Responding to Gregg Abbot and David Brauer: I'm not really sure why everyone is so excited about having an MPD insider and seems to think it's a good idea. We already tried it with John Laux, who came up through the department and it didn't work.
Laux led the department through one of it's worst periods in terms of police community relations. We're headed for a repeat of the late 80's/early 90's if an MPD insider is given the job. I don't know much about Lucy Gerald, but in my cab driver days I had my conflicts with Sharon Lubinsky and I'm NOT excited about her as the choice. Lubinsky didn't seem to be interested in community input from 'regular folks' particularly the cab drivers, and I fear her approach to Minneapolis residents would be similar. There is really only one alternative, one solution to changing the culture of the MPD and that is the use of a democratically elected board which would oversee police policy (as in Milwaukee) or a democratically elected police chief, similar to the county sheriff. Unfortunately, it seems or the redesign is only about opportunism and not about really solutions. I think there are some on the city council (Barb Johnson in particular-- note her callous comment about high school student who was beaten by police, "family business" indeed!!) who basically support police brutality and want it to continue. This may be why no real solutions have been put forawrd. Tamir Nolley Holland __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing. http://photos.yahoo.com/ REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
