate Republicans blamed DFL policies for the increase in violent crime.

"This is why you can't go soft on crime," said Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake. "It's hard to see these numbers for arson, theft, and assaults on police and wonder: Would it have been better if Gov. Walz stopped the riots right away last year?"

Senate Public Safety and Judiciary Committee Chair Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, said "lenient accountability" in the judicial system was to blame.

"Whether it's (Gov. Tim) Walz's pathetic five-year cap on probation, apathetic prosecuting by county attorneys, or the Minneapolis City Council support for the 'defund the police' movement, criminals are running the streets, innocent children are being shot, and law enforcement is struggling to keep up," Limmer said.

The DFL accused Gazelka of playing politics.

"While Paul Gazelka talks tough to advance his own political career, he dragged his feet on the Governor's request to fully fund the State Patrol and other public safety measures," said Claire Lancaster, spokesperson for Walz's office.

Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, who also sits on the Senate Public Safety and Judiciary Committee said the Republican response to the report shows a "dangerously narrow understanding of why crime occurs."

"If they were concerned for the needs of Minnesotans to combat violent and dangerous crimes," he said, "they would hold hearings and pass laws to make it harder for dangerous people to own guns; then you would have fewer children shot in their backyards."

The one silver lining of the report was that human trafficking/commercial sex crimes went down. There were 81 of these types of crimes in 2020 compared with 128 in 2019.

A national study earlier this year found a surge in homicides across the country linked to the pandemic as well as unrest over George Floyd's death in May 2020 at the hands of Minneapolis police. That death, and the video of it that went viral, sparked violent anti-police riots and civil unrest in the Twin Cities and nationwide, and also sparked calls among some politicians and community activists to defund the police.

The full Minnesota report can be viewed at the BCA website.

This story contains information from the Associated Press.