A couple comments relative to posting by Rich McMartin
and Jack Ferman.
I too remember the days of Charle Stenvig. Just
another evening I ran into the Police Chaplain, Terry
Hayes, at GJ's on Hennepin. I was surprised to see him
there with some officers. I would have thought he was
long since retired.
I remember that he used to hang out around midnight at
the old Fair Oaks Motel with the guys from the
infamous TActical Squad soaking up free coffee and
pie. They never paid much attention to me. I was just
the guy who cleaned the kitchen and cafe. But I paid
attention to them or rather the things they said. A
cruder, more racist bunch of knuckle draggers...well
you get the picture.
I remember how they laughed telling stories of how
their dogs, Rex or Caesar,etc., took bites out of this
and that niggers ass down at Lake Calhoun. Mind you
this was on 4th of July night. Ah, America! Ain't it
great. Some things don't change much.
Our police force is still overwhelmingly male and
caucasian and I suspect has many of the same attitudes
which might explain anecdotal evidence of profiling
which appears to have increased under Chief Olson's
reign.
I get a kick out of comparison's to Stenvig and
comments like "he's probably one of best or second
best chiefs in history. That's called damning with
faint praise, sort of like saying Hitler was better
than Stalin.
As to Rich McMartin's comments relative to Lyndale
neighborhood and its improvement I must point out that
CODEFOR did not come on line until 1998 and by then
murder and crime rates had already dropped from the
all-time highs of '94-'95.
The fact is that the carnage of crack addiction and
the ensuing wars and turf battles, like most things,
came late to Minneapolis. Years before the coast
cities saw what exploded in Mpls i the mid-nieties.
The fact is that crime statistics throughout the
country have dropped over the last eight years and
sociologists of all stripes don't seem to be able to
agree on a consensus as to why they rise and fall.
Sure drugs are a factor as is law enforcement but for
the Chief or anyone else to point at CODEFOR and say
"this is the reason" is just a bunch of hooey!
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