Shoplifting doubles, fraud increases; ‘people’ crimes, vehicle thefts down in 2023 

The next time you are stopped by Eden Prairie Police for having an expired license plate or for exceeding the posted speed limit, consider this: You may actually be helping to deter crime in your city.

If Eden Prairie’s 2023 statistics are any indication, being seen may be the best crime deterrent tool available to police – especially when it comes to some common crimes in the city, according to Eden Prairie Police Chief Matt Sackett.

That includes the one most concerning to many Eden Prairie residents: traffic safety.

“We’re visible,” Sackett said of his 70 sworn officers, many of whom patrol city streets every day. “Traffic enforcement has always been a big priority for us to keep road safety.”

Eden Prairie Police wrote 3,378 traffic citations in 2023, 14 more than the previous year. 

Sackett said a survey of residents conducted every other year shows that traffic safety is the key concern for Eden Prairie residents. While police make contact with people during traffic stops, others also notice.

“Some of the side benefit is that the bad actors see us and know that we’re out there,” he said.

At the crossroads

“I think we’re in a good spot,” Sackett said of overall crime levels and enforcement occurring in Eden Prairie. “We look at crime trends around the metro, the state, and the country, and I think we continue to be in a fairly good spot.”

Eden Prairie’s location at the crossroads of several highly traveled roads, including Interstate 494 and Highways 62, 5, 212 and 169, contributes to some criminal activity. Those geographical features impact traffic crimes, including speeding, fleeing from police, and driving while intoxicated. Criminals also see them as routes for a quick escape after committing crimes in the city.

One example is catalytic converter theft. Thefts of these devices, designed to reduce automotive pollution and packed with valuable metals, skyrocketed in 2020 and 2021. This surge drew the attention of police statewide and state legislators who searched for ways to curb this costly property crime.

A new law passed by the 2023 Minnesota Legislature made it illegal to possess catalytic converters without proof of ownership and clamped down on how scrap metal dealers purchase detached converters from individuals. The law went into effect on Aug. 1, 2023.

Sackett said catalytic converter thefts in Eden Prairie peaked at 153 in 2021, declined to 122 in 2022, and plummeted to 22 in 2023. He credited the new law with most of the decline.

Simply put, Sackett said, “it makes it harder for people to sell them, so it drove down a lot of the extraneous demand and nefarious activity.”

The department had been conducting catalytic converter marking events, but because of the reduction in thefts, the need for those events has waned, he said.

‘People’ crimes and vehicle thefts down

Vehicle thefts declined in 2023, to 44 compared to 56 in 2022. “I’m super excited about (the decline),” Sackett said. “We keep doing what we can through our blog, through education, reminding people about leaving keys in vehicles. People think they get their vehicle into the garage and it’s safe. If you leave that garage door open and you have the keys in the center console, some of that prime opportunity happens.”

Vandalism of property dropped by nearly 40% from 2022 to 2023. Those numbers may be affected by how a crime is coded, Sackett said. “It’s hard to tell whether it’s an anomaly,” he said. “Sometimes in vandalism, depending if they’re related to a vehicle tampering may get coded differently by officers.”

Vehicle tampering, which includes catalytic converter thefts, also was down 50% from 2022.

“It could be that there’s just less vandalism, which would be great,” Sackett said.

Also declining in 2023 were crimes against people. Rape, assaults, and burglaries declined in 2023 compared to 2022, according to the Eden Prairie Police Department’s (EPPD’s) annual crime statistics.

The number of all of those incidents, now categorized as Part I crimes, dropped an average of 22% from year to year. There were 28 rapes reported in 2023 compared to 33 in 2022. Aggravated assaults (formerly felony assault) dropped from 25 to 22. The most significant drop came in the residential burglary category, which dropped from 58 to 41 from 2022 to 2023.

Domestic assaults, which fall under the “other offenses” category, dropped from 96 in 2022 to 84 in 2023. Non-felony assaults increased from 131 in 2022 to 139 in 2023.

The department continues its aggressive enforcement of drinking and driving. A total of 281 cases of driving while impaired were reported in 2023, nine more than in 2022.

Drug cases decline?

The number of drug abuse and narcotic crimes dropped nearly in half from 2022 to 2023, according to the EPPD statistics. Sackett said some of the decline can be explained in part by the cannabis law in Minnesota that went into effect in August 2023.

The law makes possession of small amounts of cannabis legal. However, it continues to be illegal to sell cannabis or use it while driving.

“The county attorney has had a policy change on how they charge and what they charge for drug offense levels,” Sackett said.

“I’ve been of the mindset, and everybody on our drug task force has been, we will enforce the laws that are on the books,” he said. “And we’ll send that (to the county attorney’s office), but some of these aren’t getting charged.

“I’m hoping that doesn’t mean that we’re just not enforcing those things. I don’t think that’s the case, but I think some of (the decline) can be attributed to that.”

Shoplifting and fraud increase

Shoplifting cases more than doubled – from 190 in 2022 to 406 in 2023. Theft from stores continues to be a challenge, mostly in the city’s larger retail stores, Sackett said.

“Scheels is a big store that has a lot of apprehensions,” Sackett said. But other businesses have ramped up some of their policies “to take enforcement action and try to reduce (shoplifting) because it affects costs for all consumers,” he said.

Organized shoplifting groups seem to have been curtailed, Sackett said. “We still have groups that are coming and going and moving around,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve seen that in Eden Prairie … that kind of mob mentality hasn’t been as prevalent (here), and we hope to keep it that way.”

Fraud cases increased from 155 in 2022 to 168 in 2023. Of those 2023 cases, 143 were crimes reported by individuals, according to EPPD statistics. A quarter of them (36) resulted in losses in excess of $1,000. (The number of cases can differ from the number of reports due to multiple victims of a single crime. For example, there were a total of 194 fraud reports in 2023 compared to 168 cases.)

Credit card fraud reported by individuals comprised 55% of the reported cases. Fifty-six fraud victims were older than 60.

Fraud crime investigations are closed and inactivated without arrests or charges filed most of the time. Twenty-seven of the 168 cases remain active. Of the 141 closed cases, 115 were inactivated, according to EPPD statistics. 

The so-called “grandparent scam,” in which a caller claims to be a relative in distress, was most prevalent in recent years, Sackett said. A recent FBI report said that the most commonly reported fraud among older adults last year was tech support scams, in which criminals pose over the phone as technical or customer service representatives.

In one scam, criminals impersonate technology, banking and government officials to convince victims that foreign hackers have infiltrated their bank accounts. They then instruct them to move their money to a new account controlled by the scammers.

Scammers are increasingly using live couriers to pick up money from victims, according to the FBI. Scammers tell victims that their bank accounts have been hacked and that they need to turn their assets into cash or buy gold or other precious metals.

Software glitch responsible for some 911 hang-ups

Eden Prairie’s police dispatchers received 5,690 911 hang-up calls in 2023, a 24% increase over the previous year. Many of the hang-up calls in the spring of 2023 were the result of a software glitch connected to Android phones, Sackett said.

EPPD doesn’t know exactly how many of the accidental calls to the Eden Prairie dispatch center were the result of the glitch, but nationwide, it resulted in a 30% increase in volumes in May and June 2023, Sackett said.

“Anytime we have 911 hang-ups, it’s frustrating,” he said. “It ties up that dispatcher’s time trying to get back to somebody. Is this an emergency or not? Are there other emergency calls that aren’t getting in?”

But that doesn’t mean people shouldn’t call 911 when they need help, Sackett said.

“We are very lucky to have our own dispatch center in Eden Prairie,” he said. “We think it provides a high level of customer service to our community, and we want people to call 911 when they need us. They don’t have to look up a number; just call 911, and you’ll get us.”