Photos and blog post by Hans
I've been keeping a very close eye on 3019 4th St N ever since I witnessed a break-in attempt at a nearby property. A collection of vinyl records strewn across the rear of the lot at 3019 was an obvious sign that somebody had gotten into the house. After a few weeks of waiting the broken windows were finally boarded but it didn't take long...
...for somebody to get back inside.
Even though I was only five feet away when I took this picture it's pretty hard to see the open window through all that greenery... and it's virtually impossible to see the side windows from the street. This property is a dream come true for criminals (squatters, scrappers, drug dealers, drug users, drug producers, pimps, prostitutes, and the list goes on). With windows so well hidden you can take your time breaking into this place.
In a previous conversation with a 911 operator I was informed that evidence of a break-in (like a broken window) would result in emergency boarding by the police department. So naturally I called 911 to report the situation, but when the police arrived they merely shouted "Minneapolis Police" into the open window. I asked the officer about police boarding but he told me that they have to catch somebody either in the act or in the building. Apparently it's not enough to find open windows and un-boarded windows.
So I'm left to wait until the good folks at Minneapolis Inspections follow their procedures to get these openings boarded... at which point I have no doubt another window will be broken by somebody trying to get into this crap shack.
