80% of crime (that takes up a police officers time) is in someway attributed to drugs. Why not attack crime at its source rather than its symptom. Put teeth in that Drug&Crime Task Force I suggested by assigning 50 Police Officers to it. (This is not a random number - it is the number Captain Gary Haines computed was the number needed to successfully man such a force) Chose only the officers who are the most motivated and competent to be hunters. Then free them from the constraints of "Precinct" and let them hunt drug dealers each night, no matter where in the City the drug business moves. You will find that every man-hour spent "hunting" will save five man-hours of answering calls. Ask the other members of the Drug & Crime Task Force to dedicate a matching number of officer man-hours to act as support for operations like reverse "stings".
Make sure you include Sheriff Pat McGowan. I very much remember the first time David Lillehaug's Drug & Crime Task Force met. Pat started out by asking each person present what he or she each could and was going to contribute. Pat also said the excuse that there wasn't adequate jail space was a crock, and to send him as many as they could catch, and HE would find the resources. You need that willingness to take "Personal" responsibility for part of the solution. But please do not just assign officers to such a unit. Invite applications and take only the officers with the greatest motivation and skills to be a part of it. Some officers are great at answering calls, some are great at public relations, some are great at being beat cops, but within the Minneapolis Police Department there are officers who would be great at "hunting". Use them! We need such a small special operations group to drive the drug business from our streets. Mayor Rybak, you have an incredibly gifted field commander in Captain Mike Martin. Use him! I can think of no person in the Minneapolis Police Department better suited or motivated to run such an elite force. Mayor Rybak, start an academy where other Minnesota Departments send their officers to do on the job training in drug and gang interdiction. We (Minneapolis) get the extra man hours while the training is being done, the extra training dollars, and a much more professional force of our own The answer is actually both ends of the spectrum. Use non-specific geographically assigned special operations "hunters" and at the same time use officers who are even more specifically assigned. Beat officers who are more deeply entrenched into the neighborhood, and who are territorial and protective of "THEIR" people and "THEIR" territory. Last suggestion: Mayor Rybak, talk to Sharon Lubinski about the "Weed and Seed" program. Ask her opinion of how to "fix" that disgrace. This program has so far spent a whole lot of money on administrative "feel good" things and a worthless staff and damn little on "Weeding". Make it effective by getting better staff, or lose it. It's a joke as it is. We will never completely wipe out the illegal drug business. We can however make it so Minneapolis is not the place of choice to do business. We can't stop them from doing business, but we can make Minneapolis an undesirable place to do business in. We can make it so Minneapolis is NOT the place where business is "GOOD". Sorry if I threw in too many suggestions, Jim Graham, Ventura Village > "With calm eyes gauge your fellow men; with a calm heart deal with all matters; with a calm mind find the reason in things." - Hong Yingming TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ 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
