<rthfield is not a town generally associated with criminal activities, police reports show that incidents of crime, while not common, do take place here.
According to the Police Incident Mapping Application from the Northfield Police Department, 14 incidents of damage to property, 17 thefts and 4 burglaries were reported within city limits in the last 90 days as of Feb. 8. No incidents of robbery, arson or vehicle theft were reported.
While the greatest density of crimes occurred in downtown Northfield, crimes took place all over the city. Among those reported on or near the Carleton campus was a burglary last November in Musser Hall, as well as an incident involving property damage that occurred later that month near the corner of Second and Washington Streets.
While no murders have occurred in Northfield in the last decade, there was at least one robbery every year between 2000 and 2009, according to community profiling website Idcide.com. Seven incidents of forcible rape occurred in 2001, but no cases have been reported to the police department since 2005.
Reports issued by the Northfield Police, detailing their activities each day, can be found on the website of the Northfield News.
Minnesota as a whole has a fairly low crime rate and had the fourteenth lowest crime rate among the states in 2010 according to the Congressional Quarterly (New Hampshire had the lowest rate, Nevada the highest). However, crime is unevenly distributed in Minnesota, with Minneapolis in particular gaining a reputation for violent crime in recent years.