According to the Minneapolis crime dashboard, the City of Minneapolis has seen a significant spike in homicides in the month of December.
Since Dec. 1, 10 people have been murdered in Minneapolis. On Dec. 20 alone, the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) announced that one man was killed in a shooting, another man passed away from injuries sustained in a Dec. 16 shooting, and a suspicious death on Dec. 18 has now been ruled a homicide.
The homicide rate has risen significantly in Minneapolis since 2019 when the city reported 48 homicides. In 2023, 70 homicides have occurred in the city so far. Last year, Minneapolis reported 77 homicides with the previous three-year average being 84.
Last December, there were a total of six homicides.
To date there have been 45,642 criminal offenses (arson, homicide, fraud, assault, burglary, sex crime, drug crime, etc.) that have occurred in Minneapolis in 2023. In 2022, that number was 45,919.
In recent years, two of the most pervasive crimes in Minneapolis have been motor vehicle thefts and carjackings.
There have been 7,665 instances of motor vehicle theft (stealing a vehicle when the owner is not present) in Minneapolis in 2023. This is a 25.7% increase from 2022. When compared to the previous three-year average, motor vehicle theft has increased by 62.3%.
However, instances of carjacking (stealing a vehicle when the owner is present) have dropped. There have been 293 carjackings in Minneapolis in 2023 so far. This is a 43.1% decline from the 515 carjackings that were recorded in 2022. When compared to the previous three-year average, carjackings are down 32.7%.
Earlier this year, Minnesota state government passed legislation which identifies carjacking as its own crime; this law went into effect on Aug. 1.
The Minneapolis crime dashboard uses statistics from the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
