Minnesota resident Annie Rose is fed up with the crime plaguing her neighborhood.
Rose is the owner of the Lost Fox Restaurant in the Lowertown Historic District in St. Paul, where she’s worked for years. Recently, however, she’s noticed an uptick in "ongoing and condoned" crime in the city.
According to Rose, her restaurant had been burglarized at least four times since opening in early 2022 and two additional times since April.
"There needs to be more repercussions for what's going on. There's like open air drug markets, like right in front of us," Rose told Fox News Digital.
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She explained, "If somebody gets assaulted, they're not doing anything to the person who assaulted that person. They're not prosecuting them. They're not taking them away or booking them in jail. They're not doing anything. So I think that the first thing that needs to be done is they need to start holding these people accountable for the actions that they're doing."
"What I would think is that the criminals, they're either new criminals that are coming in because they know that that area is not being [surveilled] or it's not being policed the way that it should be. Like, people are getting away with things," Rose said.
"So nothing's happening to these people and then they just keep coming back. There's, like, society you need to have. You need to have rules in society and if nobody enforces those rules, you're going to have rule breakers. And it's just so much that the rules that are being broken are pretty catastrophic in that they are killing a complete neighborhood because of it. Because people don't want to be there and they will leave. And the people in that neighborhood have the means to leave," she added.
In 2021, St. Paul had a record number 36 homicides. The following year also saw the same number of homicides. Aggravated assaults, robberies and carjackings have declined, however, burglaries and sexual assaults have reportedly increased.
Despite the rise in crime, Rose remained optimistic about her neighborhood, hopeful that things can and will improve.
"We want to be in Lowertown. We want to be in that neighborhood. That neighborhood is amazing. Crime isn't going to steer us away. Like, crime is something that happens, but it's also something that you can change and move and progress against and make things better. Crime isn't going to stay that way forever," she said.
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Rose previously described a situation to KSTP where she was injured after attempting to tell an aggressive customer to leave.
"I told him that the other day, and he got aggressive, and he pushed the door in my face and I got stitches from that," Rose said.
During a town hall, other St. Paul residents voiced their displeasure about the state of crime in their neighborhoods.
One man commented, "It’s a garbage can, and it’s certainly been allowed to become like that. It’s sad. It’s pathetic."
Until changes can be made, Rose advised others on how to better protect themselves and their neighborhood.
Rose said, "If you see something that isn't supposed to be going on, call [police]. I mean, keep yourself safe. Like, take pictures of license plates. Write down information. Be super detailed when you do. Call 911. If the person leaves, know which way is north, south, east or west. Know which streets you're on and what you're around."
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"But be vigilant, go with your friends, keep yourself safe. But just let's let people know what's going on, because that's the only way things are going to change. Because if people don't know what's happening, it's not going to change," she emphasized.
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