Jim Mork Wrote: Don Samuels: I've been in the observer gallery for most of this. Every CM on the council affects my city (where I've resided for over 30 years). But I don't get a vote. However, I will point out that "thugs and bullies" is a bad choice of words. Was Jerry Haaf a thug or bully? Is Lt. Greg Reinhard, the commander of the traffic division, who was kind enough to post statistics on traffic laws a thug or a bully? Is Thomas Thompson, my CCP office in 3rd precinct either of those?
In short, despite people like Mike Sauro, MOST police are sincere professionals who have a great desire to perform well in their chosen vocation. I'm proud to offer them any reasonable help I can so that our common goals can be met. I deeply regret seeing these inflammatory incidents occur occasionally. And I think the officers with the right attitude cringe, too. But they must do more than cringe. They must commit themselves to a solution that doesn't sweep the matter under the rug. Everybody suffers when these stories make the news. Let us at least resolve to respect the conscientious majority who do so much to make our city safe. I think that's a pre-condition to making it SAFER, which is what we all want. It has always been a marvel to me that the violent crime rate in St Paul can be so much LESS than in Minneapolis. I think the superior relationship between uniformed officers and civilians must be part of the reason. TN: Sorry Jim, (and list.) I'm not going to give an inch on this one. My first experience with a Minneapolis Police officer was in 1987. I was 16 years old, comming home from high school sick. I was stopped, slammed up against a car with a gun pointed at my head as the cop told me that he "could make you take a drug test, in fact he could throw me in the river and no one would know." Since then, every experience with a Minneapolis cop has been negative or disturbing. I still have a trace of the nasty scar a trnsit cop cave me when he pulled me out of my taxi and roughed me up. He didn't like that I was waiting for a customer in a no parking zone, even though the ordinance specifically gives taxis 2 minutes to get customers. For the record I am a law abiding father of one simply trying to live and contribute to the city I was born and raised in. The moment they see that Middle Eastern name on my license, the thug in every officer I encounter comes out. When I ran for city council in the 6th in 2001, I met cops who seemed decent, but they were the ones at the community meetings, or at city hall, not the ones you encouter in the street. So Jim, in my experience, it's clearly the minority of officers who are not thugs, but let's suppose for a moment that you're right and that it's a few bad apples poisening the barrel. You still have a poisen barrel and you don't know how many apples have been contaminated, they all need to go. Second, the police federation simply as a union in one thing, but you really have to question their public defense of the Christopher Burns killing and their support of policies which endanger the public and allow rogue behaviour. Sure, the Police Federation has every right to endorse candidates just as I have the right to make my own decisions, and post on lists based on thier endorsement. To me, this endorsement means that candidates will be making decisions consistant with policies the police federation supports. That scares me, and I'm sure it scares a lot of other people. There are some situations in which city leaders need to seek common ground, but with the extreme situation on our police department, this is an issue where a truly principled leader must hold their ground and make it clear that certain behavior will not be tolerated. Tamir Nolley Holland Ward 3 __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
