To be clear, the Minneapolis ordinance forbidding people to leave their cars idling on city streets for more than three minutes is not meant to be earth-friendly, reducing green house gases is just a by-product.

Police say the ordinance is meant to protect people from a particular crime that spikes every year during the Minnesota winter, car theft.

Minneapolis 2nd Precinct Lt. Greg Reinhardt said car theft spikes in winter not from professional thieves, but from people looking for a quick, cheap ride.

"[Thieves] abandon or crash them," Reinhardt said. "Typically kids steal them because they don’t have a dollar for the bus."

University police Lt. Troy Buhta echoed Reinhardt, and said car theft comes and goes on campus.

Reinhardt said after a few the police hand out a few citations and the media catches on, drivers tend to shut off their cars.

"Every ticket we give out, it’s one less chase we’re in, one less accident," he said.

Last weekend there were two car thefts near campus.

For other updates on campus-area crime, check out the Crimebox every week, usually in Wednesday’s Daily.