Stemming The Violent Crime Wave

(CBS)  Weekdays, when most Minneapolis schoolchildren are preparing for school, Sgt. Ron Stenerson leads a team of police officers, sheriff deputies and a parole officer looking for juvenile delinquents - kids with outstanding arrest warrants or long absences from school.

Police arrested a 12-year-old, and said: "young man, you got a warrant for your arrest. You're under arrest."

At this house, police arrested another 12-year old boy, CBS News national correspondent Byron Pitts reports.

What's the story on this kid?

"Twelve years old. This relates to an assault in school," the officer said.

It was near 9-o'clock a.m. there. Shouldn't he be in school?

"One would think so," the officer said.

Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan says that going after the youngest of offenders has helped turn around the city's crime rate.

Last year, violent crime and murder were up. What's happened in the past year?

"Well a big part of that, we looked at who was committing violent crimes in the city of Minneapolis, it was juveniles that were disproportionate," Dolan said. "They were over 50 percent."

This new approach in Minneapolis has become a model for the nation. Police officers keeping track of troubled kids before they become hardened criminals.

Last year, homicides in Minneapolis rose more than 20 percent, according to the Police Executive Research Forum. But this year, they're down almost 20 percent, CBS News learned exclusively.

And it's a trend seen nationwide. Places where homicide was once rising, are now seeing their numbers drop: cities like Sacramento (37 percent), Houston (14 percent) and Cincinnati (21 percent).

"Prevention is the key word for police," law enforcement expert Chuck Wexler said. "If they can prevent something from happening, there's one less offender, there's one less victim and there's one kid who might make it."

Wexler, the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, calls it a return to good policing. Combining hard-line approaches like arrest, with softer focuses on keeping kids in school and off the street.

Is it fair to police officers, though, to be a social worker, a teacher, a guidance counselor?

"Some cops might want to be Dirty Harry, and some cops might want to be Mother Teresa. In the final analysis, they've got to be a little bit of both," Wexler said.

For Sgt. Stenerson, it's a fine line he's willing to walk. Save a kid now or sacrifice another life later.

[jetranger7]

We have Rolling Gun battles in the streets here and on the Interstates, just this week we''ve had 2 killed in a shoot out on the Interstate in two seperate incidents, mainly Black kids in gangs, then just yesterday, we had 5 young latino girls (probably illegals), try to Car Jack a Woman and take her vehicle, and shot her in the process, then the 5 young latino girls led the Police, hi-way patrol, sheriffs deputies on a High Speed Chase thru the middle of the city before they were caught by police and Arrested !!!! This happened here in the Midwest area too, its just gotton out of hand, while Washington politicians sit on the butts and try to decide rather to legalize more illegals, and the drugs continue to flow across the southern border from the drug gangs, yip your Tax Dollars are being very Well Mis-Spent !!!

[sepherin]

Okay, look pal Marajauna may be the number one drug sale on the streets but it does not make you wanna go kill people. If you look at the big picture, the civilians arent the one even dealing the drugs. The government distributes drugs to people so the people sell it, and then when they get busted they keep the money and the process starts all over again. The government makes money off the people dying on the streets.
Seph...

[gunownerdan]

A large percentage of violent crimes are drug-related.
This is a direct result of drug prohibition - aka the war on drugs.
When drugs are banned, drug gangs and drug dealers will have a monopoly on all profits from the black market.
The same thing happened when alcohol was banned in the 1920''s when we had gangsters and bootleggers shooting it out in the streets with machine guns.
Marijuana has been illegal in America for over 70 years and today it is the #1 cash crop.
This means drug gangs and drug dealers are making BILLIONS of dollars from marijuana prohibition.
But so is the prison industry who profits from locking people up and building more jails.
The madness must stop!

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
www.leap.cc

Marijuana Policy Project
www.mpp.org