Tim Connolly said:
> Think of this the next time you see the Chief laughing on the front page of the
>Metro section
> as he shakes the hand of a man wearing a bowtie: Not once has Chief Olson met with
>the Friends of
> Barbara Schneider.
> Greg Hestness has been there many times. So has Sgt. Ron Bellendier. But never the
>Chief.
AS says:
I should have noted in my recent post that, at the Somali memorial
come-together last Friday, Inspector Hestness was present inside the
crowd, in full uniform, and willing to talk to whomever approached him.
Recalling that he had often come to "Tom's Drug Store Group" meetings in
Prospect Park, I went up and thanked him for being there and for the
interest he has shown in learning what community members--of diverse
communities--had to say.
Twice in my memory the city has gone to New York to find Chiefs (Bouza
and Olson), and both times might have done better looking closer to
home. For instance, having served on the Police Department/City
Council/Mayor's Office-sponsored "Citizens' Councils on Police Community
Relations" in the early 90's, I was very impressed by the level of
support that then-chief John Laux provided, and the concern and
helpfulness of one of his upper managers (name escapes me, but after
being passed over he moved on, I think). It seemed that the efforts of
the precinct-based Citizens' Councils were ignored by the City Council
and the Mayor, and only Chief Laux took us seriously.
BTW, kudos to CM Lilligren. I appreciated his explanation here of his
vote against subpoena powers for the Civilian Review Board--why expand
the power of the Board when you already know the organization has
serious flaws that must be fixed. Figure out how to fix it overall,
first.
I personally think it doesn't make any difference what powers the Board
has if the people appointed don't have the temperment and disinterest to
do the job. I don't know who is on it now but when I applied after my
Police-Community Relations experience above I perceived that choices
were tainted by identity and special interest politics ("this appointee
is gay, this one is hispanic, this one is labor," I was told by a City
Council aide when I inquired about the status of my application), or
maybe even by hero worship (of a celebrity who owned a suburban
restaurant that cops patronized--who the chair of the interview
committee thanked for living in Minneapolis. No one ever thanked me for
living (and paying taxes) in Minneapolis.)
Alan Shilepsky
Downtown
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