Sources: State Patrol squad assigned to Walz’s security detail broken into in Minneapolis

A Minnesota state trooper’s squad, which was part of Gov. Tim Walz’s security detail, was broken into on Friday in Minneapolis, sources confirmed to both Alpha News reporter Liz Collin and to Crime Watch Minneapolis.

SCOOP: Sources say it was a State Patrol vehicle assigned to Governor Walz that was broken into this morning while at a dog park in Minneapolis. Several items were stolen and the windows of the vehicle were broken out. https://t.co/LKjyuPtD3M

— Liz Collin (@lizcollin) March 27, 2026

Crime Watch learned of the break-in from an alert that was broadcast on Friday to law enforcement in a surrounding county over publicly available scanner audio. The dispatch indicated that the squad break-in was part of a series of vehicle break-ins in Minneapolis, in which two guns were also stolen from civilian vehicles.

The scanner dispatch indicated that several items were stolen from the trooper’s squad, including a police radio, riot gear, a helmet and gas mask, and other items.

Sources later confirmed that the squad was part of Gov. Walz’s security detail and was at an unidentified Minneapolis dog park when the squad windows were broken and the break-in occurred.

The suspect vehicle was described in the broadcast as a maroon Jeep Grand Cherokee. No information was aired regarding suspect descriptions or whether the vehicle had been stolen.

Alpha News reached out to both Gov. Walz’s office and to the State Patrol for a statement but did not receive responses prior to this report.

According to the Minneapolis Police Department’s crime dashboard, there were six damage to property reports on Friday, as well as 15 theft and larceny reports. It’s not immediately clear how the vehicle break-ins that morning were categorized.

Alpha News has also been reporting on the spike in auto thefts that began ramping up in mid-January and has continued to date, at points reaching a nearly 35% increase over the same period last year.

Submitted from NE Minneapolis:
Out-of-state visitors targeted in broad daylight by repeat juvenile car thieves in Northeast Minneapolis — then told by police: “We just caught and released him… and he’s back at it today.”

A couple visiting friends from out of state stopped at… pic.twitter.com/UDdF4FIJge

— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) March 29, 2026

Through Sunday, the MPD crime dashboard indicates there have been 1,503 auto thefts in Minneapolis so far this year. That compares to 1,189 through the same period last year, an increase of just over 25 percent.

In a prior statement to Alpha News, an MPD spokesperson laid blame for the increase on weather-related factors. Minneapolis police Chief Brian O’Hara recently indicated to Fox News Digital that ICE’s Operation Metro Surge left department resources depleted, which contributed to the surge.

MPD now appears to be shifting the narrative yet again to place blame on key programming devices, which several local media outlets have made the focus of their reports on the auto-theft increases, after having not reported on the increases until just recently.

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Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.

Crime Watch MN

Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.