At the full City Council meeting on March 22, 2002 I voted against giving the current Civilian Review Authority the ability to subpoena. I have received many comments both of support and of criticism on this vote. Clearly there is a great interest in this issue. Here I would like to discuss my reasons for this vote.
I support a strong civilian complaint process - and civilian involvement - with the Minneapolis Police Dept. I can easily support the ability to subpoena, or any other "teeth" a new civilian complaint process requires. I think last Friday's motion was premature. With this action we would have directed increasingly more rare and valuable staff time to define and attach "subpoena power" to an Authority which the majority of the Council and the Mayor have criticized and have directed that we redesign. This action would have been an empty gesture. This transition has gone poorly and I apologize. We are still learning how to best direct our resources in City Hall. The City's policy group for this redesign plan will implement an interim operating plan for civilian complaints with a civilian interface. That is, a person with a complaint will have a non-police place to lodge their complaint. This is for the short term. The more lasting solution will come from strong citizen participation in this redesign process. Our City's Communications Dept. will keep the public and media posted on our progress. This is an opportunity for you to influence critical Minneapolis policy for how we handle complaints about the treatment of our people by our Police Dept. In fact, I urge you all to encourage our elected officials to use this CRA redesign process to bring longstanding concerns like use-of-force policy and racial profiling to a City policy level. I hope to see you all in City Hall soon. Remember, in a democracy those who participate will find that their needs are the best met. Peace, Robert Lilligren, Vice President Minneapolis City Council Ward 8 612-673-2208 [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
