I agree with Emilie that it would be ideal if our police officers lived within the boundaries of our city. However, my understanding is that the Supreme Court struck down municipal laws requiring residency of city employees. Can someone out there let me know if this is the case? If I'm wrong, then I agree that we should put in place a rather aggressive schedule to move our officers into the communities they patrol. If I'm right, there may still be options. We could provide a housing credit or some other financial incentive to those cops who choose to live in the core city. (For the sake of fairness, we may be expected to do the same for other city employees... and this in a budget-cutting cycle.)
I also agree with Tamir and others that replacing Olson is not a panacea and may not even be the best possible solution to our current crisis. Three hundred grand could do a lot of good if it was budgeted to a new, improved and truly independent civilian review board (or whatever you'd like to call it) with subpoena power, the authority to discipline officers, and the ability to review policies and procedures. I'm sure I'm beginning to sound like a broken record. If Olson proves willing to help create such a system and flexible enough to work with it, I could see allowing him to keep his position. If not, we'd have cause to follow LA's lead. I guess I don't find the Olson heave-ho to be the litmus test others seem to think it must be. One last point. The first open meeting of the task force on the resurrection of the CRA was held last night. I, for one, wish this information had been disseminated more widely. I plan to attend the rest of these meetings, and I'll do my best to let the list know when they will be taking place and what happened. Was anyone there last night? Robin Garwood Seward Elected Member, Minneapolis/5th District Green Party Steering Committee _______________________________________ 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
