Safety organizers patrolling State Fair, hope to be a ‘calming presence’

Outside the great Minnesota get-together, safety is top of mind for neighbors and community members. Some neighbors have even banded together, serving as community ambassadors for visitors at the State Fair.

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5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reporter Ben Henry spoke with Jennifer Victor-Larson, a neighborhood safety organizer helping spearhead this effort. Their conversation is below.

You’re gonna be doing some walking tonight. Yeah. What’s the goal of tonight?

Jennifer Victor-Larson: Tonight really is to connect the neighborhood and the community ambassadors and work together. Just to exchange information. The neighbors really understand what’s happening in the neighborhood and where the trouble spots are where people get stuck. And where we can help and the ambassadors have tremendous experience with the escalation and in just working with people in stressful situations that we can learn from so we’re just hoping to have a really good exchange.

How’s the night going?

So far, so good. It’s been a really, really busy first day like I haven’t seen when it’s busy, and it seems like people are coming. Excited, happy to be here in good moods, and for the most part, just kind of keep it pretty mellow.

The goal here is safety, right? There’s been some instances over the last few fairs. How’s it been for yourself? I know you live close and that’s what drove you out here, right?

Yeah, there was in 2019. There were shots fired just over here. So we were ducking cover that’s, you know, honestly, the first time for us, and then when shots were fired in someone’s yard last year on the block. Yeah, it was, it felt like a really big shift. And so we really decided we needed to come together and start looking at what we can do. To help prevent some of the violence, and you know, tensions are high. People come. You know, it’s stressful to find parking. It’s stressful, and you come out, and you’re lost. And, yeah, I mean, there are a lot of different reasons why those things happen, but we felt like, you know, what, as a community, we have a lot of resources. We have a lot of good people. You know, everywhere from you know, people trained in de-escalation to nurses to you know, people can respond, who are right here until, you know, someone else can respond. So we’ve been just taking a look at what we have for resources and putting in the work. And if folks come out, they see the shirts. Yeah, how can I help, right? Yeah, you’re there. Yep. We’re here. We’re here just, yeah, truly just trying to help you get in behind your car. And just hopefully, to be a calming presence here.