With many students home for the summer during the COVID-19 pandemic, most University of Minnesota-area neighborhoods are quiet and saw a decrease in overall crime compared to the same timeframe last year.

Crime Trends

Overall property crime has gone down in all neighborhoods around the University.

Marcy-Holmes property crime from May 22 to June 22 decreased by about 18%, from 61 in 2019 to 50 this year. In Southeast Como, the number dropped from 23 to 14, and Prospect Park saw 39 reported incidents in 2019 decrease to 32 this year. Cedar-Riverside’s number marginally decreased by only two incidents, with 32 property crimes reported the past four weeks. 

Theft of personal property and theft from motor vehicles has accounted for the bulk of the decrease in property crime. 

Marcy-Holmes saw 26 larceny incidents, Cedar-Riverside saw 13 larceny incidents, Prospect Park saw 16 larceny incidents and Southeast Como saw nine. Last year, larceny incidents were respectively 43, 23, 34, and 13 in those neighborhoods. 

Additionally, Marcy-Holmes and Prospect Park saw 7 incidents of thefts from auto, Cedar-Riverside saw ten thefts from auto incidents, and Southeast Como saw the least at 4 this year. Last year, theft from auto incidents were respectively 15, ten, ten, and eight.

Alternatively, burglary has climbed in all campus neighborhoods besides Southeast Como compared to last year. The largest increase was in Cedar-Riverside, one of the most populated neighborhoods in Minneapolis, where 2 incidents in 2019 grew to 12 this year. 

Cedar-Riverside and Southeast Como saw a significant decrease in reported auto theft compared to last year. Southeast Como reported only one incident this past month after five incidents last year. Cedar-Riverside reported six total incidents, a drop from nine last year. Marcy-Holmes and Prospect Park spiked in auto theft incidents, from nine to 13 and two to seven respectively. 

While all four neighborhoods saw a decrease in property crime from this time last year, they differ when it comes to violent crime. 

Cedar-Riverside’s violent crime from this past month plunged from 6 incidents in 2019 to 1 this year. In Marcy Holmes, the number dropped from 12 to 11, and Southeast Como saw no change, with only 2 reported incidents. 

Bucking a usual trend, Prospect Park had an increase in violent crime amid decreases in neighboring areas. Last year, the neighborhood saw no violent crime from May 22 to June 22. This year, Prospect Park saw a total of two rapes, one robbery, three aggravated assaults and two domestic aggravated assaults, for a total of eight reported violent crimes in the last four weeks.

Notable Crimes

A robbery occurred early Saturday morning according to an all-campus alert. The incident occurred near Radius Apartments at 3:50 a.m. The suspect — described as wearing black pants, a white shirt and a medical mask — was armed with a handgun and took the victim’s wallet. 

This is the fourth alert involving robbery last week, following both an attempted robbery and robbery last Monday, and an assault and auto-theft incident Thursday.