Minneapolis leaders launch dedicated task force to solve non-fatal shootings
The City of Minneapolis is trying a new approach when it comes to solving and preventing non-deadly shootings.
Minneapolis city leaders say the firearm assault shoot team — known as FAST — has already seen success.
The idea behind the new investigative unit is to give non-fatal shooting investigations the same amount of resources as homicide investigations.
Minneapolis Police Department staffing challenges in recent years has meant that homicide investigators also had to investigate shootings that don't result in a death. City officials say FAST will have a dedicated investigator to immediately respond to those scenes.
"In Minneapolis we're done treating nonfatal shootings as lesser crimes," said Mayor Jacob Frey.
FAST will include MPD officers working alongside partner agencies like the Ramsey and Hennepin County sheriff's offices, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Metro Transit police.
City leaders say the task force actually started two months ago and has already seen success.
"We're seeing just within weeks if not months of implementation of this non-fatal task force the doubling of case closures for non-fatal shootings and have helped homicide rates get to about 80% in their respective clearance rates," said Council member Robin Wonsley.
The program is modeled after a similar one St. Paul police use. Before their non-fatal shooting unit, police say the department solved 39% of nonfatal shootings. The next year, once the team was assembled, that number jumped to 69%.
"When the data came along in St. Paul showing that they were having great outcomes in reducing gun violence for their communities of color by using this nonfatal task force model, I knew that Minneapolis needed to step up and do the same," said Wonsley.
Wonsley says the program uses less than 1% of Minneapolis police's budget.
Frey says last year's homicide clearance rate was 80%, while the clearance rate for non-fatal shootings was less than 50%.