Minneapolis and St. Paul have seen increasing issues with street racing, or drag racing, and are now enlisting the Minnesota State Patrol to help crack down on “unlawful driving” habits.
Parts of Minneapolis, especially the North Loop neighborhood near downtown, and Uptown, have been particularly hard hit by vehicles racing up and down the streets, and other types of dangerous driving. These behaviors put drivers and pedestrians at risk and law enforcement has focused on stopping it.
Since the State Patrol has partnered with Minneapolis Police and other agencies, they’ve made significant progress. From April through July, they’ve stopped over 1,200 vehicles, 102 people have been arrested, 64 vehicles have been towed, and nine have been forfeited according to Lt. Gordon Shank.
“I think first and foremost this has been a group effort,” Shank told WCCO’s Adam and Jordana. “We couldn't do this alone. There's been multiple other local law enforcement agencies that have assisted. We're all committed to the same thing and that's just making sure that we have safe roads and that there's not a concern from the public.”
The drivers of these vehicles tend to be young, between 18 and 24 years old, and mostly male. Shank says it is a small group of the same people who continue to get caught.
“We're seeing the same players that we continue to see over and over again,” Shank explains. “And it's some of the individuals that we've had charges put on, and those are the same people we’re seeing numerous times throughout the last couple of years, that troopers or other city cops or deputies are running into. It's the same group of people that are doing the same lawlessness and unsafe behavior on the roads. We're going to continue to be committed to making sure that we're addressing those individuals that are, that are doing this type of behavior.”
Shank does say there have been issues with prosecution, but the agencies the State Patrol has been working with have committed to working hard with prosecutors to end this dangerous activity in the city.
“We're all on the same page and making sure that we're holding these drivers accountable,” said Lt. Shank. “Drivers are getting their vehicles impounded, potentially forfeited, they’re being arrested for charges and being booked into. So we're doing our best to make sure we are removing these drivers from the roadway and we know at the end of the day that when we remove these drivers from the roads, were making the roads safer and that's our goal and not just State Patrol, but that's law enforcement in general.”
The State Patrol is asking citizens to report this activity to local law enforcement when they witness it. He says they have seen some disturbing video evidence from witnesses.
“We've seen the videos where people have been hit by other vehicles,” says Shank. “We've seen these types of things happen and it's concerning. It's something that we do see, individuals just coming down to see what's going on, like where the group is meeting and then partaking in the event just to do something. Others are related to other activity. Each individual kind of varies and what they're doing. I think some of the questions we have, ‘is this just a car show or they're just people in the parking lot, just gathering?’ That's not what this is. This is people that are driving and unsafe behaviors, doing things that are extremely dangerous on freeways, county roads, and city streets. You name it, and they’re doing it.”
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One of the key ways the State Patrol has contributed to the crackdown is by tracking these vehicles from the air, something the local agencies are unable to do.
“We've also added our State Patrol Flight,” he explains. “We've increased hours by 25%. And that's been very vital in this. If there's one thing that I want people to remember, you're not going to get away from us.
With flight we can locate these drivers, we can arrest them, address the issue, stop that driver from continuing that behavior and we can do so safely with utilizing our flight resources.”
This is definitely not just a Minneapolis or St. Paul issue and has been a problem in cities nationwide. It took off during the pandemic and Shank says summer increases the behavior.
“You know, it's something that we are seeing nationwide. We see these types of behaviors increase in the summer months. It's warm out, some kids are out of school, some kids are back home and there's just people that have more free time and it's nice on the roads. So they're looking for things to do. So we always see this increase in kind of risky behaviors. We relate it back to 100 Deadliest Days, which is Memorial Day through Labor Day. That's when we see most of our fatal, serious crashes on our roads and drivers make those risky decisions behind the wheel.”
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