Crime specialist eliminated by budget cuts

University of Minnesota area neighborhoods are losing their link to Minneapolis police with looming cuts to the city’s budget.

Nick Juarez, the crime prevention specialist for the second precinct — which includes the Southeast Como and Marcy-Holmes neighborhoods — recently received his 60-day notice.

Juarez, along with three or four other CPSs will be let go contingent on Mayor R.T. Rybak’s proposed 2012 city budget.

As CPS, Juarez serves as a liaison responsible for providing the neighborhoods with up-to-date information on crime trends. For community organizations like the Southeast Como Improvement Association, he is a “troubleshooter” helping improve livability.

Southeast Como has one of the lowest rates of violent crimes in Minneapolis — something the community attributes to Juarez’s work with SECIA’s safety committee.

In its latest newsletter, SECIA urged residents to take action by attending the 2012 City Budget Town Hall Meeting on November 9.

“CPS Juarez is the link to the Minneapolis Police Department for our neighborhood, and without him, much of the progress we’ve made recently could be lost,” the letter read.

“If you can’t make the meeting, please consider writing Mayor R.T. Rybak about the priorities in his 2012 budget and how much losing our CPS for the east side would impact the community.”

SECIA’s safety committee, made up of just five people, works with residents to reduce and prevent crime in the neighborhood by raising awareness of crime-related issues in the area.

The committee regularly organizes safety walks — tours of the neighborhood to check for possibly dangerous areas and to talk with residents about safety and concerns — and also puts up fliers and goes door knocking.

“All we can do is just try to make the information accessible to as many people as possible,” said Adam Arling, the committee’s chairman.

For this, Arling said the committee relies on fresh information from the Minneapolis Police Department. Every month, a committee member attends the monthly second precinct Public Advisory Committee meetings, or 2PAC. But most of the information comes from crime alerts, maps and statistics sent out by Juarez.

“They do their safety walks which helps to educate the people,” Juarez said. “The biggest thing that people can do is communicate the information with each other.”

Without the CPS, Juarez said it will be harder to get the information they need. The committee will have to rely on automated crime alerts and check crime maps and statistics online, he said.

“It’s going to make things a lot harder,” said Jennifer Belsito, a University student and member of the committee.

Belsito joined the safety committee after her apartment at the student co-op was robbed last June.

“I wanted to be more in the loop about what was going on as far as safety after my apartment got broken into,” Belsito said. “It just seemed like it was a problem in this neighborhood.”

The committee operates on a month-by-month basis, Belsito said. They look at what has happened over the month, what the problem was and what the committee can do to address it. Juarez provides constant feedback, she said.

“He’s the go-to person for everyone in the neighborhood when something happens, or we have a question, or we want to know what’s going on with something,” Belsito said.

Juarez is already spread thin. As the only CPS in the second precinct, he oversees 19 neighborhoods. He said he hasn’t had much direct contact with Southeast Como this year, because he has to focus on the neighborhoods where crime is happening. Crime rates in Southeast Como are low and most crimes are property crimes, like burglary and theft, Juarez said.

“If crime is pretty minimal then some neighborhoods won’t get as much service right now, just because there’s not a whole lot happening as opposed to neighborhoods that’s having a lot of burglaries or a lot of robberies,” Juarez said. “Right now I just kind of go where the hot spots are.” 

If Juarez and the others are let go, the remaining 10 specialists will be moved around to cover the second and fifth precincts, although it hasn’t been determined how that will be done, Juarez said.

“As of now we’re planning to shut down the safety unit here,” Juarez said. “We won’t know until December when the budget is

voted on.”