<snip> My point is, (Though it may Truly Disgust many Folks).....That We must be very careful before We put scarlet letters 'E' for EVIL' on our Police Officers' foreheads. It is a damned tough job, and one that doesn't get enough Graditude from us Citizens, sometimes.I agree that the police are not always bad -- it would be ludicrous to say that they were. And it would be silly to say that they don't keep some really dangerous people off the streets. However, I think that many of us have had enough bad experiences or know people who have that it would be nice to have an effective civilian body to keep an eye on them. The other day my 13 year old son [African American] came home to find our gate busted and called me in a panic thinking that someone had tried to break into our house. He was so upset that he wasn't very clear about what had happened and there were no adults around [school gets out at 2:00 remember...another subject] I called 911, saying that I didn't know if someone was in the house -- I too was in a panic -- and that I would be there within the 15 minutes it takes me to get home. I called the neighbor kid's house from the car [his parents were of course at work too] and the police had not yet come. I called 911 and as we talked, they said the police had arrived. We're on Powderhorn Park and it's close to the precinct. By the time I got there, literally within minutes, the police had left. My son reported that they were "mad" at him and rude. They said it was the wind. It probably was, since it was one of those really windy days. It seems they could have waited a minute for me to get there and didn't have to insult my kid. I have tried to teach him to be ultra polite to them partly because I believe everyone needs to be more polite to each other, and partly so that he doesn't get hurt. Hard to make that stick when they treat him badly. He's a kid for cripe's sake and he was scared. The gate looked like it had been kicked in. I don't blame him. Another time, about 5 years ago, I called them to come see our garage graffiti, as they had requested at a community meeting, and some snippy female cop asked me if I had any kids, and when I told her I had an 8 year old son, she asked me if he was in a gang. And then she said, "What do you expect, living in this neighborhood?" I am a middle-aged white woman who met the cops at the alley pretty dressed up after coming from work. I know what kind of treatment people who aren't white get. These are minor problems, but indicative of the attitude some of the cops have towards those of us who live in the less prosperous neighborhoods. When I think of the disrespectful way I see some police treating people, it's not hard to see how it escalates into real brutality. And most importantly, the policy of the Mpls Police Dept has been to tolerate some real abuse and thumpers. [Remember the cops who put the two Native American guys in the trunk of their car...the kids who have been shot on the North Side...how one woman had her arm broken when she protested that they were taking her baby away for no reason...] We need a mayor who is not afraid to keep an eye on the police department and make it clear to the chief that they are not to abuse people. And we need a civilian review body with some teeth. The Civil Rights Department seems to be a great start, with some modifications. But I, for one, will not miss the Citizen's Review Board.
Diane Wiley
Powderhorn Stalwart
