Spate of crime shakes Victory neighborhood

In the basement of St. John's Missionary Church in north Minneapolis, 4th Precinct Crime Prevention Specialist Shannon McDonough and Robbinsdale Police Chief Wayne Shellum gently built their case, alternating statistics and sympathetic glances as they tried to convince residents of the Victory neighborhood and its bordering suburb that they shouldn't be worried about a crime increase.

They only got so far with their argument.

"I'm going to give them another five minutes to tell us how hard they're working before I leave," one man grumbled.

About 200 residents attended the Victory Neighborhood Association's monthly meeting Wednesday night to discuss their concerns with Minneapolis and Robbinsdale police, their fears fueled by a recent run of high-profile incidents.

Violent crime in Minneapolis' Fourth Precinct -- which includes the Victory neighborhood -- was down 11 percent last year from 2006. This year, it's down 27 percent, including a 31-percent drop in robberies, police said. There also haven't been any homicides, a year after four murders shocked north Minneapolis in the first 15 days of 2007.

But as Deputy Chief Robert Allen admitted, "Those numbers are meaningless if people don't feel safe."

Some high-profile incidents have taken a toll:

Joel Ganley, 53, a Victory neighborhood resident, was robbed at gunpoint Jan. 17 by two men and left abandoned in a car trunk in Robbinsdale. He beat on the trunk lid with a belt buckle for two hours before he was found. Police arrested one suspect shortly after the crime, and identified a second on Wednesday night.

Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat, who attended the meeting, was beaten and robbed in his Robbinsdale driveway in November.

On Wednesday, police identified two Minneapolis men as "persons of interest" in a New Year's Day robbery in which a 28-year-old Robbinsdale man was shot to death.

The homicide, which was the first since 2003, nonetheless has residents reeling.

"That particular incident has shaken our community really badly," Shellum said. "We take it personal. We take it serious."

Although the numbers don't seem to suggest crime is back up in the Victory neighborhood, part of one of Minneapolis's most-policed precincts, several residents pleaded for a greater police presence in the area.

To a degree, they'll get it. Hennepin County Chief Deputy Mike Carlson said the sheriff's office has lent extra help to Robbinsdale since the spate of crimes, and Minneapolis City Council President Barb Johnson said the neighborhood could use the 34 recruits in the Police Department's strategic operations program, housed at 42nd Avenue North and Dupont Avenue North.

"Visibility is a big thing," Shellum said. "Generally, when crimes happen, people say, 'I look out my window and I never see a cop.' We have to get over there and concentrate on that."

Until the more visible crimes stop, all the numbers won't do much to put residents at ease.

"There's a desire from some of our council people to review our numbers and put good news out there," Shellum said. "But that's a hard sell right now. The good news is going to happen when we make an arrest on our homicide."

Ben Goessling • 651-298-1546