Just a thought. It has now been one year since the CCP SAFE unit was basically disbanded. Now all of the SAFE cops have been pulled out and put on the street. Are additional cops on the street always the answer? Or, could it be that by having cops specifically watching problem people/addresses in all areas of the city, it was safer with fewer cops? Disband the crime prevention unit and one year later what have you got? Ask yourself, am I better off than I was a year ago?
This is Mayor Rybak and Councilmember Niziolek's problem, in my opinion. It was their brainchild to disband the SAFE unit. We should be asking them to answer to; are you better off now than you were last year? In the interest of fairness I will say that I am a laid off (still unemployed) SAFE Crime Prevention Specialist. However, that has nothing to do with it. I wrote many letters commenting on how the Minneapolis Police Department is making poor manpower, management and community decisions. I still believe that the Minneapolis Police Department can be turned around, and hopefully Chief McMannus will do that, but it is going to take a completely different philosophy than has been utilized up until now. By the way I am an 18 year police officer and former small town Police Chief. I have written training programs and taught them for the Wi Department of Justice on Problem Oriented Policing and Community Policing. So I am not anti police. I am anti-poor management and oversite. That's what's wrong with the MPD. Crime Prevention was a backseat in the MPD. Now it's not even a rumbleseat. A whole new philosophy needs to be implemented and soon. I gave Councilmember Zimmerman my opinions, but he is only one person on the council. There has been no vision for the future policing of Minneapolis, only response to current crisis'. This has caused the rank and file not to know and eventually not to care about anything but 911 response and solving the TV News crime of the day. Notice I said policing. Policing and Law Enforcement are two different things. Policing involves all segments of the community/police working together. Law enforcement is easy, go write tickets and make arrests after something happens. That's what Minneapolis has had for far too long. Hopefully this will change and vision, leadership and thinking will return to MPD, but it's going to be hard to change a philosophy that for so many years has been perpetuated by officers with rank, who are now making command decisions. Good luck, Tom Thompson Como Park neighborhood 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
