New In A Series: Orono’s Big Picture/Crime
In the latest Orono Happenings newsletter, Mayor Walsh writes that Orono is the 17th most safe city in Minnesota according to Safewise.
Safewise is a security company that uses “the most up-to-date FBI Crime Data as the backbone of our reports. This means we rely on voluntary, self-reported information that cities and jurisdictions across the country report through the FBI Summary Reporting System (SRS) and National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).”
We thought we would look up this data and here’s what we found on the FBI crime data Explorer. Crime is up in Orono ten times what it was when Walsh took office. In 2016 Orono was ranked 2nd in the Safewise report! Being 17th now should be cause for concern.
Orono has received $371,000 from the State in a recent public safety grant. Not one dollar is earmarked for the Orono Police but instead is going to the creation of Orono’s fire department duplicating our already existing fire service from Long Lake.
Sister cities such as Minnetrista (11th) and Medina (12th) have lower crime levels than Orono according to Safewise. Let’s tell Mayor Walsh to stop spending millions on this fire folly and start prioritizing our Police Department to get back to protecting Orono from the real public safety threat - higher crime.
