"Broken Windows Theory" is the sociological/criminological theory that says if you allow petty, venal crimes like vandalism to go uncaught and unpunished, it will create a permission structure for more, more serious crimes.
Minneapolis seems intent on testing this in the most literal way possible.
While Minneapolis seems to have crested a thirty-year-high wave of violent crime in the wake of the 2020 riots, there are serious allegations that property crime is seriously under-reported, uninvestigated, and certainly not prosecuted by Hennepin County's prosecutor, the Soros-issued former public defender Mary Moriarty.
Minneapolis is currently undergoing a tsunami of smash-and-grab thefts from vehicles; small crews will walk down streets, sometimes in broad daylight, looking into car windows and taking what they want, as a getaway car cruises behind them.
It's on Lake Street - the often blighted street that was the backdrop of the George Floyd riots:
Windows smashed along Lake Street this morning, multiple cars hit on north side, at least one owner is here and distraught. pic.twitter.com/KihQdvzK2t
— Richie Greenberg (@greenbergnation) July 2, 2022
But also the University of Minnesota:
5/
— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) August 12, 2025
Another report of multiple vehicles broken into in the parking garage at UMN Dinkytown Fieldhouse Apts.
"Apartment said they can’t do anything and cops won’t report back to us until 5+ days."#ThisIsMinneapolis pic.twitter.com/CXsFoXqP3Y
And Northeast Minneapolis - the often boho neighborhood full of coffee shops and microbreweries and the laptop class:
Dozens more windows smashed in vibrant NE Minneapolis overnight Sunday to Monday.
— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) July 21, 2025
Each line on the 911 dashboard is a separate incident.
Madison St NE and Washington St NE. We're also hearing windows on Howard St NE were smashed. pic.twitter.com/m7rDPjwsS9
And once-bohemian Uptown:
5/
— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) August 12, 2025
Another report of multiple vehicles broken into in the parking garage at UMN Dinkytown Fieldhouse Apts.
"Apartment said they can’t do anything and cops won’t report back to us until 5+ days."#ThisIsMinneapolis pic.twitter.com/CXsFoXqP3Y
It's been a general plague all over South Minneapolis for quite some time now:
South Minneapolis - Report of car prowlers trying to break into vehicles.
— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) April 19, 2024
Sent out as "information only" by dispatch, meaning no cops were dispatched to check it out. So, we're no longer sending cops to property crimes, apparently.
42nd and Garfield Ave S
17:45
We're paying taxes… pic.twitter.com/Z0aNdWl3B2
And it's moving out to the suburbs:
About 60 cars had their windows smashed at Great Wolf Lodge in Bloomington, Minnesota.
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) July 22, 2025
There were also dozens of windows smashed in areas of Minneapolis.
This has been going on for months.
This is Gov. Tim Walz’s Minnesota.
Guesses on the perpetrators?
(alicia.skye2 in TT) pic.twitter.com/TJA2NALstl
There've been over 500 reports in the past month, and that's just among people who bother reporting property crimes in Minneapolis anymore. Among drives of cars without comprehensive insurance, I can't imagine what the point of calling the cops would be, since nothing actually seems to happen.
They don't appear to be wrong:
South Minneapolis - Report of car prowlers trying to break into vehicles.
— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) April 19, 2024
Sent out as "information only" by dispatch, meaning no cops were dispatched to check it out. So, we're no longer sending cops to property crimes, apparently.
42nd and Garfield Ave S
17:45
We're paying taxes… pic.twitter.com/Z0aNdWl3B2
There is of course criticism - from the right (in this case, Liz Collin, former local news anchor, now with right-leaning Alpha News):
6/ Nearly 500 reports of “damage to autos” in the last month in Minneapolis.
— Liz Collin (@lizcollin) August 13, 2025
Meanwhile, sources tell me MPD is hoping HCSO will catch those responsible in the act since department policy prohibits Minneapolis from chasing… https://t.co/Uv4xoKNn9S
...and the left (from a Minneapolis DFL official and possible Congressional candidate):
These aren’t sophisticated break ins, they’re mass smash and grabs with a slow trailing getaway car.
— Mike Norton (@NortonMpls) August 13, 2025
If the Minneapolis police department wanted to do something about this ongoing issue they could, but under Mayor Frey they don’t do shit so they probably won’t. pic.twitter.com/E3HBteYUnO
To its credit, Saint Paul is marginally less stupid about practical matters like this:
Submitted: "While Minneapolis PD and the HCSO cower behind encryption and play belly sticks… St Paul Police and the RCSO seem to still be doing police work. This was early Saturday morning." pic.twitter.com/GB8aWTqUxp
— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) August 13, 2025
Anyway - while crime in Minneapolis is "Down" in the same way Washington DC's was down (from 30 year highs, to levels still way above ten years ago), vandalism and other property destruction charges are not just up, they are up sharply even over the bad numbers of a few years ago.
Will this translate, per "Broken Windows Theory", into more, more serious crime?
The only people I know who are betting against it are the ones who have an interest in blowing sunshine up the city's skirt.
