MINNEAPOLIS — It's a growing and very dangerous problem in the Twin Cities.
So far this year, Minneapolis Police are reporting 54 carjackings across the city, and often teenagers are the ones being arrested for the crimes.
On Wednesday, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty shared some new data on prosecuting these cases. This data was presented to members of the Minneapolis City Council’s Public Health and Safety Committee.
According to Moriarty, 7,856 cases of motor vehicle theft were reported in the city of Minneapolis. She says her office received 2.3% of those cases for charging consideration.
She says the numbers in Hennepin County as a whole are very similar, with 9,763 cases reported in 2023 and 3.4% of those cases were referred to her office for charges.
“We cannot charge cases unless they are brought to us by law enforcement,” Moriarty said.
Her presentation explained why car theft cases are so difficult for police to investigate and attorneys to prosecute.
“You can have five or six people running away from a car, they’re all wearing masks," Moriarty explained. "These cases require an intense investigation and time."
Moriarty says, of the cases her office does receive, often times her attorneys decide they don't have enough evidence to charge the case.
"There are times that cases have been submitted to us where we can certainly prove a young person was in the car, we can't prove that they stole it,” Moriarty said.
That's why attorneys and law enforcement started a new program last summer.
Police provide the names of the teens they couldn't charge and the Hennepin County Attorney's office assigns social workers to track down the teens' families to hopefully intervene before the teens can commit additional crimes in the community.
"When we made contact with families, 100% of the parents or guardians said, 'We're not surprised that our young person is on your radar screen and thank you, help us,'" Moriarty said.
Moriarty says some of the families could not be located and a few of the teens they did track down did go on to reoffend after they received this help, but Moriarty says 72 teenagers, about 88% of the teens they reached, have not been charged with a crime since that initial contact.
"Hopefully those are 72 young people that are never going to get involved in the juvenile justice system,” Moriarty said.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara was in the room during the presentation Wednesday afternoon.
He released this video statement in response to the meeting:
“I just want people to know the Minneapolis police department is literally working around the clock to address a very violent problem we have been having with juveniles particularly around these robbery sprees. Some of these cases have been putting guns into people's mouths and putting a gun to somebody's head, pulling the trigger so they hear it click, really, really violent behavior. That's not stuff you can divert. I am confident, our investigators are working around the clock to build these cases as best they can. Hundreds of pieces of evidence are taken. When you think about this, this is difficult. Groups of juveniles with masks on, attacking people, robbing them in instances that are over in seconds. It’s very difficult to build those cases. Any implication that the Minneapolis cops aren’t doing everything they can to try and solve that problem, not partnering with people to try and address it is just not true and it’s a slap in the face to the cops that are out there every single day, putting their lives on the line to try and solve this problem as quickly as we can. I am all for diverting juveniles when appropriate, but that is not the problem we are dealing with right now. We need to do everything we can to get these violent juveniles arrested, charged, and off the street."
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist: