Brooklyn Center Police Report Nearly 23% Drop in Violent Crime
New Brooklyn Crime police figures this week revealed a positive trend in crime reduction for the city.
According to Police Chief Garett Flesland, violent crime in Brooklyn Center is down nearly 23 percent compared to this time last year.
Violent crimes include homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. There were 123 total violent crimes through mid-July last year. That’s compared to 95 this year.
Robberies dropped nearly 40 percent through mid-July — from 43 to 26, while aggravated assaults fell 20 percent — from 64 to 51.
“While no decline is ever as fast or deep as we’d like, these reductions are meaningful and I believe point to a growing momentum,” said Chief Garett Flesland.
Flesland said total violent crime is the lowest it’s been since at least 2020.
Property crimes have also trended downward.
Flesland said auto theft crimes plummeted 42 percent, from 123 to 71. Burglaries, meanwhile, declined by nearly 34 percent, from 62 to 41. Overall, property crime has dropped by 9 percent.
Brooklyn Center Police Chief Garett Flesland in an April interview with CCX News.
What’s Behind the Crime Drop?
So what is contributing to the drop?
Flesland told the city council at Monday’s meeting there are a variety of factors.
Among them: increased staffing, more police visibility and targeted patrols of hot-spot areas.
According to Brooklyn Center City Manager Reggie Edwards, this is the second year the city has worked on new crime reduction strategies, particularly during spring and summer when crime tends to go up.
“This may inform what we’re doing in the years to come,” said Edwards.
The hot spots the city has focused on include the city’s commercial area, the Brooklyn Boulevard corridor and Humboldt Avenue between 65th and 69th avenues.
“The perception of safety has clearly improved,” said Flesland.
Flesland also said his department deployed “tiger teams,” a term the chief used during his time in the Navy to pull experts together to solve a specific problem. In Brooklyn Center’s case, Flesland said he deployed department personnel on three specific occasions to put greater emphasis on issues such as retail theft, curfew and moving traffic violations.
The strategy, Flesland said, resulted in immediate impact and made a difference in the short term.
Flesland said he’s also optimistic in future crime reductions.
“Based on the current 12-month trend analysis, and in my opinion our current momentum, we forecast that violent crime will continue at these lower levels for the next quarter,” said Flesland. We know this isn’t guaranteed, but we are cautiously optimistic.”
Brooklyn Center Police Chief Taking Community Questions for Video Series
