As a repairman vacuumed shards of shattered glass from his minivan in south Minneapolis, Tom Hettrick acknowledged that crime in the city is a major reason why he’s moving soon to Bayport.

“We have four kids at our house, and to know that there’s somebody prowling around, vandalizing and doing destruction when we’re all sleeping, that’s scary,” Hettrick told the Minnesota Star Tribune while standing outside his house April 30.

Hettrick’s van was one of dozens of vehicles that had windows smashed in the latest spree of vandalism early in the morning of April 27 along 27th Avenue S. near Lake Nokomis.

In total, at least 30 damageto-vehicle incidents occurred in the city early that morning, according to Minneapolis police spokesman Sgt. Garrett Parten.

In recent years, city residents have been frustrated by the repeated sprees that include both car thefts, and what’s informally known as “smash and grabs.” In each of these vandalism sprees, young men or children are typically seen walking down a street while breaking car windows and either stealing items inside or simply moving on to the next car.

There have been about 2,000 reported car thefts in Minneapolis so far this year — a roughly 25% increase from this time last year.

Vandalism and property damage cases, including vehicle damage, is up about 6% this year.

In response, the Minneapolis Police Department’s annual “Summer Safety Plan” is taking steps to try to address the trends in vehicle crimes. Police Chief Brian O’Hara listed some of these new initiatives during an April 29 presentation, while also laying out some of the ongoing challenges.

One new effort is a partnership with the auto theft task force for the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office. Starting the last week of April, some Minneapolis officers were assigned to the task force, which focuses on vehicle thefts, car jackings and related crimes, O’Hara said.

By working with multiple agencies to better focus on solving auto thefts, O’Hara said, police can also reduce vehicle damage sprees, which often overlap.

He noted it’s “largely a problem that we have with a small number of juveniles,” who are known to police and are often encouraged on social media to commit crime. However, this year there is a new group of young people getting involved in crime who are not known to police, O’Hara said. That has made it more challenging to respond quickly, the chief said.

“I think that’s part of the lag time in trying to address some of this better,” O’Hara said.

O’Hara said the department’s curfew task force, which reaches out to the families of young people who are committing crimes, has a number of success stories of investigators directing offenders to resources and steering them away from crime once they form a connection.

Another challenge, according to O’Hara, is that property crime investigators are in short supply. At times, investigators could be at the scene of a vandalism spree in northeast Minneapolis, while at the same time another spree is taking place on the south side. That makes it hard to respond quickly, he said.

O’Hara said one change the department made was putting property crimes investigators under one supervisor to ensure they are being allocated as best they can.

The department has also taken steps to improve the wait times of transferring suspects into Hennepin County’s downtown jail at the busiest times for arrests, O’Hara said.

In interviews, two recent victims of car vandalism in south Minneapolis offered a mixture of hope that the new initiatives will be successful and skepticism that much will change, given the priority of more serious offenses in the city.

Steve Lindley, a homeowner who had his car broken into , said he lacks confidence that Minneapolis police will solve the instances of car vandalism.

“If they couldn’t stop the stealing of cars, and car jackings from a couple of years ago, how are they going to stop someone breaking a window?” Lindley told the Star Tribune.

While he said he isn’t sure what should be done to reduce quality of life issues such as smashed windows, he said he supports referring teenagers and young men to programs that help steer them away from crime rather than just locking them up.

“It seems like that is more productive, rather than a 16-yearold who made poor decisions sitting in a cell,” Lindley said.

Hettrick, who had two vehicles broken into , said it has been a difficult year. His children attend Annunciation Catholic School and were in a classroom when two students were killed and many more injured during the shooting at the adjacent church building last September.

After the recent vandalism spree , Hettrick said he found out that cars had been damaged over an eight-block stretch on 27th Avenue.

“They obviously had some confidence that they could do it for as long as they did,” he said.

Other than a garage breakin several years ago, Hettrick said car vandalism is the first crime he’s experienced in the city since he moved into his house in 2015. But the city has declined significantly since then when it comes to crime and it’s influenced his decision to move away, he said.

Hettrick said he’s hopeful about the new partnership with the sheriff ’s office to focus on auto thefts.

“I think that’s the right direction to go,” he said. “We need to get some accountability and some better reaction from the people that we that we trust to protect us.”

These new efforts by the department have recently led to arrests of car theft suspects in northeast Minneapolis, Council Member Michael Rainville said following O’Hara’s presentation.

In an email, police spokesman Parten urged anyone who has not reported damage to their vehicle to do so by calling 311 and to share any video footage with the Minneapolis Police Department.

Jeff Hargarten of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story. louis.krauss@startribune.com