Powderhorn Park is a public place that anyone in the Corcoran neighborhood should feel free to use as they please. However, the recent robbery and sexual assault of a 45-year-old mother accompanied by her two children may have frightened some people into limiting their use of the park. Members of the area held a peace rally on December 1st to dispel these feelings and to take the park back for the use of the public and not criminals.

   Powderhorn-area resident and South senior Chace Russell says of the tragedy, “It’s a horrible thing that happened in the community; it’s sad that it had to happen at all.” Regarding his safety procedures in the neighborhood, Chace says, “I’ve always been street smart.”

   “It’s very rare, especially a stranger attack like that,” observed Fred McCormick, a Minneapolis Park Patrol officer. “Less than 2% of all crime [in Minneapolis] occurs in parks.” While this is reassuring, neighborhood residents, and all park-goers of Minneapolis, are encouraged to undergo certain safety precautions. “It’s good to have somebody with you,” said McCormick. He also suggested that citizens stay in well-lit areas with plenty of people and that they let others know where they’re going before they head out.

   Powderhorn Park’s close proximity to South has proven useful for the multiple sports teams that practice there, one of those being the Nordic ski team. Coach Tony Aspholm affirms that the team practiced there two to three times a week, before there was enough snow for skiing. In light of the recent crime, he commented, “In the past we’ve gone in smaller groups, but now we’ll go in one big group. We did not schedule a practice [at Powderhorn] early in the week, when it wasn’t clear to me if the assaulters had been arrested or not. Once it was clear that they had been arrested, I scheduled a practice there.”

   Despite this extreme case of crime in the Minneapolis parks, crime has gone down considerably in the past ten years. In January of 2000 there were 5,096 reported criminal offenses, while in January 2010 the number had dropped to 3,540. McCormick attributes these changes to “a lot of different strategies that have been put into place,” some of those being more cameras, cell phones and GPS applications, better technology in general, and higher tree branches that allow for better visibility in parks. Although a case like this sexual assault is disheartening, instances like it are decreasing and people should continue to utilize the city parks as they wish.