February 17, 2010 (Minneapolis) Shortly after 4 PM, police officers were called to 232 Cecil St SE for a man with a gun. Several construction workers were threatened by a neighbor, and later the neighbor came out of his home and fired a gun into the air. No one was hurt.

* There will be a Free Personal Safety Workshop on Saturday, February 20th at Northeast Middle School, 2929 Hayes St NE at 10:00 a.m. sponsored by the Minneapolis Police Department. Learn to recognize a possible attack in the making and what role distance awareness, body language, tone of voice, etc. can play.

° 800 blk 19 Av NE: ARRESTED: Assault 2 The victim reported to police that the suspect, who is an acquaintance, struck her in the head. The suspect then produced a gun, pointed it at her, and threatened to kill her. A witness led police to the weapon. The suspect was arrested and booked.

The Northeast Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce has created a new event series titled “Northeast Town Talk” with the intent of providing local businesses a chance to speak with a variety of elected and public officials. The first event is WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27TH and is focused on public safety in the 2nd Precinct and Commander Bryan Schafer will be the presenter.

From the 2nd Precinct:

During the week of November 9-16, there have been 14 theft-from-auto incidents reported in the 2nd Precinct. These occurred throughout the precinct at:

• 6xx 8th St. SE
• 15xx 8th St. SE
• 9xx Washington Ave. SE
• 6xx 8th St. SE
• 6xx Erie St. SE
• 36xx 3rd St. NE
• 24xx Central Ave. NE

From WCCO-4 TV:

Video given to WCCO-TV late Monday night shows a man with his hands on a squad car when an officer uses a Taser on his neck.

Attorney Albert Goins is suing the City of Minneapolis on behalf of his client, Rolando Ruiz. They're asking for $75,000 and that the officer involved be reprimanded.

The video given to WCCO starts only seconds before the Taser is used on Ruiz, not what led up to the incident. But in that time, no struggle can be seen before the officer used his Taser on Ruiz. What is seen is Ruiz with his hands on the hood of the officer's car.

Yesterday was Inspector Skomra’s last day as top cop in the 2nd Precinct. We thank him for his work and for supporting our community’s efforts to keep the Eastside safe. May he enjoy a well-deserved retirement!

Our new Inspector was announced in a press release last Friday:

The Minneapolis Police Department is proud to announce the appointment of Lieutenant Bryan Schafer to the rank of Inspector. Inspector Schafer will command the Second Precinct which encompasses the northeast/southeast neighborhoods of Minneapolis.

Our 2nd Precinct Crime Prevention Specialists are warning us to be on guard against thieves targeting our vehicles:

During the last week the 2nd precinct had 18 motor vehicles broken into and items such as laptops, tools, a satellite radio, sunglasses, CD's, a coat, cigarettes, several GPSs, a gym bag, a TV, a camera, and jewelry have been taken from the vehicles. We encourage you to help us stop this crime from occurring by removing items from your car was you are parking your car.

With the short-term economic picture becoming increasingly hopeless, we might expect to suffer more of this:

Minneapolis Police are investigating whether a rash of overnight armed robberies are related.

A person was mugged at gunpoint on Saturday, November 15th at 8:00 PM at 2nd Street NE and 14th Ave NE. They noticed a car sitting at the corner with its lights on and as they approached, they turned their lights off, and got out and robbed her.

The Minneapolis Police Department allocates reources with guidance from a system called CODEFOR. CODEFOR stands for Computer Optimized DEployment – Focus On Results. Under this system, 911 calls about crimes, crimes in progress, and suspicious activity will be even more important. Police resources will be directed to areas where there are crime patterns. Records of both 911 calls and police reports will be used to identify those areas.

Since our share of policing resources is determined by our 911 calls, it benefits our neighborhoods to call 911 anytime anything seems suspicious. By calling, you are never wasting an officer’s time. They depend on us!

The StarTribune reports a rash of daytime burglaries may be spreading:

Roseville Police have not been able to catch the perpetrators responsible for a rash of daytime residential burglaries in the past three months, but they at least have a vague idea who is committing the crimes.