Kare11
Tracking hate crimes part of public safety bill
Dept. of Human Rights would be tasked with gather information on hate crimes and other bias-motivated incidents.
ST PAUL, Minn. — A sweeping piece of public safety legislation that passed the Minnesota House Wednesday includes a provision aimed at gathering more data on hate crimes and other incidents of racial bias.
It’s a response to community groups that asked for new ways to document bias-motivated attacks outside of law enforcement channels, and to report incidents that create fear but don’t necessarily rise to the level of a chargeable offense.
It would require the Minnesota Department of Human Rights to collect information on racially motivated incidents and create a database that would enable the staff to look for trends.
“What my bill addresses is to make sure to document what is happening, truly happening, in our communities,” Rep. Samantha Vang, a Brooklyn Park Democrat, told reporters Wednesday.
“My bill allows community members, community organizations to work with the Department of Human Rights to document hate and bias incidents happening on the ground, so communities have a place to show they fear for their safety, that they fear for their life.”
Fellow Democrat Rep. Hodan Hassan said some persons don’t feel comfortable making reports to police, and law enforcement in some cases won’t classify an incident as a hate crime until an arrest can be made and the suspect can be questioned about motive.
“Different groups that say, ‘Oh, there’s a lot of hate happening,’ and they will say, ‘Oh there’s no data about it. No one’s reporting it.’ If there’s no data, it doesn’t exist. But communities that live in fear are not going to go out of their way to come to law enforcement and report this.”
Hodan and Vang appeared at a Capitol press conference that drew a huge crowd of DFL lawmakers, Attorney General Keith Ellison, St. Paul’s Mayor Melvin Carter and many others.
They were there to show solidarity with the Somali immigrant community in the wake of arson attacks on two Minneapolis mosques earlier in the week.
“This is how we show up for each other. This is the Minnesota that all of us believe in. This is the Minnesota that we want,” Hassan told reporters.
“But out there is some notion that we don’t belong. I belong in Minnesota. I’m a Minnesotan, but I’m also Muslim Minnesotan. I’m also American, a Somali American, and I’m proud of ALL of my layers.”
Rep. Samakab Hussein of St. Paul said it’s about more than just one community or one religious faith group.
“It’s not only the Muslim community that has been attacked. All faith has been attacked in our state. There’s no place for hate in Minnesota.”
Mayor Carter echoed those sentiments.
“An attack against a mosque is an attack against a synagogue. That an attack against a synagogue is an attack against a Black Baptist church, because we all stand here together.”
During the debate on the bill, which lasted 10 hours and straddled two calendar days, Republicans objected to the idea of the state gathering data on hate incidents that aren’t classified as crimes by police.
“It’s government collecting data about speech that is not criminal and therefore has no compelling state interest in being collected,” GOP Rep. Walter Hudson of Albertville asserted.
“In committee it was said we’re going to use this data to identify hot spots of bias, to label communities as problematic, based upon subjective, unverified, un-objective, vague, arbitrary claims of bias!”
Rep. Harry Niska, a Princeton Republican, offered an amendment that would replace the word “incident” with the word “crime” based on the idea that private citizens who merely express different opinions could be accused of bias and then added to a government database.
The amendment failed. House Majority Leader Jamie Long of Minneapolis discounted those GOP objections.
“It’s really offensive in a week we’ve seen attacks like this, hate crimes like this in our communities, that the first thing our colleagues across the aisle jump to is some sort of conspiracy theory, deep dive hole,” Rep. Long said.
“They’re talking about Big Brother, we’re talking about brotherhood, sisterhood, community, trying to keep all of us together and make sure we are protecting each other, and we are tracking incidents so that we know how to best respond.”
The crash occurred at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday in Welcome, Minnesota after the bus driver failed to yield to the truck, which had the right-of-way.
WELCOME, Minn. — Nine students were injured Wednesday morning when a truck crashed into a bus in southern Minnesota.
The crash occurred at 8:15 a.m. in Welcome, Minnesota after the bus driver failed to yield to the truck, which had the right-of-way at the intersection of County Road 7 and 280th Street, according to the Redwood County Sheriff’s Office. In a press release, officials say the nine students sustained “minor injuries” and were transported to a nearby hospital.
The initial investigation indicates that the truck, an F550, was traveling north on County Road 7, while the bus, which was providing service to the Wabasso Public School District, was traveling east on 280th Street. The news release says the truck had the right-of-way at the intersection.
“We are grateful that no serious injuries happened to our students, the driver or the other driver, however, nine students were transported to area hospitals for follow-up treatment,” Superintendent Jon Fulton said in a letter to parents. “… The District and 4.0 bus transportation company is praying for a speedy recovery for the students and families involved.”
Several fans said this team has inspired them to pursue a career in sports.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Lynx is inspiring the next generation of athletes regardless of whether they win or lose.
Sophia Witkowski went to the game with her mother, Christy, to watch Game 3 of the WNBA Finals.
“For her to see all her idols it’s just so fun,” Christy said.
“I like it because women’s sports aren’t that popular. Now the WNBA is really popular,” Sophia said.
They weren’t the only mother-and-daughter duo at the game. Amanda Williams took her 10-year-old daughter Abby to watch.
“It’s really awesome to have my daughter here to see great role models from the team and the fact,” Amanda said.
“I think that it’s super cool that they get to do what they want to do, and they get paid for it too,” Abby said.
Maggie Niska with Her Next Play, a nonprofit working to empower the next generation of female leaders through sports, said their visibility is everything.
“I think it gives these girls someone to look up to, and it gives them something to aspire to, and by having them in the community it makes seem a little more reachable too,” Niska said.
She said the Lynx Academy put on a basketball clinic for some of her girls in Hopkins Tuesday night. Niska said all of the professional women’s sports teams in Minnesota show girls they can have a future in sports.
“I just think that any visibility these girls can get to women competing at sports at a higher level, hearing these women speak, and seeing them succeed, and getting insight into their lives and what they do to compete at this higher level, I think all of that serves as a great inspiration to these girls,” she said.
It’s something Lynx Head Coach Cheryl Reeve understands well.
“For young girls to see the opportunities for them to play in any sport and then also more in sport, jobs in sports that sports can be a career,” Reeve said.
Sophia Ritter and Taylor Tool drove hours to see the players in action.
“We traveled from Aberdeen, South Dakota and the Northern State women’s basketball team took two vans,” she said.
Ritter and Tool both said it was a cool opportunity for them to see two great teams play on the professional level.
“Growing up, WNBA wasn’t really a big a thing and something that everyone was watching and now that it’s growing it’s really nice to see,” Ritter said.
“It’s really fun seeing all the support and seeing how many people come to watch the games like it’s really cool to see all the fans in the stands filling up and it’s growing,” Tool said.
Gophers’ Shoot Guard Mara Braun went to the game with her team after practice.
“These women out here are just amazingly talented and they play with this toughness that I think we’re really trying to embody as a team,” Braun said.
She knows young girls are looking up to her and her teammates just like they are with the Lynx.
“Especially growing up, you know, you want to play college basketball, and the next level is WNBA or overseas or whatever it is, so for me this is obviously a dream and something I’m working towards to be able to see it,” she said.
Braun dreams of playing in the WNBA and watching the Lynx and the Liberty in the finals makes that dream feel like it could be her new reality.
The department is the only one in the state to start a non-fatal shooting unit that launched in January.
ST PAUL, Minn. — The City of St. Paul has seen a number of deadly shootings recently, but often it’s the ones that aren’t fatal that don’t get as much attention. And for police, they can also be harder to solve.
The department, though, is trying something new to try and reverse that trend.
“The amount of guns that are on the street right now,” St. Paul Police Commander Nikkole Peterson said about the biggest change she’s seen in the 22 years she’s been a cop. “It’s jaw-dropping.”
Commander Peterson is now in charge of the department’s non-fatal shooting unit that launched in January focusing only on those crimes.
It’s the only department in the state implementing something like that, after it saw success with the police department in Denver, Colorado doing something similar.
“If there’s a shooting, it doesn’t matter what time of night that happens or time of day, that sergeant will get called in to begin the investigation immediately,” said Commander Peterson.
The crime used to fall on the homicide unit that’s already burdened by heavy case loads. There’s also usually little victim cooperation which can stall solving non-fatal shootings.
“A lot of times we wouldn’t investigate it any further or the prosecutor wouldn’t charge those crimes and we knew that something different had to be done,” said Commander Peterson.
The unit is now treating non-fatal shootings like homicides and making them a priority. The investigators also rely more heavily on evidence and devote just as many resources, from forensics to video management and even SWAT teams.
“We are utilizing all these different resources to help solve these crimes,” said Commander Peterson. “We’re chasing down every lead that we can.”
In a press conference on Tuesday, St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry said there have been 86 non-fatal shootings compared to 99 this same time last year. But two years ago, there were 170, putting the city’s solve rate around 60%.
“Anything above 50% is just incredible and so we’re really happy with where we’re at right now,” said Commander Peterson.
Commander Peterson also credits the city’s ASPIRE program that focuses on intervention, particularly with youth. She also points to the Office of Neighborhood Safety that partners with local organizations working on prevention, saying this cooperation is ultimately what will reduce crime.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings