U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger is sending a blunt message that most leaders won't approve of. Crime, especially violent crime, is approaching record highs in major Minnesota cities. Law or life?
At a recent press conference alongside local, state and national law enforcement leaders, Luger noted progress since he first formed a coalition for his violent initiative. Together, they have taken dozens of violent criminals off the streets, along with hundreds of guns and thousands of lethal doses of fentanyl.
In a lengthy conversation with the editorial writer, Luger explained why today's lawless wave is even more dangerous than the violent crime epidemic of the 1990s that dubbed Minneapolis the unfortunate nickname "Madelapolis."
"The difference is double," Ruger said. “First and foremost is the mindset and attitude on the street. This is more violent, militaristic and less lethal than what we saw in the 90's. Not only are body armor, laser scopes, high-capacity magazines, and other military equipment more common than they were then, but "they're cheaper," he said. That makes it "more likely that [criminals] want to shoot and turn the Glock 19 into a machine gun," he said. "Put on the armor and you'll get a Glock. It's going to be a bit of an arms race there."
These two tendencies of his were exacerbated in the worst possible way by a confluence of events few people could have predicted. It's a global pandemic that has shut down most of the state for months, and in the midst of this chaos, the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. That sparked a wave of anti-police protests, dismissals from the police, and a persistent and almost universal belief among criminals that "there will be no serious consequences."
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