Brooklyn Center anti-crime plan pays off

At a time when its neighbor to the south is dealing with an increase in violent crime, Brooklyn Center police have some good news.

From 1999 to the end of 2009, the number of serious and violent crimes in the city dropped more than 22 percent, with a particularly notable decrease between '08 and '09. So far this year, the same category of crimes -- homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, theft, auto theft and arson -- has dropped by 21.6 percent compared with the same period last year.

Cmdr. Mike Reynolds, spokesman for the city police department, credited now-retired Chief Scott Bechthold's crime-fighting strategies and a City Council that has put "ensure a safe and secure community" at the top of its list of goals.

For Denise Anderson, watch captain for the 5800 block of Dupont Avenue N., the stats are personal. Two summers ago, a house in the neighborhood transformed her block from one in which she felt safe and enjoyed open doors and windows to one in which every lock was latched and her two small children never left her sight.

One day, a group of teenagers pounded on her door to get at two girls who had taken refuge in her attached garage.

"They were screaming that they were going to beat me down," she recalled. "I was terrified, completely terrified."

She took her fears to Chief Bechthold.

By fall, the house had emptied.

Anderson's and other stories reflect years of strategy and work, Reynolds said.

In the years around the start of the last decade, the city saw troubling rates of violent and serious crime, possibly a result of aggressive police work in north Minneapolis, Reynolds said.

Starting in 2002, the department phased in a strategy of "intelligence-led policing," in which it uses complaint data to place high-visibility patrols to enforce laws on everything from speeding to drug dealing. By mid-2008, it was starting to yield real results, Reynolds said.

"Once you start enforcing the small things, you come across larger things," he said. "It also has an effect on criminals traveling through the area. If they see cars pulled over, they say, we're not sticking around here."

Aware that they might be pushing trouble not just around Brooklyn Center, but into other cities, the department also is active in its own neighborhood watch group, working with adjacent cities, the county and state corrections to spot trends and track known violent offenders, Reynolds said.

The department also has sharpened its focus on juvenile offenders, strengthening partnerships within the juvenile department, and increasing contacts with kids and their families.

"You get to know that child and their family and it's amazing the rapport you can build," Reynolds said. "Good, positive relationships have been made. It's amazing the information you get from there, solving other crimes."

Reynolds said he thinks the city will continue to go in the right direction.

"The perception of the city, within the city and outside it, was doom and gloom, and people looked upon it as crime running rampant," Reynolds said. "I think this place is going to start to flourish again."

Anderson said her block has returned to one she knows.

"It's back to being quiet and peaceful and community-feeling, with neighbors out waving at each other," she said, adding she's content to let her kids play in the yard as she monitors them from the kitchen. "I wouldn't have ever done that two years ago."

Maria Elena Baca • 612-673-4409