Vacant-home tour part II: A one-man program to combat the theft, parties and prostitution

The trouble started about two years ago. Homes on the North Side were exploding in record numbers. Cooper pipes were being stripped, leaving gas lines gaping and unstable. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, two homes would blow up in a single neighborhood. They’d leave giant wounds in neighboring structures. Like the rest of the problems caused by foreclosures, nobody was prepared for homes turning into ticking time bombs.

In 2006, the Minneapolis Police Department assigned Officer Rich Jackson to the 4th Precinct’s newly created problem properties division, a one-man department that deals with the ramifications of the mushrooming foreclosure crisis.

Jackson is a 12-year veteran with the department. In his most recent position, he investigates the problems that breed in abandoned homes, from copper theft to drug sales to prostitution. Jackson says the department is overwhelmed with the issue, and that the criminal activity in empty homes continues to swell. And he says there’s another major issue compounding the problem: The city doesn’t realize just how big the problem has become, and how big it is going to get.

MinMon: When you began investigating abandoned-homes issues in 2006, what did you find was the biggest problem?

Officer Rich Jackson: They brought me in due to copper theft. It was leaving gas lines running wide open. In my work here I found a lot of the copper thefts that are occurring are happening with groups of thieves. They are teaming up to steal hundreds of pounds of copper at a time.

We’re talking 300 to 400 pounds a week. $1,000 to $2,000 a week in cash. And approximately 20 to 30 pounds per home. We’re looking at 10 to 12 houses per week that they’re hitting.

Continued: Click “Read more”MinMon: What do you know about the rings? Are they operating and also living in the neighborhood?

Jackson: Most of the rings I have broken up live on the North Side. I recently broke up one ring, they were from the North Side, and they were going to distributors to steal copper. They would go to a major copper warehouse and steal tons of copper. They stole four tons of copper from a warehouse in St. Louis Park, about 6,000-and-some-odd pounds. Almost $22,000 in copper. And that’s the scrap price. We found all of the stolen goods here on the North Side.

MinMon: You talk about it opening up a huge case. What other crimes are often intertwined with copper theft? 

Jackson: I’ve talked with judges and investigators about this a lot. Everyone thinks that it’s just copper. And the realization is going to hit this summer. A trend is happening. And it’s getting bigger.

Aluminum siding is being stolen from homes. Not just abandoned homes, but homes where people are living. Air conditioners are being ripped open for copper and sheet metal. This is an environmental concern, with all that Freon.
Catalytic converters are being stolen from cars for platinum. They are stealing window for aluminum framing. They are stealing stainless steel sinks and any plumbing that is metal. It is a huge problem that is occurring from quote-unquote copper.

MinMon: They are almost like Depression-era crimes. What are the underlying causes for the increase in metal theft?

Jackson: The driving force behind it is narcotics. The courts and everyone else might look at the copper theft as no big deal, but to the average drug addict, you steal 20 pounds of copper, you can get high for the next two days. For an alcoholic, that’s booze for a week. If you’re a crack addict, that’s two or three hits of crack for you.
So that’s the underlying factor. It tells quite a bit more than just copper and dealing with the quote-unquote abandoned home.

MinMon: So are you seeing a documented increase in drug activity and other crimes due to the availability of metal in vacant homes?

Jackson: Oh, absolutely. The two go hand in hand.

MinMon: Aside from metal theft, what other crime trends can be attributed to the increase in vacant homes?

Jackson: We have a huge issue with house parties. People will find a house that’s abandoned, they’ll kick in the door, they will set up for a party with as many as 200 people inside. And then they’ll charge five bucks to get in. So 200 people, five bucks — that’s $1,000 just for the party. They’re happening after bars close.

Then they’ll charge just as much for liquor. $5 for a beer. $10 for a shot. If every person buys a beer, that’s another $2,000 just for beer. And that’s not including the narcotic sales and prostitution taking place.

The big thing that they lack behind this, is that when the police come, they arrest the people to that address. But it’s an abandoned house. So it doesn’t matter. And then you have prostitution taking place not only in the house but the garages.

MinMon: So they’re using the garages as a place to turn a trick.

Jackson: I’ve busted several garages whereby they’re set up like homes. There’s a king-size bed in one corner with a lamp. And you got a propane cook stove in the corner with a little freezer chest for an ice box. And then you got a bucket in the corner for a bathroom. People are actually living that way in the garages.

MinMon: And so the fact that this is a growing trend with many tentacles, what else the police department doing to address the problem?

Jackson: I am hoping to do some training seminars soon, make more contractors aware how fast people can strip a house. I want to educate the police department, because they’re not even aware of what siding is. In reports, they put “siding,” but it can be aluminum, masonite, wood, whatever. There’s a lot of training to be done. This is a new element.

MinMon: You’re the only person in the 4th precinct working in the problem properties unit.  How does that work — from investigation to the end? And what are the main challenges you face?

Jackson: I work with the crime-prevention specialists, I work with lieutenants and officers and the CERT team. The way that works is they get complaints, and they send them to me. And then I go out and try to fix it, get rid of it, or correct it.

I take on a lot of hats since I am the only one here. We have run into several departmental changes as well as law changes, which has helped us in some ways and hurt us in others.

The new laws with the scrap yards,  as far as identifying the people who are coming in and the quantities they are bringing, that’s been very helpful. We’ve caught several persons through those efforts, so the things that the state has been doing have been very helpful.

We just got a notice through the police department that our board-ups have to be limited now, because funding has been cut.

MinMon: So you have to board fewer homes? How is that possible?

Jackson: We have to use more discretion in boarding homes. But the problem is getting bigger. They’re reducing the amount of money going into the problem but the problem is on the rise.

MinMon: So with summer around the corner and facing the problem of decreased funding, how is the 4th precinct preparing for the increased problems posed by vacant homes?

Jackson: I started preparing last November and December when I saw the trend of what was happening. I put in a request for extra monies. I put in a request for extra equipment. I put in a request for extra bodies. It’s like, Can I get somebody to help me? And nothing has happened yet.

Now spring is here, and it’s getting ready to ramp up. And it’s almost too late now. Even to get someone in here or to get equipment in here, by the time all the requisitions are done and everything is up we’re talking May or June. And you’re already off in the heat of the battle and you’re already behind the eight ball. And by the time you get people up to speed and you get your equipment going, it’s already August.

MinMon:So why weren’t the requests met given the growing problem?

Jackson: The preparations have been there. But I know the city has a lot going on right now. They have a lot going on with the RNC, the Republican convention, that’s huge. They have a lot going on with the protesters. The protesters are absorbing a lot of the department resources for the past month or so. I know the resources are all going there now.

And with everything else going on with the department, resources are limited. And I understand that. So I don’t gripe too much, because I know all of the other stuff they have to deal with.

MinMon: Sure. But aren’t we talking about protesters versus this long-term and serious problem for the city? 

Jackson: Yeah, it is. I’ve brought that up with staff, I’ve brought that up in community meetings. I’ve brought it up to council member even. And a lot of it is trying to preserve the North Side, and I don’t think they understand that.

I used to do full board-ups on homes. The reason I did that was to not so much correct the problem, but to reduce the number of houses that copper was being stolen out of, to reduce the number of houses that the appliances and walls were ripped up. It’s an investment in the future.

If I get to a party house,  that means that they maybe haven’t gotten the copper yet, and that it’s just trashed. But if I can get there and get everybody out and board the whole thing up all the way around, then that house is preserved now. And maybe three or four years from now, someone can clean the house up and you have a functional property.

If you don’t do that, you just kick the people out and close the door, then that’s when the prostitution starts. After the prostitution starts, then the copper theft starts. After the copper theft starts, then they take the appliances and the sinks. And then you have a condemned property. Nobody wants to sink $30,000 or $40,000 into it to get it back up. And then you end up tearing it down. So you can put $2,000 in the front end to avoid that.

But I don’t think the city sees that or understands it. I think they’re looking at short-term. Because I know we have a financial problem right now. And I know the mayor is trying to get resources for the city. But this is a total other issue that I think is on the back burner as far as the city is concerned.

  View Part I: “ MinMon video: North side story — a vacant-home tour“