St. Paul’s Lowertown neighborhood residents spoke out about the rise in crime plaguing their homes and businesses during a town hall on Monday.
Local news channel KSTP reported that approximately 300 people attended the event which featured citizens angrily confronting their local leaders and police over criminal issues.
"We have bullets in the sidewalk," one woman declared.
A man commented, "It’s a garbage can and it’s certainly been allowed to become like that. It’s sad. It’s pathetic."
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Regarding the danger, another man said, "I am hurt. I am afraid. I feel like I am getting a license to carry because of my fear."
St. Paul Police Central District Cmdr. Jesse Mollner responded to their issues, saying they are trying their best with short staffing.
"I validate your concerns and frustrations. A lot of calls are pending for an inordinate amount of time, and it’s not because the officers have something better to do," Mollner said. "It’s because they’re being called and responding to calls one after another after another."
On Sunday, KSTP also spoke to local business owners who voiced their aggravation at crime and open drug use harming their businesses. Lost Fox Restaurant owner Annie Rose described a recent situation when she was injured after attempting to tell an aggressive customer to leave.
"I told him that the other day, and he got aggressive and he pushed the door in my face and I got stitches from that," Rose said.
After telling reporters in April that her business had been burglarized at least four times since opening in 2022, she said, "We’ve had two more attempted burglaries since then. Both times the alarms went off and we were able to come and the cops were able to come. More cameras, more motion detectors, glass breaking, more things on the inside. Lights. We’ve had to leave lights on."
In 2021, St. Paul had a record number 36 homicides. KSTP reported that 2022 also saw the same number of homicides and, though aggravated assaults, robberies and carjackings have declined, burglaries and sexual assaults have reportedly increased.
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The town hall came after news that the entire police force in Goodhue, Minnesota, about an hour's drive from St. Paul, resigned after having zero applicants, citing low pay and better opportunities elsewhere.
"This has been three weeks now, we have zero applicants, and I have zero prospects," Police Chief Josh Smith said on July 26. "I’ve called every PD around for the youngest guys out there, getting into the game. There's nobody getting into the game."
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He added, "If you want to keep the PD and this is something we want to continue going with, something needs to change dramatically and drastically, and it's got to happen now."
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