Brooklyn Park Police: Crime At All-Time Low
Brooklyn Park police say crime rates in the city are historically low.
“It’s monumental,” said Police Chief Mark Bruley in a city council meeting this Monday. “In modern history [since] we’ve been keeping [records], we’ve never had a lower level of crime.”
While crime rates peaked in the 1990s with another significant spike in 2006-2007, trends are heading downward.
According to Bruley, in the past year, there’s been a six percent drop in overall crime. Meanwhile, violent crime has dropped 25 percent in the same time period.
City officials largely cited efforts to provide wraparound services — ranging from workforce development to new intervention initiatives — as the reason for the drop.
Intervention Efforts
Bruley said the 2006 crime spike brought with it an “unacceptable” level of violence among the city’s young Black men.
“The police department was having enforcement, making lots of arrests, and really having very little impact on this crime,” he said.
An outside agency conducted a study of the city, finding that it lacked spaces and opportunities for positive activities for young people.
“Essentially what we created was an environment where kids were really turning to gather in gangs as activities — to associate,” Bruley said.
Since then, the city has expanded services for youth. Those services may come in the form of intervention programming at Zanewood Recreation Center or through workforce development programs at BrookLynk.
Brooklyn Park has also worked with Louisville-based Cities United on its crime-reduction planning efforts.
The police department’s Alternative Response Team launched in 2023 to respond to mental health calls-for-service in tandem with police officers.
Community Intervention Unit
Within the police department, a relatively new Community Intervention Unit provides assistance to at-risk youth based on real-time data from officers.
It was launched this year and is headed by LaTreasure Dickson, community intervention manager.
She called the program “the first of its kind in the nation.”
The plain-clothes members of the team use referrals from staff members — such as police officers or park-and-rec workers — to connect with the youth at the highest risk of becoming involved in crime and put them on a better path.
Moving Forward
The city is focusing on a new public safety initiative dubbed “Reimagining Public Safety” to continue pushing for reduced levels of crime.
Those efforts are expected to include new intervention and coordinated crisis response plans that bridge across city agencies.
“So that’s the idea, that all the tools may have different disciplines, but all those tools are available to help us find the best outcome for those individuals that we’re dealing with,” Bruley said.
The council was largely supportive of the plans.
“It put a lump in my throat to see the departments working together and getting results — oh my God, where does that happen in this world?” said Council Member Tony McGarvey.
Bruley said he hopes to work with other cities in the region to develop a larger crime prevention network and intelligence sharing system.
