Violent crime up 16 percent in Greater Minnesota

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension released the statewide crime report late last week.

The statistics show violent crime is up more than 21 percent across the state, both inside and outside the metro area.

Violent crime in Greater Minnesota rose 16 percent and in the metro counties, rose nearly 24 percent.

Some of the violent crimes reported in the area made it to the 2021 report.

Last year, Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office reported two homicides and the Bemidji Police Department reported one carjacking.

Statewide, 201 people were murdered last year.

Overall, the BCA reports 779 carjackings across Minnesota in 2021. This is the first year carjacking data has been collected for this report, as they are now considered separate from motor vehicle thefts.

The report also includes statistics on incidents around use of force, assaults on officers, and other crimes including larceny and rape.


Larissa Donovan is the News Director for the stations of Paul Bunyan Broadcasting and has been, almost without interruption, since Election Day 2016. She covers all the beats in north-central Minnesota, such as local government, crime, education, environment and social issues. She studied communications at Bemidji State University. You can follow along with Larissa's live tweets of meetings and events on Twitter!


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