Minnesota State Patrol Continuing HEAT Enforcement Campaign

(KNSI) – The Minnesota State Patrol will continue a controversial speed enforcement campaign through the summer. Troopers will be focused on busting excessive speeders and other criminal activity on Interstates and Highways through August during an extended HEAT (Highway Enforcement for Aggressive Traffic) campaign.

The patrols started on Tuesday in the Twin Cities metro area and will continue in greater Minnesota in the near future. HEAT patrols focused on roadways around Minneapolis and surrounding areas, including I-94 between I-694 and St. Paul, Highway 100 in northern Hennepin County, and Highway 494 and I-35E in the east metro.

The state patrol says it will increase its aviation support during the HEAT patrols to help catch drivers trying to flee from a traffic stop. The state patrol reported stoping 516 vehicles for speeding during a 10-day HEAT effort in February. Troopers also arrested 23 people for driving while impaired (DWI) and six for outstanding warrants.

“The first HEAT patrols last month were successful in stopping speeding drivers and, with the help of our aviation resources, we were able to catch people who chose to flee police. We will continue this effort around the state through the summer,” said Col. Matt Langer, chief of the Minnesota State Patrol. “In addition to State Patrol troopers, we hope to have local agencies working with us to increase the presences of law enforcement on Minnesota highways and freeways.”

The new HEAT patrols will also focus on traffic safety while providing an increased law enforcement presence in areas with public safety concerns.

According to a press release, HEAT patrols are one way the state patrol is expanding its support of local law enforcement as they address crime in their communities.

During February’s patrol, the anti-police brutality group is Communities United Against Police Brutality posted a message on its Facebook page denouncing the state patrol’s HEAT initiative, saying it targeted communities of color. CUAPB says that the roads getting extra patrol run through communities of color, including Brooklyn Center and North Minneapolis.

They accuse the state patrol of saying HEAT is to stop speeders and catch criminals, but what they’re doing is stopping people for expired license plates and objects hanging from the rearview mirror.

They say it is not lost on them that Brooklyn Center, where Daunte Wright was shot to death by officer Kimberly Potter, is one of the cities affected. A probationary officer stopped Wright for expired license tabs and having an air freshener dangling from his rearview mirror.

CUAPB says there is no evidence suggesting that people are more likely to speed or commit crimes on that targeted stretch of highway than on any other and say HEAT, “appears to be the kind of discriminatory targeting of people of color that led to the death of Daunte Wright.”

On its Facebook page, the CUAPB statement concludes, “Communities United Against Police Brutality condemns all discriminatory law enforcement activities and specifically condemns the State Patrol’s HEAT program. We demand this poorly conceived plan be curtailed.”

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