The approximately 878 cops employed by the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) will realize a potentially significant reduction in sworn strength after Super Bowl LII is officiated on February 4, 2018.
The Star Tribune reported that MPD Police Chief Medaria Arradondo and Minneapolis police union President Bob Kroll seem to be bumping heads about sustaining public safety with fewer police officers to cover the city’s roughly 58 square-mile jurisdiction housing a populace of 382,578. One side ostensibly exhibits little concern over the matter while the latter sounds the alarm.
“While the Chief certainly looks at attrition and has witnessed an increase in recent years, we do not have anything verifiable that tells us we will witness a ‘mass retirement’ post-Super Bowl,” said police spokesman Scott Seroka.
Minneapolis, Minnesota media outlets are focusing on the correlation between the upcoming Super Bowl in their city and the subsequent avalanche of MPD cops “waiting to put in their papers” after the festivities are over. Why? It is a matter of economy…and going out with a proverbial bang.
As the Star Tribune conveyed, “Officers from Minneapolis and elsewhere in the state will be paid $55 an hour and $85 an hour for overtime.” And there is plenty of OT to go around. It’s a legitimately smart move for pending retirees to refrain from hanging-up the duty belt for the final time when there is whopping compensation and a finale within a finale. For context and comparison, new police recruits hired by MPD start at $26.97/hour.
Despite Minneapolis police administration and the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis being at-odds over police retirement causing staffing-level concerns, it seems the police union is prepped to confer “Retired Minneapolis Police” ball caps. (Credit: Facebook/Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis)
Having been a police union member throughout my law enforcement career, union officials often have their ear to the wall and unequivocally know first-hand what is coming down the pike. Whether there is an ongoing contract battle or impasse, or a police officer-involved investigation or scandal, or a deficiency such as unaddressed police staffing shortages…the union has dibs on reality and the scope of the problem(s). Police unions —where facilitating arbitrations is an art— are not much different than any member of Congress or the Senate bringing his/her constituents’ concerns to the table, knowing problems in-advance of public exposure.
Why would Minneapolis police Chief Medaria Arradondo take the issue of police personnel shortages lightly? Could be a number of reasons, but usually politics is the pull-cord which may or may not be yanked for a harmonious landing. Frankly, I do not think he is opposed to additional police officers as much as I think political strings are attached. Some mayors and city managers and county commissioners are not fans of law enforcement. Is it that they can not stomach that humans go awry and policing, therefore, is not a pretty job catering tea and cookies?
In early October 2017, Chief Arradondo conveyed that MPD was on schedule to bolster its sworn strength to 901 by 2022. Chief Arradondo requested then-Mayor Betsy Hodges allocate funds to employ extra outreach workers to address “social issues that our officers are routinely called to in our communities that are not necessarily crimes but impact the public health of our city.”
Although fattening sworn police roles seems in the cards, it may be too little far too late. Criminals do not make reservations for later. They activate at-will, and not enough street-ready cops basically places the keys to the city in dirty hands.
How does a police executive mitigate a police staffing deficit while maintaining responsibility of law and order?
Non-politicized chiefs and sheriffs will candidly share how much they sweat and nail-bite over such dilemmas. Others holding hands with non-law enforcement city officials will walk the political aisles and basically become outwitted auctioneers, doing the bidding for suit-wearing elected individuals instead of highly-trained and armed, uniformed personnel. By and large, police figureheads go into executive roles to shape progressive police agencies…and some get caught-up in political nets, wittingly or unwittingly.
By and large, police figureheads go into executive roles to shape progressive police agencies…and some get caught-up in political nets, wittingly or unwittingly.
Are you thinking of James Comey at the moment, too?
Depending upon what is or is not particularly transpiring in Minneapolis, discretion is exercised and the poker faces are exploited. What I am alluding to is the still-pending criminal indictment decision being weighed by the Hennepin County prosecutor, pertaining to the July 2017 officer-involved shooting (OIS) death of Justine Damond by Minneapolis police Officer Mohamed Noor, a Somalia-born police rookie.
In fact, recent intelligence reports reveal that groups are targeting the Super Bowl site festivities to rally and protest the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for what they perceive as “delayed justice” for a purported “slam-dunk case.” OpsLens published a piece on this matter in December 2017.
Projected by Australian media outlets and News.com.au, “A spokesman from a group called the Super Bowl Anti-Racist Anti-Corporation Coalition said protesters would storm the Super Bowl fighting for justice for the Australian [Justine Damond] and other victims of alleged police brutality.”
Credit: Facebook/Justice for Justine Damond Ruszczyk)
Despite any potential “Justice for Justine” melee at or in proximity to the Super Bowl grounds, Minneapolis cops will activate a pre-planned contingent of state police and neighboring-county sheriffs officials to quell any uprising before it boils out of control and becomes reminiscent of the Ferguson, Missouri conflagration, involving a self-defending policeman shooting and killing Michael Brown. Although the context between both incidents are dissimilar in some ways, they are alike in others, mostly conjuring poor police/community relations leading to riotous proportions.
It is prudent to harness increased staffing levels for such an instance. And that is theoretically why a police executive may not necessarily trumpet any tactical flaws (staffing deficits) before a significant evolution (revolution) is carefully considered and meticulously strategized. But…that does not mean police leaders should rest on their laurels and treat any operational inadequacies as paper-cuts. Actionable corrections trump false hope.
Actionable corrections trump false hope.
Barb Johnson, Minneapolis city council president and member of the city’s public safety committee, shares Lt. Kroll’s concerns. “It’s a concern to me, because if we have a big bump in retirements and we don’t have people in the pipeline to replace them, that’s a challenging thing.”
No matter who is more keen to police retirements, the specter of how law enforcement administrations and police unions supporting the rank-and-file “backbone” draws speculation regarding official intentions of veteran cops who are proverbially “at the door” (prepared to submit retirement papers). Again, akin to fathers raising their offspring…police-union figureheads usually know best and go to bat for their members. On-air with former police Chief Harteau, Lt. Bob Kroll sparred with her over politics in police administration, tactical positioning regarding BLM protests, and officer safety principles.
What is not so novel in law enforcement agencies is utilizing civilian staff to fill positions not requiring sworn police officers, such as administrative, support and technical roles. What is novel is that Minneapolis is reportedly only now considering such a switch. Research any law enforcement department of any size in the United States and you will invariably read the breakdown of X sworn police officers and X civilian support staff. That distinction exists for a reason, a rather self-explanatory one.
Not every function in law enforcement organizations requires a sworn cop. In fact, it is entirely counterproductive to have a person —whose sworn role is to ensure law and order— behind a desk or at a computer terminal as a full-time gig. What’s the point in sitting in a police uniform wrapped by a weighty and often uncomfortable duty belt with all the requisite gadgetry, knowing the public does not even have access to confer with desk-riding cops?
Another factor regarding inadequate staffing which equates to soaring crime rates and officer safety concerns has a direct correlate which breeds citizens’ concerns: Slowed police response.
Simply, fewer cops means delays in receiving police services. No tax-paying constituent wants to hear that tune.
When I was in police uniform, “response times” was analyzed on the daily. Entire meetings were held if the ebb and flow upset either the public or police administration emplaced to assure optimal police services. Simply, fewer cops means delays in receiving police services. No tax-paying constituent wants to hear that tune. Who can blame them? And, without fail, the cop who eventually shows up for a call gets the brunt of the what-took-you-so-long attitude.
What’s one optimal common-sense remedy to ameliorate the kind of police dilemma with which MPD is wrestling?
Council President Johnson added she intends to confer with police Chief Arradondo with a focus on hiring more civilians to perform roles so that police officers can be placed on patrol duty. If the larger number of any police force is traditionally known as “the backbone” why place them in non-patrol settings whereby they are phantomized and rendered counter to traditional police roles?
According to public records, the Minneapolis PD just graduated two classes containing a combined 44 police cadets. These new cops join the force and partake in the mass-extravaganza known as the 10-day-long NFL Experience leading up to Super Bowl LII. However, without definitive retirement papers officially filed…it remains a wildcard as to retiring/hiring ratios.
One of two recent Minneapolis police cadet graduating classes at their swearing-in ceremony in late 2017. (Credit: Minneapolis Police Department)
As Council President Johnson elucidated, “There’s a lot of work in the backgrounding and psychological testing: there’s a lot of work to getting people hired and trained.” That remains a solid fact; she is correct. But it takes far less to hire civilian police staff; traditional hiring practices apply minus those necessary ingredients to assure police recruit processing for the academy to meet or exceed ethical, moral, emotional and physical tenets so as to have incredible authority and powers of arrest granted.
With the exception of a polygraph examination, most civilian staff undergo far less in terms of hiring processes. In short, hiring civilians is a lighter cargo.
Regardless of what the hiring process entails for either sworn or police civilian segments, we arrive at the cost factor. In disbelief, I read and reread several times that now-former Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges allocated $122,500 in her 2018 budget proposal recommendation to hire only one new officer. One! This, from a lady whose May 2017 State-of-the-City address acknowledged, “Minneapolis is strong but undergoing transformation. Minneapolis is tackling challenges like growth, gun violence, affordability.”
“Minneapolis is strong but undergoing transformation. Minneapolis is tackling challenges like growth, gun violence, affordability.”
In the scheme of things, those funds are scant and equate to nothing more than a Band-Aid to plug a gaping hole. Lt. Kroll projects double-digit retirements are fast-approaching and, as mentioned earlier, is the one I believe is in possession of facts.
Kroll has spearheaded the call for increasing MPD’s police roles to over 1,000 cops and, when she was the Minneapolis police chief, Janeé Harteau echoed Lt. Kroll’s recommended target goal. In response to the ostensibly ill-concern projected by then-Mayor Hodges, Lt. Kroll harbors apprehensions that any new hires will do nothing to offset the pending and rapidly-approaching exodus of police retirements.
One may interpret that Lt. Kroll has a relative confidence in the number of police retirements about to be filed, and is presciently signaling police executives and city officials that any hiring they’ve accomplished does not make up the difference.
“It’s gonna go bonkers in six months,” —Lt. Kroll
“It’s gonna go bonkers in six months,” Lt. Kroll telegraphed for Minneapolis media.
“And while the overall crime rate [in Minneapolis] continues to plummet, the city’s violent crime rate is on pace to increase for the third straight year, according to the most recent data available,” reported Libor Jany.
Perhaps Minneapolis’ brand-spanking-new mayor, Jacob Frey, can implement changes for a city under duress in various ways. Mayor Frey wrote, “Public safety, accountability, and trust are fundamental to the policing goals my administration will pursue.” Indeed, those virtues go both ways. Little league baseball teams show up with a full contingent of players to occupy every position (with readied back-ups) so as to win the game and ensure happy spectators. On behalf of citizens, police deserve that model, too.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and police Chief Medaria Arradondo address plans for the police department at a recent press conference. (Credit: Facebook/Jessica Miles)
In a joint press conference including Chief Arradondo, Mayor Frey publicized his plans for the Minneapolis Police Department, saying he “wants to hire more police officers, particularly officers of color and those who live in the neighborhoods they serve. In addition, Mayor Frey also wants to narrow police officers’ beats and give officers consistent schedules, in hopes that they can build stronger relationships with residents,” KARE11.com reported.
Mayor Frey added: “We know that many of our officers are simply running from 911 call to 911 call. They never have time to build out community relations that we purport to want.” Ding-ding for that winning acknowledgement. That not only underscores the gist of pending police retirements and ill-preparation for that wave, but also that MPD cops are already skeletal in terms of sworn strength, no fault of their own. I wonder how many formed retirements are an inspired result of the would-be neglect of building-up the police department.
With any police staffing shortages, both public safety and officer safety concerns are paramount. It is an existential ingredient that should never be treated as a backburner gravy. The time to pour that on the meat is now…before Monster Crime elbows its way in like the malignant cancer it is.
And the smorgasbord of activity surrounding the Super Bowl in a heavily-populated metropolis does nothing to assuage all public safety concerns. It underscores deficiencies which, come game-time and thereafter, must be alleviated by Minneapolis police executives and Minneapolis City Council members. Anything otherwise is pure negligence and culpability in the face of pending tragedy.
Meanwhile, MPD police Officer Noor awaits his fate as Hennepin County prosecutors weigh their potential indictment.
The focused attention on MPD bracing for imminent post-Super Bowl police retirement exodus is a stark reality. Gambling is never optimal in law enforcement circles, anywhere.
