Violence against innocents in Minneapolis

Criminals in Minneapolis are now routinely shooting children. Ladavionne Garrett Jr. is 10 years old and was shot on April 30. Trinity Ottoson-Smith is 9 and was shot on May 15. Aniya Allen was 6, was shot on Monday, and died of her injuries on Wednesday.

The response so far from the city's political leadership? Old wine in new bottles. Hold news conferences, wring hands, emote. But when three of our city's children are gunned down in the street in three weeks, the time for useless half-measures is over.

From the perspective of this dad raising kids in the city, three things need to happen: (1) Immediately, government must restore peace to the streets and implement common-sense police reform; (2) in the medium term, we residents must clean house on current elected leadership; and (3) in the long term, we must all continue building the city's fabric so that every resident can thrive in family, school, worship, job and neighborhood life.

Here's each course of action in detail:

Immediately: Reclaim the streets and implement obvious reforms

Ideally, our city's police force would keep our city safe. But crippled by understaffing and fickle political leadership, it can't. So to stop the current bloodshed of children, City Hall needs to improve its coordination with law enforcement at other levels of government.

At various points in the last year, the Minnesota National Guard has done an admirable job keeping peace across the city. So in the wake of three children being shot, why hasn't City Hall requested that the National Guard deploy to the city's known hot spots of violence right now? Are we waiting for more children to be shot?

In addition to requesting the National Guard, City Hall must: (a) put more horsepower on the streets via the Minneapolis Police Department, Park Police, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office and State Patrol; (b) coordinate with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the FBI and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to determine the precise flow of handguns flooding our streets; (c) work with the U.S. Marshals to apprehend known criminals; and (d) collaborate with the FBI to disrupt criminal networks that cross state borders to operate in our city.

Also, since the appearance of lawlessness breeds actual lawlessness, it's long past time for City Hall to reclaim the lawless "no-go zone" that radicals have created at 38th and Chicago, and for the Park and Recreation Board to realize after last summer's debacle that it cannot ever again allow encampments of homeless fellow human beings to live in the city's parks.

Turning to the judicial system: To the public servants of the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, please put carjackers in jail — including the juveniles who have been allowed to carjack again and again. And to the members of the Hennepin County bench: Your Honors, letting defendants go without bail perhaps made sense when COVID was at full tilt, but now that vaccines are widely available, when making bail decisions please err on the side of maintaining the safety of the streets where the city's children are just trying to play.

The men and women of law enforcement and our judicial system already know these methods of collaboration and enforcement and certainly don't need a civilian like me to teach them. I raise the points because City Hall isn't saying it: Law enforcers, we appreciate the work you do; we need you, and regardless of what our so-called leaders say, we residents are asking for your help, right now.

And let's all work together now to implement necessary police reforms — for example, additional training on how lower-ranking officers can correct actions of higher-ranking officers when necessary; implementation of a residency requirement; and processes for prompt removal of the small number of officers who fail to meet expectations. When it comes to policing, if citizens and law enforcement don't work together to mend it, the utopians will continue to want to end it.

Medium-term: Clean house on elected leadership in the city

The bedrock responsibility of government is to ensure the safety of citizens — so when three of our city's children are gunned down in the street in three weeks, it's time for a thorough electoral housecleaning. Fortunately, the mayor, City Council and Park Board are all up for re-election on Nov. 2.

Here's hoping that someone with a fresh perspective enters this fall's mayoral race. A key job requirement: Don't allow radicals to burn down any more police stations.

As for the City Council, with just a few welcome exceptions, the current council members' Twitter-fueled groupthink has led Minneapolis to a precarious place. For example, the majority of Minneapolis council members have spent the last year falsely proclaiming the Minneapolis Police Department to be so rotten that it must be abolished. So, no surprise, criminals are emboldened and some city residents don't want to cooperate with MPD to apprehend criminals.

Perhaps most egregiously, the current City Council president has announced that she's not running for re-election this fall, but she still has the gall to push her radical anti-law-enforcement agenda on a populace that would have to live with her bad ideas long after she's no longer accountable.

So, fellow residents, if you make contributions to political campaigns this summer, and when you vote this fall, I hope you'll join me in booting out of office the incumbents who regurgitate anti-law-enforcement talking points and fail to see the direct line from their relentless utopian rhetoric to the shooting of our city's children.

In their place, let's support fresh thinkers willing to implement the necessary police reforms listed above — without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Long-term: Continue building the fabric of the city

The criminals terrorizing our city's streets with their disregard for human life are truly a challenge. But for every challenge, our city has thousands of champions: solid citizens who, on a daily basis, are fulfilling life's commitments — taking the bus to work, striving in school, caring for others, raising a family, going to sports practice, weeding the community garden or volunteering in a civic endeavor, praying to God for peace and health and contentment, and carving out time to just have fun.

So the question we face is, "Which is stronger: the challenges or the champions?"

My money is on the champions. If we each roll up our sleeves to do our part, then we'll succeed.

So to City Hall: As Ladavionne and Trinity lie in the hospital and Aniya's family prepares for a funeral, we city residents will keep doing our part to prevent any other children from being harmed or killed. Will you finally step up and do yours?

Cam Winton lives in Minneapolis. He was a candidate for mayor in 2013. He's at camwinton@gmail.com. On Twitter: @cam_winton.