Last update: March 23, 2004 at 6:38 AM Minneapolis cops back on the job; union leader wants inquiry into chief's comments David Chanen and Rochelle Olson, Star Tribune March 23, 2004 As three high-ranking Minneapolis police officers who were cleared of criminal allegations returned to their jobs Monday, the head of the police union called for city officials to look into derogatory and threatening statements that Chief Bill McManus reportedly made when he put the officers on leave more than three weeks ago.
"If a citizen alleged that an officer called them names or threatened them, an investigation would be immediately opened," said union president Sgt. John Delmonico. "We have a pretty substantial allegation of the chief calling these officers names and threatening them. Is there some sort of double standard for department heads?" http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4679681.html "Double Standard" Hmmmm. I would like to remind the "Double Standard Black Offices face as well from article of Minnesota Spokesman: What happened in federal mediation By: Booker T Hodges Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder Originally posted 12/24/2003 ....UCMT member Ron Ed-wards, who represented the Black Police Officers Association, would invite Lieutenants Lee Edwards and Don Banham to testify about their experiences as Minneapolis police officers. The testimony of these two Black officers was the most damning testimony during the entire mediation process. The community owes these officers a great deal, because they risked their careers by testifying in front of our committee. Both of these men expressed their love for their department, but they felt it was vital that the community know what Black officers experience. The community should support these officers in whatever way we can. When Lieutenant�s Banham and Edwards walked into the room, many of the other police officers greeted them as fellow comrades. One officer asked them if they were there to testify for the City. They responded �no� and sat down on the side of the community. During his testimony, Lt. Banham was asked by Ron, �Are Black officers treated differently than White officers within the department?� Lt. Banham answered, �Yes.� Ron then said to Lt. Banham, �Before I go any further, do you feel that you will be retaliated against by other officers for what you are telling us today?� Lt. Banham answered, �Yeah, probably, but there isn�t anything else they can do to me. I am as far as I am going to get in my career. I know because of my outspokenness that I will never be promoted any higher than I am now. The only reason that I am a lieutenant is because I earned it. I passed the test, but other than that, I doubt that they would have promoted me.� UCMT members stared at Lt. Banham with disbelief on their faces. I couldn�t even believe what I was hearing. Ron then asked Lt. Banham, �Does institutional racism exist within the Minneapolis Police Department?� Lt. Banham said, �You bet it does. Black officers are constantly overlooked for promotions and appointments to some of the department�s most desirable positions such as homicide and investigations.� Ron then asked Lt. Banham, �Have you ever been approached about helping recruit minority officers, being that your family has a long tradition of being police officers?� �No, I have not,� responded Lt. Banham. This question was key, because many members of the UCMT felt that in order to attract more people of color to the police department, current officers of color were vital to any successful recruiting effort. To discover that they weren�t being used showed the UCMT what effort, or lack thereof, the department was really putting into recruitment. Lt. Edwards would testify after Lt. Banham, and his testimony was just as shocking as Lt. Banham�s. Ron asked Lt. Ed-wards, �To your knowledge, has any officer who is known to be a racist been allowed to remain on the department?� Lt. Edwards answered, �Yes, I can think of one officer in particular who everyone knows he is a racist, but nothing has been done to him. I remember after playing in one of our softball games, I went to a bar where I knew cops hung out. When I walked in, they looked at me as though I wasn�t supposed to be there. Once I got closer to them, I noticed that he had on a White Power t-shirt. I asked him what was going on. He said, �You are proud of your people and I am proud of mine, and what�s wrong with that?� None of the other officers said anything to him about his shirt.� The jaws of UCMT members were on the floor after hearing what Lt. Edwards had to say. The chief and the other officers in the room hung their heads in shame. No officer or anyone representing the City challenged any of Ed-wards�s statements. Due to the importance of this historic mediation agreement and how it was reached, this series will extend beyond the original two-part series. Part 3 will cover the remainder of Lt. Edwards� testimony and two events that almost ended mediation. Look for it next week in the Metro Section. Booker T Hodges welcomes reader comments to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Posted by Shawn Lewis, Field Neighborhood -- ___________________________________________________________ Sign-up for Ads Free at Mail.com http://promo.mail.com/adsfreejump.htm REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? 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