Instead of supplying direction,It's also the traditional move. The new mayor fires the chief of police. I even heard one insider say, though not to RT, "Just fire the chief and move on."
RT ineffectively decided to make Chief Olson the fall guy for policy
problems.
WM: I know Lucy went through the Academy for making people into police officers and I assume that she worked the street patrols for some period of time following that training.Since the failed attempt to oust Chief Olson, it has appeared to most observers that RT Rybak's "court jesters" have been attempting to groom Lucy Gerold for the job of Chief. Most people who have watched this activity wonder the same thing. WHY?
Gerold goes through the academy and becomes an Inspector becauseWM: That's not fair. It may have had nothing to do with political favors. At the time it happened, I thought it had to do with wanting CCP/SAFE to have a deputy chief level overseer.
of political favors.
WM: This I know to be an unfair assessment. It was Lucy who started CCP/SAFE. It is common that the person who is excellent at the start up of a new function is not the person who can carry it through over the long haul. It is a different set of skills to do departmental maintenance than it is to foster a new notion into reality.CCP Safe so distinguished itself under her direction that whole neighborhoods were willing to formally demand that Safe be removed from their neighborhood.
WM: When Lucy was head of CCP/SAFE we got really good work out of the team in Central, closing down crack houses, closing down prostitution houses, arguing successfully for ways to put a crimper in gang behavior. Nobody's political butt was getting covered as a raison d'�tre. Mayor Frazier got the credit. I didn't give a hoot who got the credit, I was interested to have the Bloods moved out of the houses on either side of me.Under Gerold' s direction CCP SAFE was centrally located downtown and CCP SAFE's principal concern seemed to be about providing political cover and a political smokescreen for sitting politicians such as Sales-Belton.
WM: Lubinski is an unusually talented manager. Very straight arrow, gives tasks and expects officers to do them. Some officers have told me that "she's [Lubinski is] refreshing."Under Sharon Lubinski in the Third Precinct the SAFE officers are working "members" of the community and fully participate. Both civilians and police officers attached to CCP Safe report how much more effective Safe is since being assigned to the precincts and under the direction of "Real" police professionals. Under Sharon Lubinski CCP SAFE is a valuable tool in community based policing.
Many of us wonder why RT would even consider making such a fluff appointmentWM: Ya know, Lucy may not be fluff, but she also may or may not be the person for right now. I don't feel I have enough info to say on way or the other myself.
when the Minneapolis Police Department is so troubled and so understaffed at
this time.
What is needed is a real cop, and the Department has several.WM: I am a Lubinski fan. She's done amazing work at the Third and the Third was very much in need of the work. She seems to have a real talent for it. But it might be a mistake to think of Lucy as anything but a "real cop" since she can really arrest you and really send you to jail and really testify against you in court.
Inspector Sharon Lubinski and Captain Mike Martin head the list for me, but
there are others. If RT wants to appoint a woman as "Chief" why is he
overlooking Sharon Lubinski? Sharon Lubinski is a wonderful "Real" cop,
whom the officers in the department and the people in the communities
respect and love (a combination that is almost unheard of). I know Sharon
Lubinski has that support from many communities.
With the City involved with Federal Mediation and searching for direction,WM: This is where the rubber usually meets the road. Charlie Stenvig and John Laux both came up through the ranks. Stenvig was a disaster and Laux didn't impress me a whole lot either. Bouza came from NYC Transit Police, I think, and Olson came home, sort of, having grown up in St. Paul. Isn't that the story?
perhaps the "Search" should look outside the Department.
I haven't made up my mind entirely, but I do know enough about Lubinski's work to say she would be good. Lucy could have been doing a bang-up job at the Fifth Precinct, but I don't know that it was ever in as bad a shape as the Third was. I do know that some really good police chiefs have said that they wouldn't take on the MPD.
WizardMarks, Central ________________________________
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