Violent crime is up sharply in Minneapolis to the point that some in the city are now having second thoughts about plans to defund the police. Yesterday, the city got a reminder of just how ugly a surge in violence can be.

Around 9:30 Thursday morning police got a call from someone who had taken his dog out for a morning walk only to have the dog discover a bag containing human body parts. Police came out to investigate the scene. While they were there they got another call saying another bad with additional body parts had been discovered about two blocks away:

Speaking at a news conference Thursday night, Minneapolis Police Department spokesperson John Elder said detectives believe the victim is a white male, possibly in his 30s.

Elder said people to need to stay vigilant, as police have not “found all the pieces.”…

Officers went to that scene as well, and cadaver dogs responded to the area but did not find any other remains.

“Officers are working with the medical examiner and the MPD crime laboratory to get these items retrieved, get them packaged and down to the medical examiner’s office where they will work in conjunction with our homicide unit to be able to identify who this person may be,” Elder said. “The body parts that were found would lead us to believe that the injuries caused by the removal would not be life sustaining. These would be life-ending injuries.”

In other words, these weren’t fingers or toes that were found, they were major body parts, the loss of which would not be survivable. Police aren’t saying what those body parts are but various people who spoke to the media said they’d been told the first bag contained a leg. Cadaver dogs were brought out to search the area but no additional parts were found:

Cadaver dog continues searching an area in NE Minneapolis where body parts were found off of NE 3rd Avenue. People walking their dogs were worried their pets might accidently find the same thing. @WCCO pic.twitter.com/vOTSearTv8

— Jeff Wagner (@Jeff_Wagner4) June 17, 2021

Asked during a Q&A how old the body parts seemed to be the police spokesman described them as “fresh.” “These cases take a toll. These cases are incredibly difficult for everybody who was at the scene,” he said.

Needless to say, this story is horrifying, more like something you’d expect to see in a movie than in real life. And the shocking aspect of it means it has the potential to stick in the public consciousness in a way that other violent crime might not.

If you’re living in a city that has seen a decrease in the number of officers and an increase in violent crimes and then body parts turn up on the lawn, you might decide the experiment has gone on long enough. Reimagining public safety (or whatever the progressives on the city council are calling it) sounds good until you find yourself worried about discovering fresh human limbs the next time you go out to walk the dog.

A discovery like this is apt to remind people why they hire police to patrol the streets in the first place. It has the potential to be a real conversation changer in a city that was already having second thoughts about where things were heading.