BP Chief: Crime at Huntington Place Apts a Serious Concern
According to Brooklyn Park Police Chief Craig Enevoldsen, 2018 was not a good year when it comes to crime at the city’s largest apartment complex.
Enevoldsen says crime is near historic levels at the Huntington Place Apartments and says the types of crimes “are getting more serious.” In one case, the chief says a guy was shooting off a gun at 3 o’clock in the afternoon.
Roughly 2,500 people live at the 834-unit Huntington Place Apartments. According to police data, there were 3,235 dispatched calls for service at Huntington Place in 2018. Of those calls, 529 were actual crimes. That’s the fourth highest total going back nearly 20 years at the complex. (The highest total was 565 in 2009.) Enevoldsen told the city council Monday night that it’s “a huge drain on our patrol division.”
Crimes committed at Huntington Place include drugs, assault and child abuse. The “disturbing the peace” category led the way with 1oo such crimes. According to police, 7 percent of all crime in Brooklyn Park occurred at Huntington Place. Enevoldsen also said 47 percent of arrests at the complex were non-Brooklyn Park residents. The crime at Huntington Place does not mirror citywide trends. In fact, it’s the opposite, Enevoldsen said.
“These People Are Slumlords”
The mayor of Brooklyn Park says something needs to be done. While ownership is making some $4 million in improvements, city officials say a lot of it is deferred maintenance.
“I don’t think they deserve one ounce of credit for that. I don’t think if we weren’t in there raising questions, I’d question if they’d even be doing anything,” said Brooklyn Park Mayor Jeff Lunde.
Lunde added, “I think these people are slumlords and they’ve been sucking money out of people who rent there and then taking it somewhere else.”
The mayor says many of the tenants are the victims.
City officials say one of the owners of the property passed away last year. The property is managed by Plymouth-based Dominium, the same company that is behind the proposal to redevelop Plymouth’s vacant Four Seasons Mall. Brooklyn Park City Council Member Lisa Jacobson says that plan is an example of the company not investing in Brooklyn Park.
“Here they go, investing in another community when they haven’t invested in our community,” said Jacobson. “In the middle of the night, in the middle of the day, there’s no time at this location that I would feel safe a 100 percent of the time.”
According to city officials, management at Huntington Place has hired a new security company. Lighting improvements were also made. However, there’s still uncertainty about future ownership of the building.
“When we have guys shooting off guns at 3 o’clock in the afternoon or we have shootings that occur in other cities and the suspects lead back to this property, that’s not a good thing,” said Enevoldsen.
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