Minneapolis — On a recent Wednesday afternoon, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara is racing to a priority call.

“I try to come out to show the officers I am here to back you up,” O’Hara tells CBS News.

O’Hara says his department is short by more than 200 officers, and has lost 40% of its police force in the last four years.

“It is incredible,” O’Hara said. “It’s not just that we lost 40% of the force, they’ve been facing the highest levels of crime and violence, in some categories, that the city has ever seen.”

Minneapolis is facing a surge in assaults, and nearly three dozen shooting calls a month. Officers have been subject to some mandatory overtime.

Large-scale police staffing shortages aren’t limited to Minneapolis. They are taking place in cities big and small, from coast to coast.

The Philadelphia Police Department is short about 1,170 officers, the agency told CBS News. The Chicago Police Department is short more than 1,140 officers, the department disclosed, while the Los Angeles Police Department is short more than 470 officers.

But in Minneapolis, the hurdle is more than just manpower, it is trust too. Nearly four years after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, the department has cleaned the house of its top brass.

O’Hara was hired as chief in late 2022 from Newark, New Jersey — where he served as deputy mayor — as the department seeks to change its culture.

But not everyone thinks there’s been enough change yet.

“I don’t think that the department has been transformed by choice,” said Nekima Levy Armstrong, a Minneapolis community activist for nearly two decades. “I think that it’s been transformed by necessity.”

Armstrong says O’Hara has not yet rid the department of all officers who are too physical or too focused on people of color.

“It’s unfortunate that they’re down 40%, but this is of their own making, right? The handwriting was on the wall in regard to the conduct of many Minneapolis police officers,” Armstrong said.

Like many other departments, Minneapolis offers signing bonuses for new recruits. But O’Hara says the problem is deeper than money. In an February editorial in the Star Tribune, he posed the question: “Do we expect too much from police officers?”

“Well, people expect perfection every time, absolutely,” O’Hara told CBS News.

As he struggles to rebuild the force, O’Hara emphasizes to his officers that summer usually means a spike in crime.

“It’s getting warmer, and staffing is definitely a concern,” he told his staff at a recent roll call. 

MINNESOTA — If you’re planning to get out of Minnesota for the three-day Memorial Day weekend, knowing when to avoid the busiest times on major routes can make the difference between a stress-free holiday or one the kids will never let you forget.

Some 43.8 million Americans are expected to travel at least 50 miles from home to celebrate Memorial Day in 2024. That’s a 4 percent increase from last year, AAA said in its annual Memorial Day travel forecast. Travel this year could approach the record set in 2005, when 44 million people took Memorial Day trips.

Memorial Day, the unofficial start to summer, has always been a big road trip holiday. About 38.4 million people plan to take off in their cars, the highest number for the holiday since AAA began tracking Memorial Day travel in 2000.

Airports are expected to be busier than last year, too, with about 3.51 million people flying to their Memorial Day destinations, 4.8 percent more than last year and 9 percent more than pre-pandemic 2019. Crowds could rival the post 9/11 recovery in 2005, when 3.64 million people flew, AAA said.

“We haven’t seen Memorial Day weekend travel numbers like these in almost 20 years.” Paula Twidale, a senior vice president at AAA Travel, said in a news release. “We’re projecting an additional 1 million travelers this holiday weekend compared to 2019, which not only means we’re exceeding pre-pandemic levels but also signals a very busy summer travel season ahead.”

The number of people taking road trips this year is projected to be 4 percent higher than last year, and 1.9 percent higher than before the pandemic in 2019.

Gas prices should be approximately the same as last year, when the national average for regular gasoline was about $3.57 per gallon. On Wednesday in Minnesota, regular gasoline is selling for $3.24 a gallon.

Pump prices always creep higher as the summer driving season gets underway, and wars in Ukraine and the Middle East could roil the oil market, AAA cautioned.

Travel Times To Avoid

AAA’s transportation data partner, INRIX, says drivers who are leaving on Thursday and Friday should get on the road early to avoid peak commute time. Travelers returning from their getaways on Sunday and Monday should avoid the peak travel afternoon hours.

“Travel times are expected to be 90 percent longer than normal,” Bob Pishue, a transportation analyst at INRIX, said in a news release. He advised road trippers to remain up to date on traffic apps, 511 services and local news stations to avoid sitting in traffic any longer than necessary.

These are the best and worst times to travel by car (all times local):

Thursday, May 23

• Worst time: noon to 6 p.m.
• Best time: before 11 a.m., after 7 p.m.

Friday, May 24

• Worst time: noon to 7 p.m.
• Best time: before 11 a.m., after 8 p.m.

Saturday, May 25

• Worst time: 2-5 p.m.
• Best time: before 1 p.m., after 6 p.m.

Sunday, May 26

• Worst time: 3-7 p.m.
• Best time: before 1 p.m.

Monday, May 27

• Worst time: 3-7 p.m.
• Best time: After 7 p.m.

Peak Congestion Times

Here are the peak congestion times for busy metropolitan routes, the estimated travel time and the increase in traffic due to the holiday:

• Atlanta: Atlanta to Savannah via I–16E; 4:45 p.m. Saturday; 5 hours, 14 minutes, 54 percent longer than normal.
• Boston: Manchester to Boston via I-93S; 8:45 a.m Sunday; 1 hour, 48 minutes, 50 percent longer than normal.
• Chicago: Milwaukee to Chicago via I-94E; 4:30 p.m. Sunday; 2 hours, 25 minutes, 27 percent longer than normal.
• Denver: Fort Collins to Denver via I-25S; 4:15 p.m. Sunday; 1 hour, 24 minutes, 56 percent longer than normal.
• Detroit: Detroit to Kalamazoo via I-94E; 8:45 p.m. Sunday; 2 hours, 48 minutes, 40 percent longer than normal.
• Houston: Galveston to Houston via I-45N; 5 p.m. Sunday; 1 hour, 11 minutes, 73 percent longer than normal.
• Los Angeles: LA to Bakersfield via I-5N, 6:15 p.m. Thursday, 2 hours, 45 minutes, 84 percent longer than normal.
• Minneapolis: Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to Minneapolis via I-94W; 8:45 a.m. Monday; 1 hour, 45 minutes, 38 percent longer than normal.
• New York: New York City to Albany via I-87N, 11:45 a.m. Thursday; 2 hours, 37 minutes, 64 percent longer than normal.
• Philadelphia: Philadelphia to Baltimore/Washington, D.C., via I-95; 7:30 a.m. Friday, 43 percent longer than normal.
• Portland: Hood River to Portland via I-84W; 6:30 p.m. Monday; 1 hour, 20 minutes, 42 percent longer than normal.
• San Diego: San Diego to Palm Springs via I-5N; 6:30 p.m. Monday; 1 hour, 20 minutes, 34 percent longer than normal.
• San Francisco: San Francisco to Napa via I-80E; 11 a.m. Friday; 3 hours, 4 minutes, 56 percent longer than normal.
• Seattle: Ellensburg to Seattle via I-90E; 4:30 p.m. Sunday; 2 hours, 34 minutes, 58 percent longer than normal.
• Tampa: Gainesville to Tampa via I-75S; 9 a.m. Sunday; 3 hours, 47 minutes 88 percent longer than normal.
• Washington, D.C.: Washington to Baltimore via Baltimore/Washington Pkwy N; 2:15 p.m. Friday; 1 hour, 25 minutes, 72 percent longer than normal.

Other Means Of Travel Rebound

While most people are either driving or flying to their Memorial Day destinations, about 1.9 million people will take trains, buses and cruises, an increase of 5.6 percent from last year, AAA said.

“This category took the biggest hit during the pandemic with fewer people taking public transportation or not cruising at all,” Twidale said. “Now — five years later — we’re back to 2019 numbers. Travel demand has been soaring, and long holiday weekends create the perfect windows for getaways.”

RL Cold, a division of RealtyLink LLC, has broken ground on a 292,000-square-foot design-build cold storage facility in Lakeville, Minn., near Minneapolis. Ware Malcomb provided design services and Graycor Construction Co. serves as general contractor. Completion is expected next spring.

The Lakeville City Council approved the project’s final plans in May 2023. The development also involves the construction of 215th Street—an extension of County Road 70—and 220th Street, as well as Galway Lane, to serve as access drives.

READ ALSO: Why Cold Storage Is Getting Hotter

Designed to achieve LEED certification, the facility will have 50-foot clear heights, 70-foot-deep truck docks and up to 34,000 pallet positions. Plans also call for 98 employee parking spots, 61 truck spots and 38 truck dock doors.

Spanning 28 acres, the project will take shape inside the 205-acre Airlake Industrial Park. Interstate 35 is 4 miles away, with downtown Minneapolis roughly 20 miles north. Americold owns a 359,914-square-foot cold storage facility within the same campus.

Minneapolis-St. Paul’s supply pipeline falters

The Minneapolis-St. Paul’s industrial supply pipeline encompassed 3.7 million square feet in the first quarter of this year, according to a Colliers report. The amount marked a decline from the previous quarter, which bolstered 5.8 million square feet, and an even steeper fall year-over-year compared to the 7 million square feet underway in 2023’s first quarter.

Solugen contributed to the current pipeline by breaking ground on a 500,000-square-foot biomanufacturing facility in Marshall, Minn., just last month. The firm specializes in providing low-carbon organic acids used in agriculture, energy, water treatment and personal care. Completion is expected in the fall of 2025.