Two Steps Up And One Step Back
You might have heard the radio ads: the Minneapolis Police Federation has taken out commercials pointing out Minneapolis mayor and DFL gubernatorial candidate R.T. Rybak’s record on crime.
Not so, says Rybak (via MPR-via-MDE):
I have focused like a laser [Note: I think I've found a closet Michael Medved listener! - Ed.] on making Minneapolis a safe place to call home, and we’ve had some great success: in the last three years, we’ve cut violent crime by 39%, violent crime by juveniles is down 47% and murders are at the lowest level in decades. The work of Chief Tim Dolan and officers of the Minneapolis Police Department, combined with that of neighbors across our city, have made Minneapolis safer by almost every measure. These facts are indisputable.
Unfortunately, the Federation’s ad is about politics, not policing.[Note to Mayor Rybak: Next time you or some other gun controlbot wants flog another national police chiefs' association's endorsement of gun control, I'll be there to remind you you just said that. But I digress]
I’ve made a practice of focusing on getting results for the people of Minneapolis and not focusing on predictably misleading ads from the Police Federation. That’s not going to change.
Luke Hellier at MDE notes that while crime has dropped from a very dismal peak three years ago – when Minneapolis was flirting with re-achieving its “Murderapolis” label from the nineties – it still hasn’t dropped to the same level as when he was elected:
Rybak’s First Year As Mayor 2002:
Murder – 31
Rape – 254
Assault – 1184
Most Recent Full Year 2008:
Murder – 39
Rape – 327
Assault – 1977
As with Luke, I’ll direction you to check out the facts yourselves.
Cross-posted and comments welcome at Shot In The Dark.
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