While the Mayors staff report his great success on the Strategic Safety Partnership, they failed to mention his failure to implement the products of the Federal Mediation Process. A large group of people attended the City Council Public Safety and Regulatory Services Committee (PS&RS) today to get an "update" on the progress that has been made to implement the Memorandum of Agreement that was crafted between the members of the Police Community Relations Council (PCRC),the Mpls. Police, the City Council and the Mayor in 2004 after the intervention of the Federal Department of Justice. Minneapolis entered into the mediation process voluntarily in an effort to avoid a "Federal Consent Decree" which would have turned over operations of the Minneapolis Police Department to the Federal Department of Justice. Consent Decrees are a very expensive way to solve our local problems. Just look to the Holman settlement. The reporters from the police force gave a report that in brief said "they have not implemented many of the issues outlined in the agreement, that as of today it is no ones official responsibility to implement the agreement, and that it wasn't even clear whether it was the Mayor or the Chief of Police that was in charge on assigning responsibility. The community membership that participate on the PCRC respectfully expressed great disappointment with the lack of progress to date. Reverend Ian Bethel, Co-Chair, Community Unity Team gave powerful testimony to frame the issues and sequence of events. He emphasized how they have made many attempts since 2004 to open the lines of communication between them and the Mayors office and did not even receive responses to letters or phone calls until just a few days ago. The Community members praised the participation of the rank and file police officers in this process. The PCRC committee members expressed that while implementation of the agreement has been a failure to date and officially the city is out of compliance that the group remains commited to the work of the agreement. Council Member Natalie Johnson Lee did a fabulous job of ferreting out the real message the police were attempting to communicate today. She was able to articulate what many in the audience were feeling. Nothing has been done, it isn't anyones job to get it done and there isn't anyone claiming responsibility for ensuring anything gets done. There was sense that when people talk to the chief it is the Mayors responsibility, and when they talk to the Mayor, it is the chiefs responsibility. Council Members Robert Lilligren, Gary Schiff, Dan Niziolek and Paul Zerby did a good job at clarifying issues today as well. I left that meeting today very very concerned. This mediation process was agreed upon in an attempt to keep the tempest from leaving the teapot in the crime ridden neighborhoods of north and south Minneapolis. To receive a verbal not written report back nearly two years later that says nothing has happened and the open refusal by the Mayor to enter into respectful communication with the community left many in that room pretty dismayed. The points made at this meeting today simply confirm an on-going theme in the cities management style. There is no respect for the ideal of citizen involvement in the decision-making process at city hall. A signed covenant and months and months of work is being openly ignored and summarily dismissed with no apparent remorse for the action, except by the police who participated. The PS&RS requested that a report be prepared by November 9Th: 1. Outlining the cities progress toward the items agreed upon in the Memorandum of Agreement. 2. Budgetary impacts on the work of the PC RC 3. An implementation plan with a time line on the items addressed by the Memorandum of Agreement. Barb Lickness Whittier
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