Following a recent post about a fight/robbery taking place following a minor motor vehicle accident along Highway 13 in Burnsville, I posted a link to my text based archive of Dakota County Criminal Complaints that I have been compiling automatically since sometime last year. bb stacker commented saying he was surprised of the ages of those accused in the crime. I was intrigued to find out exactly how old the general Dakota County offender is and wrote a couple of quick scripts which I thought would be able to pull the information down that I needed.
Well, while I was able to get some of the birthdates with my quick and dirty attempts, I wasn’t able to effectively pull them all. In fact, I only got about a 1/3 of them and I really don’t care to spend much more time on it. With the data I did retrieve the median age is about 28 which isn’t all that young I suppose but again, that data is from a small and error prone sample and is more or less useless.
Looking over the data that I had available to me, I did notice that I would be able to easily obtain the address information provided. So, I first pulled out the hometown city, state, and zipcode of each of the criminal complaints going back as far as I could (12/17/2007). Numerous complaints exist which do not include any valid address information at all and as such, any of those incomplete complaints were dropped. In the end I had over 1450 addresses to work from and have mapped them out for your viewing pleasure. Make sure you check out the regional view as well as the national. Please be aware that these aren’t 100% and shouldn’t be used for homework assignments, letters to your mother, or anything else of even moderate importance as this was only a fun exercise for me to do after I finished up my work this afternoon. Cool? Good.
In addition to the maps I have provided, I took the top 20 zip codes’ raw data and have pasted them here just to give you a more exact idea of where people live who are being arrested most often in the South Metro.
| Zip | City | Count | ||||||
| 55337 | Burnsville | 136 | ||||||
| 55124 | Apple Valley | 106 | ||||||
| 55075 | South Saint Paul | 96 | ||||||
| 55033 | Hastings | 93 | ||||||
| 55024 | Farmington | 76 | ||||||
| 55044 | Lakeville | 66 | ||||||
| 55118 | St. Paul | 64 | ||||||
| 55068 | Rosemount | 59 | ||||||
| 55122 | Eagan | 51 | ||||||
| 55076 | Inver Grove Heights | 49 | ||||||
| 55123 | Eagan | 33 | ||||||
| 55306 | Burnsville | 30 | ||||||
| 55077 | Inver Grove Heights | 28 | ||||||
| 55107 | West St. Paul | 24 | ||||||
You can continue to read the Dakota County Criminal Complaint text archive which I maintain and update daily at 1PM CST. There are some really interesting reads there (as some of you have undoubtedly noticed) and I encourage you to keep up with the happenings in the South Metro either there or through the official Dakota County interface available here which provides you with the information for the last year in PDF format only.
If you have any thoughts on the topic of crime in the South Metro or what I did above, feel free to comment on, I’d love to hear what you think!
Dakota Complaints Map
Dakota Inmate Dashboard
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January 2nd, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Bill, it figures, Burnsville IS the highest subsidized housing city south of the river. Does that mean that Apple Valley is second?
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Just stumbled across your site. Well done! I used to live off hwy 13 near Cliff rd. I was amazed how much crime there was in this area. Off the top of my head I can think of a couple murders, a vehicle homicide, countless burglaries, and assaults just in a few years. This used to be a beautiful area many many years ago. I think any time you have a concentration of certain types of housing the results are almost inevitable.
January 3rd, 2009 at 6:11 am
Thanks for the mapping.
Indeed, 13/Cliff/W. River Hills Drive/CR 11 (Colonial Villa and Horizon Heights) has been a tough neighborhood for many years.
I think the city of Burnsville has crime mapping on the Police Department portion of its Web site.
As for the aforementioned area being “beautiful,” I would agree it must have been “many, many years ago.”
I guess the only answer (aside from demanding vigilance of our police departments, landlords, code inspectors and neighbors) is … moving to Lakeville.
And why not? Gotta be some foreclosed McMansions down there for 140K or so.
January 3rd, 2009 at 8:33 am
sheesh, yes and I have covered the PIMA mapping here which is what you’re talking about. Unfortunately that data is contained in a moving window (I believe it’s 90 days) and is a little different. That information doesn’t necessarily mean anyone was arrested, just that an incident was reported. This data is about people who were arrested and it encompasses more than burglary, vehicle break-ins, etc.
January 3rd, 2009 at 12:18 pm
I used to live near that area back when I was a renter, and while it’s a bit run-down and there’s no question there’s more crime there than other parts of town, I guess I can’t really think of it as “tough.” It’s not like it’s an area where I wouldn’t park my car outside or walk around by myself at night, and there’s some nice homes and good businesses in the area. Compared to where some of my friends land family live (north Minneapolis, Brooklyn Center, parts of east St. Paul, etc.) it’s rather tame. But I guess these things are a matter of perspective.
As far as what to do, better law enforcement, tougher inspections, and *especially* more responsible landlords are the main factors in the short run (Burncliff, anyone?), but in the long term there needs to be less concentration of subsidized housing — it needs to be spread more evenly though the south metro so you don’t have a few pockets of problem properties where issues are concentrated. For the existing areas, Burnsville should look to what Eagan did with the Wescott Square (now Eagan Hills) apartments as an example of how to make it work.
January 3rd, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Which color dot signifies prostitution?
January 4th, 2009 at 10:34 am
I would be interested in the city of birth for perps – and whether they are on any public assistance. I had to drive to Chicago on business last summer. On my way back I stopped at a gas station/truck stop for some snacks. There was a Greyhound bus parked in the lot, and the place was crawling with some of the most frightening people I have ever seen. I almost didn’t get out of my car.
As I was leaving, I looked at the front of the bus. Guess where it was headed? That’s right. Minneapolis. I wonder if this state imports most of its criminals?
January 4th, 2009 at 11:41 am
Norm,
Rest assured that the Minneapolis/St Paul area has PLENTY of home grown “frightening people”…plenty of close minded/anyone different than me is “frightening” people too.
January 4th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Mary Jo Copeland is known for going to Chicago/Cook County, IL and encouraging people to move to the Minneapolis area because Minnesota’s welfare rules (the parts left up to states) are less stringent, and the lines are shorter.
As for the insinuation that the criminals must be on public assistance, well, I’ll say no more, but I’ll want to.
January 4th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Mrs. Marcos,
…plenty of close minded/anyone different than me is. . .
Is that a shot at me? If so, maybe frightening was the wrong adjective. I would have hoped that most people would “get” what I was trying to say. So let me try again. …the place was crawling with what looked like a cast of characters from a COPS episode.
Is that a little more palatable? And for the record, I never insinuated that criminals must be on public assistance. Only asking a simple question of demographics.
January 4th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
@Dawnmarie: do you have a source for the Copeland thing? And if it’s easier to get public assistance here than in Chicago, well, good, but I imagine there are plenty of other reasons why someone might want to get out of there too (more jobs here, less crime, better schools, etc.). If it means we get some criminals too along with all the people that just want a better life, then that sucks, but on the whole I’d still say there’s more good than harm being done.
@Norm: I don’t watch COPS, so you’re going to need to be a bit more specific.
January 4th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
COPS…isn’t that on the FOX network…
January 4th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Tim, my only source is my former clients. I worked in welfare for Hennepin County for several years, and when asking new residents what brought them to the metro, more often than not, if they were from Cook County, their answer was “Ms. Copeland encouraged me and offered me transportation.”
We talked about it a lot, but no one ever confirmed the story with the Copeland organization.
January 4th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
…isn’t that on the FOX network…
Correct me if I’m taking this wrong, but is that another thinly veiled shot at me?
If so, you have me at an advantage dear lady. I choose never to use denigration or demagoguery in conversation.
I guess that’s what happens when people ask the tough questions.
January 4th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
From Webster’s:
demagoguery – a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power
denigration – 1. to attack the reputation of : defame 2 : to deny the importance or validity of : belittle
Seems to me this entire comment reeks of “popular prejudices” with a dash of false claims served with a side order of “attacking the reputation of”:
“I would be interested in the city of birth for perps – and whether they are on any public assistance. I had to drive to Chicago on business last summer. On my way back I stopped at a gas station/truck stop for some snacks. There was a Greyhound bus parked in the lot, and the place was crawling with some of the most frightening people I have ever seen. I almost didn’t get out of my car.
As I was leaving, I looked at the front of the bus. Guess where it was headed? That’s right. Minneapolis. I wonder if this state imports most of its criminals?”
It isn’t “asking a tough question” to insinuate that people on public assistance are frightening.
January 4th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Mrs Marcos, It seems that you are more interested in pressing an ad hominem argument rather than posting an opinion about my original question.
Let me provide the definition this time.
argumentum ad hominem (Latin: “argument to the man”, “argument against the man”) consists of replying to an argument or factual claim by attacking or appealing to a characteristic or belief of the source making the argument or claim, rather than by addressing the substance of the argument or producing evidence against the claim. The process of proving or disproving the claim is thereby subverted, and the argumentum ad hominem works to change the subject. Source: Wikipedia.
I can see no purpose served by us jousting on this forum (although, jousting on forums such as this has become very popular of late).
So… how about those Chicago hot dogs Bill wrote about in another post? Yum yum. I love those things, but too many times they put that hot pepper in there. Ouch, my tummy can’t take too much of that – but my wife loves those peppers!
January 5th, 2009 at 7:15 am
I guess I am close minded, because to me it would be a sad state of our State if people were moving here for easier access to welfare.
If people are moving here for jobs, thats great, but if they are moving here for a free ride, well, that just makes me sad. I also have to wonder what those same people will do if the public money is shut off? Is it possible they would turn to crime to supplement thier income?
Twist that around any way you want. But as this thread seems to show, crime is higher in areas with subsidized housing.
January 5th, 2009 at 7:24 am
The data provided here are from the home addresses of those arrested in Dakota County. It would be fair to note that the highest concentrations of people (of any socioeconomic background) who have committed crime in Dakota County live in the areas with the highest populations.
While you can draw tons of conclusions from colors and pins on a map, without the actual data behind them, I would be mighty uncomfortable pulling it out of thin air. If someone has the data that shows specific zones (better than the generic zip plotting I did) of subsidized housing *and* I had plotted to street level addressing, we might have been able to go down the road we currently are. Unfortunately we have neither in this instance.
Carry on then :)
edit:
I wrote that from the bus and what I really wanted to add was that the majority are also coming from Dakota County as people are most likely to commit crimes near where they live rather than traveling elsewhere to do so.
January 7th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Norm,
Mrs Marcos is a Troll. You need to ignore her or essentially you’re just feeding her more ammo.
January 7th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
As long as we’re citing dictionaries:
http://www.urbandictionary.com: Blog Troll: 2.(n) -A depraved individual who sits in front of a computer all day and posts flames of an idiotic or pseudo-intellectual nature on public forums and private websites. Many of these people actually become emotional about what is said on the afore-said mediums and feel it is their duty to punish those who disagree with them. They too may pursue this object in an obsessive-compulsive manner.
To Mrs. Marcos’ credit, IMO, I don’t think she fits this definition. Maybe there are other not so inflammatory definitions of “trolls” out there. Then again, perhaps I am biased in favor of Mrs. Marcos, as I have been known to indulge in Chili’s “Quesadilla Explosion” salad every once in a while, so she can’t be all bad.
Personally, when I read Norm’s first post, and his second post referencing COPS, I thought it interesting, (based solely upon the words written in his post), that it appeared he formed an opinion of the busriders before leaving his car. (Hold it, HOLD IT, read on…) As a result, again, based solely on the words of his post, it appears he formed an opinion based on appearances. The post made it seem like he did not hear them speak (remember, he considering not getting out of his car), nor did he hear the content of any conversations (maybe they were engaged in a Cheeto’s vs. Dorito’s debate – who knows). But also note, he did not reference the color of their skin (they do have white “perps” on COPS, I believe) (not that I’m admitting that I’ve watched the show), nor did he reference what their clothing looked like (Norm may be an expert in gang colors, we don’t know).
I know this is off the subject of the original post (sorry Bill), but I think we do make judgments every day about people, sometimes based on appearances, sometimes based on past experience, sometimes based on valid criteria, sometimes not. The “fight or flight” (or sometimes “encounter or avoid”) reflex kicks in, sometimes without consciously realizing it. What turns the corner from intuition to overt discrimination is a tough call for others to make without knowing exactly what made the person feel as they did.
Bottom line: I don’t think its fair to call Mrs. Marcos a troll, or to intimate a discriminatory slant to Norm’s comment. I don’t know enough about each of them to do that. Kudos to Norm for putting the scenario out there to talk about, and kudos to Mrs. Marcos for bringing up the topic of bias.
(Whit steps off soapbox. And waits for the counter-debate ;)
January 7th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
From Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll
An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the intention of provoking other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.
1. ^ trolling definition from PC Magazine Retrieved on 28 May 2007.
The comments made by Mrs. Marcos (IMO) fit this definition. Too much has already been said about this and I apologize to Bill for distracting from the original intent of his post.
May 12th, 2010 at 7:31 am
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