Gordon Ramsay: 'Like father, like son' just got more tragic

As we enter the warmer months of summer, police traditionally notice crime patterns change.

We have already seen an increase in the number of thefts from automobiles. It never fails to amaze me the number of people who leave valuables in their cars. For the thieves, it appears the reward outweighs the risk.

Fortunately, we have arrested a handful of these crooks and are monitoring them very closely.

We are planning on putting the names, photos and criminal history of the adults arrested for prowling cars on our website soon. Maybe, with their faces and names on our website the anonymity of being a thief will be gone.

Hopefully, the publicity and shame will be enough to get these folks to change their ways or move on.

I am happy to report that on Wednesday we took three 14-year-old boys into custody for committing many burglaries and thefts from cars in the Norton Road/Duluth Heights neighborhood.

Our hard-working staff wants our good citizens to know we are catching these thieves, often with the help of folks who call 911 to report suspicious behavior.

While we are often quick to blame kids for these thefts, I was shocked to read a police report last month where a father had his 10-year-old son with him at 2 a.m. while he was breaking into vending machines with a sledge hammer in commercial areas of Duluth.

Fortunately, a person passing by witnessed this and had the wherewithal to call 911. Our officers quickly apprehended this man, who has no business taking care of a young boy.

We have laws that enhance DWIs when kids are in the car; maybe we need a law that enhances criminal penalties when people involve their children. What chance does this poor kid have?

I do know our staff was pretty upset and saddened by this incident.

I also want to remind folks that much of our crime is perpetrated by the same group of individuals over and over.

I encourage you to watch for the extensive criminal histories of those who are arrested for high-profile crimes throughout our region in the coming months.

Our criminal justice system has to do better. Thanks to the leadership of District Court Judge Sally Tarnowski, we are looking at more effectively dealing with those who commit crimes and are affected by mental health issues.

Mental health courts are used all over the country and have proven to be very effective.

We find with the closure of the state mental health hospitals, we are dealing more and more with those affected by mental health issues.

Lastly, I wanted to touch on crime statistics. It seems all we see on the TV news is crime, crime and more crime.

While we continue to work on our habitual offenders, we are seeing a plateau and some downward trends in crime.

In Duluth, talking crime statistics is always tricky, as we have many one-person crime-waves which can effectively double certain crime numbers in a week or two.

We continue to try and coordinate our efforts with prosecutors, probation and the courts to effectively address our habitual offenders.

Have a safe summer.

Duluth Police Chief Gordon Ramsay writes in the Budgeteer monthly. Contact him at 730-5020 or GRAMSAY@duluthmn.gov .