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I was in Minneapolis a few months ago and grabbed a Lyft. I started talking with the driver about crime surges, mainly the dramatic car jackings increase. He

I was in Minneapolis a few months ago and grabbed a Lyft. I started talking with the driver about crime surges, mainly the dramatic car jackings increase. He said 22 people he personally knew have been victims of car jacking in 2021. They are organized and setup drop off points to box the cars in. The 'passanger' then holds them at gun point and another person gets in the driver seat. Stolen phones and credit cards are also being used for this. Its out of control. Multiple Amber alerts issued with infants or toddlers in the back seat from separate car jackings are increasingly common. A few days ago another happened. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/01/07/1yearold-missing-in-a-car-stolen-in-minneapolis https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/01/07/1yearold-missing-in...

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
How is it possible to do this professionally without getting shot or run over? The first few victims I get. But after it becomes an identified pattern and makes the news people are gonna be on somewhat of a lookout or at least have it in the back of their mind that it's possible and the odds of your victim seeing the trap before you've got it complete go way up. Sure you can try and profile people and avoid the car with five dudes in it and go for the middle aged lady in the car with a real estate agency sticker on the door but even then you can only point a gun at so many people before someone's knee-jerk reaction is to either hit the skinny pedal and GTFO or whip out their own piece. This seems like the kind of crime you can only commit 5-10x before you get unlucky and it goes off the rails.
- germinalphrase 5y ago
  They are giving the impression that this is an organized crime issue and that these cars are being stolen for financial gain, but I live in Minneapolis and everything I’m hearing is that it is joyriding teenagers with guns. Everything about it is reckless, dangerous and scary - but I don’t think anyone is doing it “professionally” (and I’m skeptical that any organized “boxing in” is taking place). And I know this next bit is going to come off as defensive - but I think it provides some context. I’m native to the upper Midwest, but I’ve spent a lot of time living in other large cities around the country. Take a look at the FBI violent crime data below. Minnesota is a very low crime state and is coming off historically low crime. The current uptick in violent crime is real, but still doesn’t come close to the 90’s and lags significantly behind US average. All that said, talking with people - including family - in neighboring communities and across the border in Wisconsin, you’d think Minneapolis is a burning, crime ridden hellhole where you can’t even walk down the street safely. There’s clearly some kind of political hay being made by that narrative. https://crime-data-explorer.app.cloud.gov/pages/explorer/crime/crime-trend https://crime-data-explorer.app.cloud.gov/pages/explorer/cri...
  - grapescheesee 5y ago
    I agree as well with this partially. I have mainly heard the statements along the lines. 'It's teenagers' executing the theft. From the wide spread and increasing amounts it seems to follow, more organized members are involved with what would be required next. I won't pretend to state what happens to a stolen car. I have nothing but speculation and the obviously known facts. I can guess that given the targets are newer models of cars with at least one form or another of lowjack style tech. This does assume the crime is not spontaneously carried out, generally. What happens after the 'more risk prone' portion is some level of organized crime and people using 'minors' to help deliver on this is my understanding.
    - germinalphrase 5y ago
      That sounds plausible. There’s so much wild speculation taking place. Would certainly be nice to have better information.
    - grapescheesee 5y ago
      Sorry in advance if this parent post is off topic from the posted Edina story. Full disclosure I grew up in the Twin Cities and have many I know well there. It is a wonderful place and has unfortunately found itself at the center of political statements in the last few years and present.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
codyogden 5y ago
I live in the heart of south Minneapolis. I really doubt the claim that this is for organized crime for some kind of financial gain. There was an organized ring last year targeting high value cars, but it got busted pretty easily. From the news I’ve seen, it’s almost always joyriding teenagers and stolen vehicles used to commit some other crime. Uber/Lyft drivers are specifically targeted because they can be easily lured to a semi-remote location by the apps. But multiple criminals using that tactic doesn’t make it “organized crime.” It would make sense that an app driver knows other drivers who have been carjacked, but this M.O. isn’t exclusive to Minneapolis. Crime is still really low here. I live at a dodgy intersection with major bus lines that brings a lot of characters—good and ‘bad’—around. I don’t worry about walking around even at night. I don’t worry about driving anywhere in this city, even in the areas where carjackings have been “up” (which I travel through frequently in order to reach the now infamous Lake Street Target). Anyway, fear-mongering comments or anecdotes from people who visit here don’t really express the lived experience of people living in Minneapolis. :)
- ahelwer 5y ago
  People & especially the media love to play up this stuff. I lived two blocks away from Seattle's CHAZ during the 2020 BLM protests. Watching media coverage of my area compared to the actual experience of walking around and living there was a ridiculous juxtaposition. Even people I know who disapproved of the protests commented on the difference uneasily. I had numerous people from the east side of Lake Washington refuse to come pick up things I was selling on craigslist because they thought they would be mobbed and their car torched or something. Fear sells and there are a lot of people who want to sell it.
  - slibhb 5y ago
    Is wikipedia inaccurate? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Hill_Occupied_Protest#During_the_zone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Hill_Occupied_Protest#... Your personal experience may be less relevant than actual incidents in which people were shot.
    - 5y ago
magicalist 5y ago
> I started talking with the driver about crime surges, mainly the dramatic car jackings increase. He said 22 people he personally knew have been victims of car jacking in 2021. This sounds like a typical made-up crime panic narrative, honestly. The linked story being about a car left running with an infant in it being stolen doesn't help. Terrible, but not at all some boxed-in high octane car theft. Sibling posts chimed in about actually living there and this not being a thing. I don't live there, so can only search the news, but any stories about car thefts I'm seeing include warnings from the police for people to stop leaving their cars heating up with the keys in them. We should endeavor to not buy into moral panics but act on data. We've seen from history that good reactions basically never come from decisive responses to crime waves that are actually constructed narratives from a data point or two.
- computershit 5y ago
  I live in Minneapolis proper and my car was stolen last month. Not a carjacking, I was one of the idiots that left it running to warm up. The car jacking numbers are mostly legit, I do not know if it’s “organized” though. Catalytic converters getting stolen is a much bigger deal out here right now.
  - gjsman-1000 5y ago
    My family has a friend who had his catalytic converter stolen while eating at a restaurant with his wife in the afternoon. Brazen?
- StopTheWorld 5y ago
  In some localities and for some time periods, you are more likely to be a victim of homicide as a taxi driver than as a police officer or security guard (in other localities and time periods, policing is usually more deadly). In terms of non-fatal assaults, taxi drivers are right up there with police officers and security guards. The NIOSH and the US Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Labor, have studies of this going back to the 1990s (https://www.taxi-library.org/oshataxi.pdf https://www.taxi-library.org/oshataxi.pdf ). Taxi drivers make easy crime targets for a number of reasons. They carry cash, they can be lured to virtually any remote (or easy to escape) location, they are working alone, they are working late at night. Between 1992 and 1997, at least 50 cab drivers were murdered each year while at work. There may or may not be a recent surge in a specific location, but it has been a dangerous profession for a long time.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
WillSlim95 5y ago
I have been in Minneapolis for 6 months and that linked article was the only Amber alert we have gotten in 6 months. So I am curious about the source of multiple Amber alerts
- DIVx0 5y ago
  They were probably referring to the three alerts that came out for the single event last weekend. The first two were garbage, telling us to google it? Only the last had information people could actually use.
  - WillSlim95 5y ago
    Yes
loldk 5y ago
AnimalMuppet 5y ago
I went in to the bank for something. While I was there, I joked with the teller, asking if he'd been held up by someone wearing a mask. The joke fell very flat, because he had. He seemed to me to show some signs of trauma as he told me this. So it's not just ride share services...

throwaway0a5e 5y ago

How is it possible to do this professionally without getting shot or run over? The first few victims I get. But after it becomes an identified pattern and makes the news people are gonna be on somewhat of a lookout or at least have it in the back of their mind that it's possible and the odds of your victim seeing the trap before you've got it complete go way up. Sure you can try and profile people and avoid the car with five dudes in it and go for the middle aged lady in the car with a real estate agency sticker on the door but even then you can only point a gun at so many people before someone's knee-jerk reaction is to either hit the skinny pedal and GTFO or whip out their own piece. This seems like the kind of crime you can only commit 5-10x before you get unlucky and it goes off the rails.

germinalphrase 5y ago
They are giving the impression that this is an organized crime issue and that these cars are being stolen for financial gain, but I live in Minneapolis and everything I’m hearing is that it is joyriding teenagers with guns. Everything about it is reckless, dangerous and scary - but I don’t think anyone is doing it “professionally” (and I’m skeptical that any organized “boxing in” is taking place). And I know this next bit is going to come off as defensive - but I think it provides some context. I’m native to the upper Midwest, but I’ve spent a lot of time living in other large cities around the country. Take a look at the FBI violent crime data below. Minnesota is a very low crime state and is coming off historically low crime. The current uptick in violent crime is real, but still doesn’t come close to the 90’s and lags significantly behind US average. All that said, talking with people - including family - in neighboring communities and across the border in Wisconsin, you’d think Minneapolis is a burning, crime ridden hellhole where you can’t even walk down the street safely. There’s clearly some kind of political hay being made by that narrative. https://crime-data-explorer.app.cloud.gov/pages/explorer/crime/crime-trend https://crime-data-explorer.app.cloud.gov/pages/explorer/cri...
- grapescheesee 5y ago
  I agree as well with this partially. I have mainly heard the statements along the lines. 'It's teenagers' executing the theft. From the wide spread and increasing amounts it seems to follow, more organized members are involved with what would be required next. I won't pretend to state what happens to a stolen car. I have nothing but speculation and the obviously known facts. I can guess that given the targets are newer models of cars with at least one form or another of lowjack style tech. This does assume the crime is not spontaneously carried out, generally. What happens after the 'more risk prone' portion is some level of organized crime and people using 'minors' to help deliver on this is my understanding.
  - germinalphrase 5y ago
    That sounds plausible. There’s so much wild speculation taking place. Would certainly be nice to have better information.
  - grapescheesee 5y ago
    Sorry in advance if this parent post is off topic from the posted Edina story. Full disclosure I grew up in the Twin Cities and have many I know well there. It is a wonderful place and has unfortunately found itself at the center of political statements in the last few years and present.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

codyogden 5y ago

I live in the heart of south Minneapolis. I really doubt the claim that this is for organized crime for some kind of financial gain. There was an organized ring last year targeting high value cars, but it got busted pretty easily. From the news I’ve seen, it’s almost always joyriding teenagers and stolen vehicles used to commit some other crime. Uber/Lyft drivers are specifically targeted because they can be easily lured to a semi-remote location by the apps. But multiple criminals using that tactic doesn’t make it “organized crime.” It would make sense that an app driver knows other drivers who have been carjacked, but this M.O. isn’t exclusive to Minneapolis. Crime is still really low here. I live at a dodgy intersection with major bus lines that brings a lot of characters—good and ‘bad’—around. I don’t worry about walking around even at night. I don’t worry about driving anywhere in this city, even in the areas where carjackings have been “up” (which I travel through frequently in order to reach the now infamous Lake Street Target). Anyway, fear-mongering comments or anecdotes from people who visit here don’t really express the lived experience of people living in Minneapolis. :)

ahelwer 5y ago
People & especially the media love to play up this stuff. I lived two blocks away from Seattle's CHAZ during the 2020 BLM protests. Watching media coverage of my area compared to the actual experience of walking around and living there was a ridiculous juxtaposition. Even people I know who disapproved of the protests commented on the difference uneasily. I had numerous people from the east side of Lake Washington refuse to come pick up things I was selling on craigslist because they thought they would be mobbed and their car torched or something. Fear sells and there are a lot of people who want to sell it.
- slibhb 5y ago
  Is wikipedia inaccurate? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Hill_Occupied_Protest#During_the_zone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Hill_Occupied_Protest#... Your personal experience may be less relevant than actual incidents in which people were shot.
  - 5y ago

magicalist 5y ago

> I started talking with the driver about crime surges, mainly the dramatic car jackings increase. He said 22 people he personally knew have been victims of car jacking in 2021. This sounds like a typical made-up crime panic narrative, honestly. The linked story being about a car left running with an infant in it being stolen doesn't help. Terrible, but not at all some boxed-in high octane car theft. Sibling posts chimed in about actually living there and this not being a thing. I don't live there, so can only search the news, but any stories about car thefts I'm seeing include warnings from the police for people to stop leaving their cars heating up with the keys in them. We should endeavor to not buy into moral panics but act on data. We've seen from history that good reactions basically never come from decisive responses to crime waves that are actually constructed narratives from a data point or two.

computershit 5y ago
I live in Minneapolis proper and my car was stolen last month. Not a carjacking, I was one of the idiots that left it running to warm up. The car jacking numbers are mostly legit, I do not know if it’s “organized” though. Catalytic converters getting stolen is a much bigger deal out here right now.
- gjsman-1000 5y ago
  My family has a friend who had his catalytic converter stolen while eating at a restaurant with his wife in the afternoon. Brazen?
StopTheWorld 5y ago
In some localities and for some time periods, you are more likely to be a victim of homicide as a taxi driver than as a police officer or security guard (in other localities and time periods, policing is usually more deadly). In terms of non-fatal assaults, taxi drivers are right up there with police officers and security guards. The NIOSH and the US Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Labor, have studies of this going back to the 1990s (https://www.taxi-library.org/oshataxi.pdf https://www.taxi-library.org/oshataxi.pdf ). Taxi drivers make easy crime targets for a number of reasons. They carry cash, they can be lured to virtually any remote (or easy to escape) location, they are working alone, they are working late at night. Between 1992 and 1997, at least 50 cab drivers were murdered each year while at work. There may or may not be a recent surge in a specific location, but it has been a dangerous profession for a long time.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

WillSlim95 5y ago

I have been in Minneapolis for 6 months and that linked article was the only Amber alert we have gotten in 6 months. So I am curious about the source of multiple Amber alerts

DIVx0 5y ago
They were probably referring to the three alerts that came out for the single event last weekend. The first two were garbage, telling us to google it? Only the last had information people could actually use.
- WillSlim95 5y ago
  Yes

loldk 5y ago

AnimalMuppet 5y ago

I went in to the bank for something. While I was there, I joked with the teller, asking if he'd been held up by someone wearing a mask. The joke fell very flat, because he had. He seemed to me to show some signs of trauma as he told me this. So it's not just ride share services...