Reduce crime by mentoring a kid, public defender pleads
Janet Krueger asked about 230 Rochester residents Tuesday night to do what they can to save her a little work.
Krueger is a public defender in Olmsted County, so she winds up in court on behalf of quite a few young people charged with crimes. She stood Tuesday evening at an MPR News-Rochester Post-Bulletin forum on public safety and suggested that if each of the people gathered agreed to mentor one kid, the number of crimes and her workload just might drop.
It was the emotional high point of an hour-and-a-half forum hosted by MPR News' Kate Smith on the facts and perceptions surrounding public safety in Rochester.
It's tempting to look at the numbers and ask what the problem is. Rochester's crime rate is 12th among Minnesota cities with more than 20,000 people and, as in the rest of the nation, it has been dropping steadily. There are fewer crimes per capita in Rochester than in other large outstate cities like St. Cloud, Mankato and Duluth.
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Yet weapon use has risen, gang activity is feared, police are under pressure, an influx of Somali immigrants has fueled suspicion and there was the definite perception among some in the room at the Mayo Civic Center last night that low-income kids from dysfunctional families need help. That's where Krueger's plea came from.
The common elements for the young people she winds up defending don't involve race or even poverty, she said. What she sees time and again, she said are dysfunctional homes, often with a parent facing mental health or addiction issues.
You can hear her comments here:
As Kate pointed out at the evening's end, this Post-Bulletin summary is a good place to start for anyone interested in taking up her challenge to help.
It was a good crowd -- race, age, gender were mixed -- and the conversation was robust. You can get a sense of the evening by checking out the previous Ground Level blog post for the Insight Now live blog coverage that Michael Caputo generated.
For more background, check out MPR News reporter Elizabeth Baier's report from last week.