Police Chief Says Crime Trending Down in St. Cloud

(KNSI) – St. Cloud’s Police Chief says crime stats are headed in the right direction in the city for the first half of 2023.

Chief Jeff Oxton tells KNSI News crimes against a person were down 7%. That includes assaults, homicides, and robberies, among others, where the victim is an individual rather than property. Oxton says the stats are better yet when you look at offenses using a firearm.

“Weapons used, guns used in these assaults, in these crimes that we’re talking about, crimes against person. This year to date, as compared to the last six months in 2022, a 61% decrease where a firearm was used in an assault against a person,” says Oxton.

He adds downtown continues to be safe, especially during the hours from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Oxton says that is important because that is the time when businesses are open, and restaurants are serving diners. Through six months, the area registered only two assaults in those hours.

St. Cloud seems to be avoiding the epidemic of motor vehicle thefts plaguing the Twin Cities entirely, but the chief cautions there are some trouble spots, including the parking garages downtown overnight.

“Majority of the things we’re seeing is still people leaving their vehicles unlocked, and I get it; it’s easy to forget sometimes, but when people leave their vehicles unlocked, people get in. It’s not all [of them]. We have had incidents where people break actually a window, but very few.”

Oxton says there are extra patrols and new cameras installed to help deter some of the theft, but he says a high concentration of vehicles will always be attractive for criminals to poke around.

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