Minneapolis, MN
Minneapolis working towards speed, red light cameras to reduce deadly crashes
Minneapolis working toward speed/red light cameras, privacy concerns addressed
Minneapolis is working towards adding cameras to reduce traffic deaths.
The ‘traffic safety cameras’ would capture speeding drivers and those who roll through red lights. While it’s early in the planning process, city and state leaders behind this push say privacy concerns will be addressed.
“[There were] 26 people killed in traffic crashes in Minneapolis just last year,” Ethan Foley, coordinator for Minneapolis’ Vision Zero program, said, later adding: “All these deaths are unacceptable.”
Monday, Foley led an in-person open house for people to learn more about the cameras.
At first, there would be around a dozen cameras set up throughout the city, with the goal of making drivers more conscious of their driving habits. If caught speeding or driving through a red light, the first offense is a warning and the next is a $40 ticket.
No matter who is driving, the owner of the vehicle would receive the notices – that’s because the cameras would only capture the back of the vehicle and its license plate.
But, before a single camera can go up, state legislation needs to pass.
Leading the way at the capitol is DFL-Minneapolis Rep. Samantha Sencer-Mura.
“We know this is a controversial piece of legislation,” Rep. Sence-Mura said about the added cameras.
“The only thing that is captured is your license plate and it is only used for the purpose of speed safety cameras, and so it can’t be used by police for any other reason,” Sence-Mura added.
In fact, the city of Minneapolis says its police department would have nothing to do with the traffic safety camera and that citations would be issued by a different department.
One Minneapolis resident at the open house, Kyle Jones, said when he moved to the city, he got rid of his car.
“I see people all the time running red lights,” Jones said, adding he’s in support of the added cameras.
“There’s cameras already everywhere, so the way I see it, if we can get people to obey the law without the law having to be involved or get involved with law enforcement, I think it’s a great idea.”
The city said it’s too early to have specific possible locations and that pending the legislation passing, cameras wouldn’t go up until sometime in 2025.
Minneapolis, MN
‘She’s pregnant’: Trump’s immigration agent drags woman through Minneapolis street, kneels on her; video goes viral
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents violently dragged a woman in Minneapolis this week, and pinned her face down on snow-filled streets as onlookers screamed. According to ICE officials, they were deployed for ‘targeted vehicle stop,’ when protesters swarmed the agents. Soon after several onlookers including journalists saw an ICE agent holding a woman on the ground. The video of the incident has now gone viral on social media with people criticising ICE for their violent methods. The Minneapolis police chief criticised federal immigration enforcement tactics after the chaotic scene.
What exactly happened?
According to the video, ICE agents handcuffed a pregnant woman, and violently pinned her to the ground by forcing her onto her stomach and pressed their body weight into her even as the crowd shouted that she was pregnant. According to ICE, the incident happened during ‘Operation Metro Surge.’
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said that ICE did not appear to take steps to de-escalate the situation as bystanders shouted at agents and threw snowballs in an attempt to save the woman. “We have been training our officers for the last five years very, very intensely on de-escalation, but unfortunately that is … often not what we are seeing from other agencies in the city,” O’Hara said. O’Hara also accused ICE of stoking fear, including the practice of hiding their identities with masks and unmarked clothes.
This comes as US President Donald Trump’s administration has increased immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minnesota – Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Trump called Somali immigrants there “garbage” and said they should be deported after dozens of people, including Somali immigrants, were charged in a fraud scheme.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara expressed concerns about the “instability” created by the ongoing ICE operations in Minneapolis during a sit-down interview on FOX 9 All Day on Wednesday.
O’Hara on ICE operation
What they’re saying:
Speaking with FOX 9’s Amy Hockert, Chief O’Hara said the issue isn’t necessarily what the agents are doing in enforcing federal law but rather the tactics they are using to go about their business.
“I think it’s been very destabilizing for a lot of people in the community,” explained Chief O’Hara. “A significant portion of the city are immigrants and that sort of instability is something that criminals and bad actors can take advantage of and that’s been the concern.”
Identifying ICE
Big picture view:
O’Hara says he is also concerned about masked federal authorities. Often, ICE agents will be masked, in unmarked squads, and not wearing visible identification of their law enforcement status. Chief O’Hara said a bad actor posing as law enforcement is a legitimate concern, pointing to the murders of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband at the hands of a man posing as a police officer.
“Two or three months ago, the FBI put out a law enforcement bulletin saying that there were people committing violent crimes in cities around the country that were posing as ICE,” O’Hara said. “And it urged ICE to better identify themselves during law enforcement operations. And so that’s not just something I came up with – that’s something the FBI has been recommending.”
O’Hara says the department has also responded to calls from people who’ve encountered federal law enforcement and were unsure if they were legitimate.
“We have had calls from people who aren’t sure,” said O’Hara. “We’ve responded, and it turns out it was federal law enforcement. In other cases, it turns out it wasn’t. It was someone with a gun. We’ve had it happen both ways.”
The armed man and an officer who fired shots at him in Minneapolis last week have been identified by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA).
The BCA identified the suspect as 26-year-old Hanun Mohamed Awow and the Minneapolis police officer who fired his gun as Ariel Luna Sanchez.
Sanchez has three years of law enforcement experience and has been placed on critical incident leave, the BCA said.
Minneapolis police officer shoots at armed man, BCA investigating: MPD
According to the BCA, officers responded around 12:30 a.m. on Thursday to a 911 call from a resident on the 3000 block of Fifth Avenue South, who said a neighbor had pointed a gun at their mom.
The caller told Minneapolis police that the neighbor, later identified as Awow, had a handgun and went back into his apartment. Officers went to Awow’s apartment and he opened the door and stepped out with a gun in his hand.
Police shouted for him to drop the gun and that’s when Sanchez fired shots, the BCA says.
Awow, who was not injured, was taken into custody by police. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said last week that he believed Awow was intoxicated at the time of the incident.
BCA crime scene personnel recovered a handgun from the scene and body cameras worn by officers.
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