Michelle Gross wrote: > According to many media accounts, in six months MPD Chief Olson will be > gone. Who will be the next police chief? Much of the talk I've heard is > about Lucy Gerrold being groomed for the position. I have little reason to > think she would or would not make a good chief as I know very little about > her. I expect this is the same as most Minneapolitans.
Mark Anderson responds: Can't we keep Chief Olson? It seems to me that the situation has improved a lot under the current chief. Hasn't crime decreased over the last several years? And this decrease can't be explained by demographics (fewer adolescents and twenty something's), as was the case when Sayles Belton tried to take credit for crime decreases some years ago. This time crime started increasing, and then went back down again in the last few years. Admittedly, the murder rate seems to have increased this year. I hope that's a blip. And even the cops out-of-control seems better than it was ten years ago. I remember back then we had one large settlement after another against the city for police brutality. I haven't heard of a major case like that for a number of years. It seems like posters on this List complain about one incident after another, but wasn't it always such? It appears to me that it's better than before, and maybe because Olson has actually improved the situation. In any case, I'm not sure that any police chief can make anything but marginal improvements to police brutality. There is something wrong with the structure of the police department that keeps police from being accountable for their actions, and it is apparent that the chief has little power over it. Remember when Sayles Belton unsuccessfully tried to fire Sauro? Even though he was the source of two large settlements against the city, we couldn't hold him accountable. I don't know if it's the union contract, common law relating to firing employees, juries that tend to side with individuals against the city, or something else, but the city doesn't seem to have the power to fire bad cops. Until we fix that, there will be little change in brutality. Mark Anderson Bancroft TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ 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
