The Minneapolis Police Department's First Precinct was facing a serious challenge: How do we police a downtown area that is growing rapidly by every measure-population, number of workers commuting to jobs, attendance at major events, number of entertainment venues-while facing budget challenges that don't allow us to expand the number of officers? The answer for Minneapolis was hiding in a small city an hour and a half north of London called Northampton.

Constable (now Sergeant) Paul Valentine of the Northamptonshire Police had developed a retail crime initiative that was a true partnership between police and private security. Using video cameras monitoring public areas, a radio network that allowed various private security entities to talk with each other and with the police, and a fax and computer network to rapidly share photographs and information about suspects, Northampton created a remarkable team that began fighting crime together in a true partnership.

Target Corporation brought officials from Minneapolis to Northampton to study their initiative; and then they brought Constable Valentine to Minneapolis to share his story with business and community members. Within two years, Minneapolis has developed a remarkable collaborative of its own: 29 video cameras on street corners downtown beam signals to the First Precinct's desk. Officers have made over 250 arrests after witnessing events on the camera. A radio network allows 30 security services to communicate; those services are responsible for millions of square feet of retail and commercial property, parking ramps and shopping centers in the downtown area. A website (http://www.minneapolissafezone.org/) allows security and police to share information with each other. Security officers can file incident  reports directly to the City Attorney's office for prosecution of offenders. Business and community leaders can file community impact statements with the courts through the website-dramatically improving prosecution of the offenders who prey on downtown. As a result, arrests are up, crime is down and businesses are reporting that their employees are feeling much safer downtown.

The remarkable advantage that Target provided to the Minneapolis Police Department was intellectual philanthropy. AP staff took the time to understand the challenge that Minneapolis was facing, then they started scouring the planet for solutions that had been successful elsewhere.

Every person who comes downtown to work, live and play is now safer because of the hard work, resources and energy that went into creating Minneapolis' SafeZone.

Rob Allen
Deputy Chief
Minneapolis Police Department