UMN adds Dinkytown text alerts to off-campus crime response

Josh Verges, Pioneer Press
Updated ·2 min read

The University of Minnesota on Friday began offering special safety alerts for the Dinkytown neighborhood as part of a multifaceted response to crime concerns just off the Minneapolis campus.

Universities are required under federal law to issue emergency alerts about serious crimes when there’s an immediate threat to campus safety. With Dinkytown Alerts, the U is going a step further by warning the community about safety concerns in an off-campus hot spot for robberies, carjackings and even shootings in the last two years.

The U will test the new program at least through the end of December, sending alerts by text, email or smartphone app to students and others who sign up.

“We’ll put out as much info as we get it in as quickly as possible,” university Police Chief Matt Clark told the Board of Regents on Friday.

Among other measures, the U in late July began closing off two Dinkytown streets to vehicle traffic on weekends. That effort will continue but with a different kind of barrier after businesses complained about access.

University leaders say that with their own police force understaffed and unable to respond to off-campus calls, they’re also getting more cooperation from other law enforcement agencies in patrolling neighborhoods near the Twin Cities campus.

The State Patrol was near campus this week with the fall semester underway, and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office has been patrolling near Dinkytown. Metro Transit officers are helping students navigate the light rail, and for a second consecutive year non-police ambassadors hired by the U will patrol Dinkytown on weekends to help with quality-of-life issues like trash, graffiti and helping visitors find their way.

“I’m feeling very good about having that much visibility on and off campus, and I have heard from campus community members that it is pretty recognizable the additional amount of uniformed personnel out on the streets,” Clark said.

The U also recently announced it is again working with the Minneapolis Police Department after breaking off the relationship following George Floyd’s murder; they’ll send in K-9 and bomb squads when needed, and off-duty officers will again work Gopher football games.

President Joan Gabel said she’s comfortable working with Minneapolis police again “because of some notable steps taken by the city.”

Meanwhile, the U has asked the city of Minneapolis to install lights in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood, where many people with campus ties live. And officials plan to seek $5 million a year from the Legislature to pay for more campus officers and safety infrastructure upgrades.

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