From WCCO.com
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(AP) Minneapolis Genevia Brown was usually afraid to leave her home because of the drug dealers who hung out in the dilapidated house across the street, but on Friday she was sitting on her stoop watching kids play at a lemonade stand.

It was cops, not kids, who handed out the drinks. And from where she sat with five grandchildren, the low-tech innovation in fighting crime on the city's often violent North Side seemed to be working.

Brown wished every day was like this "so we can come outside."

Minneapolis police set up a free lemonade stand Thursday to keep an eye on local troublemakers and build trust with residents of the North Side, the scene of more than half of the city's 30 homicides this year. It was the second such event this month.

On Thursday, a large ivory tent shadowed police chatting with residents. Children filled up cups of Country Time lemonade out of two big, blue jugs and sprinted to a basketball rim to shoot some hoops.

Officer Mark Klukow, an 11-year veteran, came up with the idea of having armed police officers serve lemonade on streets where they can be seen by the drug dealers, thieves and prostitutes that residents loath.

Crime stops when police are there, Klukow said. Police served lemonade to about 400 people last Friday at the first lemonade stand. The program will keep moving to a different North Side neighborhood each Friday throughout the summer.

"I think it's good in a way," said Nicole Bishir, 19. "It's a start."

But Bishir said that when the police leave for the day, the root causes for the violence will remain.

For Brown, that means going back inside and staying there. "To live here is like living in hell," she said.

Police statistics showed violent crime increased 15 percent between 2004 and 2005, and city leaders have attributed a recent spate of shooting and assaults to gang activity in north Minneapolis. On Thursday, Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced he was sending in the State Patrol to help.

Klukow agreed with Bishir that without providing jobs and assistance programs to the residents, permanent change won't happen. But he said he has hope.

"We can change this neighborhood," he said. "We're not D.C. We're not Detroit."

Lt. Gwen Gunter added that when unemployment is coupled with resident's fear to turn in criminals, the neighborhood declines.

However, there are signs that the increased law enforcement presence in the neighborhood is working. The day before Thursday's event, drug dealers and gang members screamed at residents that the corner belonged to them, Gunter said.

The next day, she said residents came to police and said, "No, this corner belongs to you."
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Had I known that the solution to crime is lemonade and noisemakers, I could have saved a bundle of cash at the gun store.

How about they merely don't prosecute people who do what they have to do to stay safe?

<heavy sigh>

Hey, it is a start, now the residences can come out of their houses on Friday on selected blocks in the neighborhood.

The rest of the week sucks, but what the hey.

Sure, it sounds silly on the face of it, but the lemonade stands may be some necessary P.R.

No, wait, hear me out.

The MPD doesn't have a good reputation in communities of color (or much of anyone else, for that matter). They have a reputation for thumping suspects, and seeing everyone without a blue shirt and a badge as a criminal.

That culture needs to change. Maybe it already is. But the police need to convince the community that such changes have taken place.

Getting out of their cars, and connecting with residents in a positive way, is good for the changing the perceptions of both cops and residents.

It's not a cure-all, but it is a positive step.

A better step, if you ask me, would be a commitment for EVERY cop in the department, regardless of rank or duty, to pull a few shifts a month on the streets. The MPD is way too top-heavy: too many generals, not enough soldiers.

Trimming down the bureaucracy would be a meaningful change, but may be too much to ask right away. Putting those chair-warming white shirts on the street from time to time would both inform their command decisions and have an immediate impact on crime.

What you are saying is that a few of them should get out of their squads and walk a beat. That gives them one-on-one exposure to the people that they deal with instead of having a metal & glass shield between them and the public.

I agree that this may be a good thing , but ONLY if it is part of the solution and not just a feel good/do nothing move. I also think that Mpls PD has a serious PR problem and they need the residents on their side to police effectively. I don't want to bitch about whose fault the current situation is,but what has to happen NOW and in the future to fix it.

Would using "armed" in front of "police officers" be redundant? What's the point in specifying "armed" here?

Man, I should have gone down there open carrying. Then I could take credit for having "armed" citizens attend lemonade events.

Wonder if they were also giving away keys with the lemonade?

Public Service officers sometimes go about unarmed. And cops do at least appear to be unarmed in public when off duty. Perhaps this was a way of indicating that they would be able to deter crime due to the guns they...wait!

Are PSO's just like reserves or does an actual POST certified officer fill that position?


If these were off-duty police officers, they would have said "off-duty". I don't know for sure, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I would bet that the MPD has a policy against officers carrying openly off-duty. Also, the department wouldn't make off-duty officers dress up (I am assuming they were in their uniforms).

They are non-sworn employees, kind of like meter enforcement. They are often cops-in-training, I understand.

I agree with Andrew that this is a start and maybe some good PR.

Yeah, and what's more, they can slap uniforms on some of the chair-warmers downtown, and get something useful out of them at the lemonade stand. Call it a "morale-building exercise", or "sensitivity training"!

I thought the Guardian Angels were forming a new chapter in Minneapolis...has this happened yet?

Maybe the residents of the neighborhood should arm themselves if thugs are harrassing them. Instead of crying about a lack of police protection, how about taking responsibility for their own security? There are not enough police to maintain 24/7 vigilance on every street.

See: http://www.twincitiescarry.com/forum/vi ... ian+angels

About two weeks ago, I saw a MPD beat cop actually walking on the sidewalk on 3rd Street and 9th Ave. This is the first one in over a year!

This might actually help for the cops to get out of the cars and walk around a couple of blocks...