Thursday, leaders from Minnesota law enforcement agencies will be talking about an increased public safety presence across the state.
Representatives from the Department of Public Safety, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Metro Transit police and the Minnesota State Patrol will join Gov. Tim Walz to hold a press conference.
The conference is expected to begin around 9:45 a.m.
Thursday’s event comes the day after a bomb threat at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus, as well as multiple hoax calls regarding threats at schools across the state.
RELATED: Over a dozen hoax calls regarding active shooter made at school districts statewide Wednesday
Earlier this month, new public safety initiatives were announced for the U of M Twin Cities campus after the school’s police department reported a 45% increase in violent crime around campus this summer since 2019.
As previously reported, plans include a team effort approach using multiple agencies, as well as expanding safety notifications with a pilot program called “Dinkytown Alerts.” The alerts will allow notifications to go out to the greater campus community about crimes such as kidnappings, assaults, robberies, murders and active shooter situations.
Also earlier this month, the Department of Public Safety reported driving while impaired arrests increased more than 10% from last summer to this summer.
In addition, the Minnesota State Patrol announced it will be continuing to crack down on aggressive drivers using its HEAT patrols – short for Highway Enforcement for Aggressive Traffic – for the rest of 2022. The agency reports since the patrols began on Feb. 14, there have been more than 20,000 traffic stops, resulting with 191 arrests.
As previously reported, the state is also investigating two businesses in north Minneapolis, located at the corner of West Broadway and North Lyndale, due to growing concerns about crime and safety.
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