I think Terrell makes several excellent points in his post. Police problems in Minneapolis have been so bad that Human Rights Watch felt it necessary to include us in a report documenting 18 cities (I'm not sure if this was US or world wide) with rampant police brutality complaints.
One of the most frequent calls is for a civilian review that will actually be effective. I believe that in order for this to happen, the board must be ELECTED by the community, two members per precinct, one at large. This board should have subpoena power, and the power to engage in criminal proceedings against the police...that may mean hiring an independent prosecutor in some cases. This sort of process in necessary because of the bias in the court system and the faulty arbitration process which allows thugs like Mike Sauro to remain on the police force. Some might say that this costs too much, but think about how much money we already spend in litigation and the over zealous use of force by MPD(ie, ISAG, Jelani, Critical Mass, All of the innocent people that have been killed by police in the past and previous decades, and the Gophers game- and MPD is talking about sending the U a bill for all the head breaking MPD had to do because the campus police weren't violent enough.) The heart and soul of this is that we, the community, should have say in the police policies and how we're treated- and that the police should answer to us! After all, it's our tax dollars that pay their salaries. What I find outrageous is that on Saturday night, the police deliberately targeted members of the press that were unfavorable to the police (CH 9 news, 10:00pm- 4/9/02) and that Chief Olson was personally calling the shots. (Same source) I sat in on an executive committee meeting this morning(Mayor, CM's Goodman, Johnson Lee, Zimmermann, Zerby, Ostrow, Lillegren, open to the public with several members of Communities United Against Police Brutality in attendance) and there seemed to be unanimous agreement that there's a HUGE problem in the police force, unanimous frustration with Olson, and a feeling that the police at this point aren't even pretending to be accountable to the city. CM Zimmermann movingly described a situation where his son was threatened by a police officer simply for watching events outside his front yard. CM Johnson Lee said she's receiving at least nine complaints of police harassment per day in her ward, and CM Goodman voice seemed to crack as she described her frustration that the Chief and didn't even seem to care that the community/police relations discussion was happening and didn't bother to show up at the meeting as well as her frustration with the current CRA. (The ISAG incident deeply affected the 7th ward.) Simply put, this police force is out of control and everyone knows it. I don't know what will ultimately happen, but I think that ultimately something good will come from these tragic events, namely, community control of the police. If this does not happen, we only need look to Cincinatti in 2001, and LA in 1992 to know our future. Tamir Nolley Whittier 6-2, SD 61 Board Member, Communities United Against Police Brutality --- "Brown, Terrell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > With great fanfare we were told yesterday about > misdemeanor charges against some of the kids > involved in the celebration over at the U last > weekend. Why not equal fanfare for charges against > the cops we watched beating kids on the Sunday and > Monday news broadcasts? Did someone conveniently > forget to file those charges? Did someone forget > that maybe they should fire the cop who was beating > on some kid as some of his colleagues held the kid > down on the ground? Funny, the cop hasn't been held > in jail for 48 hours while someone sits around and > figures out what charges to file (or not file). > > Complaints against the Minneapolis cops aren't > something especially new. Complaints against > Minneapolis cops are much more frequent than > complaints against St. Paul cops. Anyone think > there might be a reason? Are we onto a problem > here? > > Anyone wonder why the cops object to any kind of > civilian review? Maybe we need more than just > Civilian Review. Maybe we need a Police Commission, > civilians who have oversight authority over the > Department. Civilians who can fire cops who are > behaving badly. > > I have found that generally when there are > consistent reports about anything from numerous > people and groups of people there is some truth > behind the reports. A couple of summers back when > we had the ISAG convention, I saw some of it out my > living room window (which overlooks the Hyatt Hotel, > LaSalle Ave. and Grant Street) and walked past some > of the activity on my way to and from work. What an > over show of force. > > The City of Minneapolis has been sued on numerous > occasions for police officer misbehavior and paid > out many thousands of dollars as a result. How many > cops are causing problems? Probably only a couple > of handfuls on a force of nearly one thousand > officers. > > Lets get those problem officers out of there. They > are a cancer on the department. > > Change needs to come from the top. Let's start with > new leadership of the Minneapolis Police Department. > Leadership in the central office and in the problem > precincts. Let's get this thing fixed before we > have more problems that cost us another pile of tax > dollars and more people are unnecessarily hurt. > > > > Terrell > > --------------------------------------------------------------- > Terrell Brown > Loring Park > _______________________________________ > 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 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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