University of Minnesota police to handle all 911 calls for Dinkytown, areas around campus
Locations where UMPD will be taking over 911 calls. (FOX 9)
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - In a mutual aid change with the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), the University of Minnesota Police Department (UMPD) will handle 911 calls in Dinkytown and other areas near the university, starting Monday.
According to UMPD, the department will take all 911 calls, including high-priority life safety calls and all low-priority calls, for MPD from University Avenue Southeast to 4th Street Southeast, and Interstate 35W to Oak Street Southeast. UMPD will also cover I-35W to 19th Avenue Southeast. These areas cover Dinkytown and the Marcy-Holmes East areas around the University of Minnesota.
The UMPD says these areas are a primary location for several university-related organizations and students.
This pilot program will run for a year. UMPD will also handle criminal investigations resulting from these 911 calls, unless it is a "major crime" or MPD requests to investigate. MPD told FOX 9 a "major crime" includes homicide, assault with a deadly weapon and other violent crimes. The department continued to say that MPD and UMPD will coordinate to determine investigative assignments.
According to UMPD, the Minneapolis Emergency Communications Center will transfer 911 calls in the area to UMPD and UMN Public Safety.
The mutual aid agreement comes after a March 8 University of Minnesota Board of Regents meeting, where UMPD Chief Matt Clark outlined the program for board members. In the meeting, Clark stated Dinkytown has seen a 60% reduction in violent crime. In 2021, there were 87 incidents of violent crime, 66 in 2022 and 28 in 2023. Clark says robberies in the area primarily drive those numbers. There were 61 robberies in Dinkytown in 2021, 44 in 2022 and 12 in 2023.
"I think the work that UMPD did with Minneapolis, with the sheriff’s office, with community engagement and safety education did help in Dinkytown to reduce that number," Clark said in the meeting.
Clark says the agreement is due to MPD's low staff numbers, and long response times for university members in that area.
"I’ve met with the Minneapolis police chief, and they do have a limited capacity to handle all other 911 calls in our surrounding neighborhoods," Clark said. "Many of our campus community folks are waiting a long time to get a response from MPD based on historic low numbers from the Minneapolis Police Department."
According to MPD, UMPD’s help in this area will free up MPD to "better focus on 911 response throughout the 2nd Precinct." MPD says they will still respond to violent crime in the area.
"MPD works continuously with the University of Minnesota Police Department in coordinated efforts to ensure public safety needs are met. This includes providing committed service areas in and around the University of Minnesota campus. The mutual aid agreement strengthens our long-standing, existing partnership. We will continue to work closely together, respond in a more coordinated manner, and be more responsive to the public safety needs in these neighborhoods near the U of M," MPD said in a statement regarding the mutual aid change.
UMPD and MPD will provide joint community engagement services in the area as well.
The change will go into effect on March 25th at midnight.