Eden Prairie Crime Decreases From 2011 to 2012

There's good news for Eden Prairie residents who worry about crime in their neighborhoods: it's gone down statistically in many of the categories from last year. 

However, crime tends to go in cycles– dropping way down one year and spiking the next. When residents ask Eden Prairie Sgt. Dennis Paulson why that is, he answers, "It's just life." 

Total calls for service actually increased by 2 percent in 2012. Paulson said that the 2 percent increase is basically on non-change. 

Check out the 2012 Eden Prairie Police Department Statistics report at the right. Here are some highlights of that report.

Person Crimes

• In 2012, there were no homicides or homicide attempts.

• Criminal sexual conduct decreased from 33 incidents in 2011 to 22 in 2012.

• Robberies dropped from 12 to 3 in 2012. 

• Felony and non-felony assaults stayed at about the same level, with 76 total in 2011 and 71 total in 2012.

• Disorderly conduct incidents dropped by 26 incidents.

• Domestic assaults dropped from 96 to 76.

Paulson said he's like to attribute some of the decrease in domestic assault to the Domestic Abuse Response Team (DART). "We're having less repeats because we're meeting with the victims, talking with them and setting up emergency plans and getting them set up with resources," he said. "Hopefully we're empowering them to feel more in control."

Property Crimes

• While residential burglaries stayed at about the same level in 2012 as 2011, non-residential bruglaries dropped from 49 in 2011 to 28 in 2012.

• Identity theft dropped from 197 incidents in 2011 to 144 in 2012. Credit card fraud increased a little, from 31 to 38.

What's happening with property crimes from an investigative standpoint, Paulson said, is there no such thing as a simple theft anymore.

"Now somebody probably has a video camera some place or there's a cell phone somewhere that has data on it," he said. "So almost everything becomes much more labor intensive, because there's so much more to look for."

Juveniles

• While tobacco use and runaway incidents stayed about the same from 2011 to 2012, alcohol incidents dropped from 37 in 2011 to 20 in 2012.

Traffic Related

• Total traffic citations dropped by 162.

• Drivers in Eden Prairie received more warnings in 2012 than in 2011: there were 2,176 more written warnings handed out (from 11,235 to 13,411).

• DWIs dropped from 354 in 2011 to 311 in 2012.

As for the DWI drop, Paulson said he thinks education by the state is working. "You'll even see on the traffic signs up and down Hwy. 212, they'll flat out tell you that there will be major DWI enforcement this weekend," he said.

However, Paulson said DWI arrests are still happening often. Just a couple weeks ago, he and another officer made two DWI arrests on a Saturday before 6 p.m.

"It's still out there, but you sometimes get so busy with other stuff that you don't always have the resources to focus on it," he said. Both of those came from public tips.

Protect Yourself

Sgt. Paulson has been saying this for 32 years: "Close your garage doors, lock your doors, and don't leave valuables in the car."

"We are a safe community, but because of that people get very lax and don't think," he said.

Because most people will never be a victim of a crime in Eden Prairie, they don't see the need to take those simple steps. "And then that's what invites the criminal element out here," he said. "Because it's easy pickings."

Paulson said not to assume things in your car are safe, even if you hide them.

"There are people out there watching for you to do that."

People always want a new answer to staying safe, according to Paulson.

"Boy, if you really want to reduce the amount of crime, shut your garage doors."

The majority of the burglaries in Eden Prairie are people taking things from open garages.

If you notice anything unusual, Paulson encourages residents to call police immediately. "People will wait 20 minutes while they think about calling, and by that time it is too late," he said. "If you get that feeling that something is not right, call us."